A couple of months ago, our building suffered a series of power cuts due to a faulty circuit breaker. I hadn’t realized quite how much we depend upon electricity. The first outage struck at around 10.30 am. My laptop had about half an hour’s charge before it went dead. I ... Read More...
Lifestyle
Over the coming week there are two major celebrations, but why has Halloween become so much more popular than Guy Fawkes Night in the UK? In view of current concerns over the preservation of our nation’s official faith, it seems odd that more is not made of Guy Fawkes Night, as ... Read More...
Here are the highlights… they were twinkling all over the ceiling in 1980s wedding reception style. There was even a DJ spinning disco tracks to buy art to - and the room was rocking. Whether or not they had money to spend, on Thursday night, The Affordable Art Fair was ... Read More...
Entry to Frieze, (£27), entitles you to buy: a catalogue and a canvas bag; overpriced art books in the bookstore - and actual works of art, if you are gullible enough can afford them. You can also buy drinks/lunch/dinner in the designer café, or restaurant – all a bit of ... Read More...
When I read AA Gill’s searing review of the Gilbert Scott restaurant at the new St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, I wondered why he hadn’t gone to Rules instead. Anyway, without further ado, here is my top 10 list of old fashioned eating houses in central London: 1) Rules Sources say: Established by ... Read More...
Postmodernism became enmeshed in the commercial culture it originally set out to critique. Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990 opens at the V&A today – and money is a major theme. The exhibition includes one of Warhol’s famous pop art dollar signs, from 1981, as a testament to this. And a ... Read More...
The unfortunately named Harry Crook established Kleeneze in 1923. It was the era of door to door sales: the genuine Encyclopedia Britannica vendor, the original man from the Pru. They were all shiny suits and polished briefcases. If you heard them walking up the garden path, there were evasion tactics. ... Read More...
Despite the furore over loans, today’s university students are a privileged lot. As recently as the 1980s, we were locked inside our halls of residence at night, had to share bathrooms and make do without the luxury of even a landline telephone. I was in one of the first years of ... Read More...
Occasionally, you'll get lucky and be pleasantly surprised – but, before you even walk through the door, you know when you’ve picked a lemon. It’s usually a hotel where the rooms cost around 100 Euros a night, as opposed to the sort where the simplest of breakfasts will set you ... Read More...
This time next year it will already be over. So how will we keep our memories of the 2012 Olympics alive? By shopping for souvenirs, of course. On visiting the Museum of 1951 at the Royal Festival Hall recently, I was struck by the high quality handiwork and timeless design ... Read More...
