Driverless cars are hitting the streets of London next month January 13, 2017 London drivers, beware: Nissan's first driverless cars will hit the streets of the capital next month, it said today. The car manufacturer said it will bring "real-world demonstrations" of autonomous cars to London, with "live environment" tests of a modified Nissan Leaf. The tests will be Nissan's first on public roads in Europe – although [...]
The Kite Runner at Wyndham’s Theatre is competent and compelling but never really takes off January 12, 2017 If you weren’t content with only a book and a film, now The Kite Runner has been turned into a West End play. Fresh from a tour of the UK, this remarkably stripped back production could have done with a little beefing up now it’s found a stable home for a few months. The vast, [...]
La La Land review: Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone star in this giddy, joyous tale of young love in the big city January 12, 2017 The unanimous backslap that greeted La La Land at the Golden Globes last week has only reinforced the idea that Hollywood is head-over-heels, all-weekend-in-bed, marriage-and-babies in love with itself. And why not when it can churn out hits like this. La La Land is entirely deserving of its praise, and so much more than a [...]
Live By Night film review: Ben Affleck’s gangster epic can’t match its lofty aspirations January 12, 2017 For his fourth outing behind the camera, Ben Affleck sets his sights on the gangster epic, a genre that for many is the yardstick against which directorial greatness is measured. Returning once again to Boston (three of his four movies as director have been shot in the state where he grew up), Affleck also screen-writes, [...]
BU21 play review: London terror drama justifies transfer to Trafalgar Studios January 12, 2017 A plane explodes over West London. It’s been shot, we are told, by a handheld missile launched somewhere in Vauxhall. The wreckage kills hundreds, injures hundreds more, and reduces most of Fulham to rubble. Part of the force of Stuart Slade’s courageous, bitterly funny play comes from its plausibility – there is a sense, morbid [...]
Manchester by the Sea starring Casey Affleck deserves its Oscar buzz January 12, 2017 Regular Scorsese collaborator Kenneth Lonergan’s first film in five years has become an Oscar front runner, with rapturous receptions on the film festival circuit and a win at last weekend’s Golden Globes. Set in the titular Massachusetts town, a restrained, quiet handy man (Casey Affleck) returns to his former home in the aftermath of his [...]
Fashion industry blues: Sector falters as it loses £750m and sales suffer deepest decline since 2009 January 12, 2017 Britain's fashion market struck a feeble pose last year, when it suffered its deepest sales decline since August 2009, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel. Sales fell by two per cent in the 52 weeks to 18 December compared to the year before, Kantar found, knocking nearly £750m off its total value. In October, Kantar had already [...]
Ember, on the street where the Great Fire of London started, wants to light a fire in City workers’ bellies January 10, 2017 Opened in October of last year, Ember is a smart, subterranean drinking and dining spot on Pudding Lane with a focus on pan-Asian cuisine, original cocktails and small sharing plates. Expect contemporary presentation with carefully considered flavours and curated drinks pairings, rather than the Chinese curry from your local. In the evenings the place takes [...]
Our chef columnist Mark Hix on his enduring love for black pudding and the dish that made him fall in love with it January 10, 2017 I’ve been hooked on black pudding ever since it first passed my lips as a kid. There was just something about it I loved, even though the blood pudding I grew up with probably contained way too much rusk or filler and not enough actual meat, which was cheap and low quality. Maybe it was [...]
McLaren 675LT Spider review: We take the fastest car around the Top Gear test track on the roads of Sussex and Surrey January 9, 2017 Hard to believe it’s just seven months since Chris Evans burst onto our screens as the new host of Top Gear. Yet five tumultuous weeks later, he’d quit, ego and reputation irrevocably dented. Evans did gain something positive from his double-act with Matt LeBlanc, though: a McLaren 675LT. Driven by the Stig, the fluoro-green supercar [...]
