Hot Property: Buy a house on an award-winning scheme created by the neighbours of a vacant, rubbish-strewn site in north London June 29, 2016 Everyone walks past an eyesore on their way home from work, but very few people choose to do something about it. But Jake Edgley, an Islington resident who lived next to a vacant site on Godson Street, went further than that; he turned it into an award winning piece of contemporary design and moved his [...]
Global: Move over Hong Kong. Macau, China’s former sin city is suddenly looking like a safe bet on the property market June 29, 2016 Established in the 1960s as a gambling hotspot, Macau was once infamous in Asia as the ultimate vice town. Gambling was entirely legal, but it wasn’t the sort of place you went for a weekend unless you had friends in the people-removal business. Skip forward to 2002 and the lifting of the monopoly on Asian [...]
Now trending: The simple tile is the unsung hero of 21st century interior design; here are some of the best to transform your home June 29, 2016 There is a story, probably apocryphal, that when architects were designing Apple’s new Cupertino headquarters, Steve Jobs spent a few minutes looking at the blueprints before telling the architects to go away and make the building half a foot longer. “Half a foot? How on earth will that make a difference?” they implored, knowing it [...]
My House: Make-up artist Laura Pye, whose portfolio includes working backstage at the BAFTAs, talks about her converted church in Stepney June 29, 2016 The flat is in a converted church, so it has loads of funny architectural quirks where the developers had to work around existing features. My favourite part is the beautiful stained glass windows, which let in loads of natural light. I’m a make-up artist so that’s really important; it means I can invite people round [...]
Our columnist Mark Hix on the importance of buying sustainable caviar and branching out into piranha June 28, 2016 I was introduced to Mottra caviar some eight years ago and have never looked back. Caviar always has – and always will be – one of those ingredients with luxury status. There have, however, been issues with its sustainability over the years: sturgeon stocks have depleted in many parts of the world because of the [...]
Working Lunch: Clockjack City review, EC3R – former Centre Parcs and Terra Firma bosses open a delivery-only rotisserie kitchen in the Square Mile June 28, 2016 Clockjack City 3a Botolph Alley, EC3R WHAT? A City-based kitchen devoted to serving organic, free-range rotisserie chicken, wraps and salads to the fine folk of the Square Mile. Everything’s made fresh on site – even the sauces – and there are even some bite-size baked goods from the Ripe Banana Co for dessert, which prides [...]
What it’s like to take on one of the world’s toughest race tracks in the 2017 Nissan GT-R June 27, 2016 Nearly 50 drivers and motorcyclists have died at Spa-Francorchamps since the first race there in 1922. Nestled in the lush green hills of the Belgian Ardennes, this tortuously twisty circuit is second only to the Nurburgring for morbid notoriety. So it’s with some trepidation that – having signed a lengthy disclaimer – I don my [...]
Independence Day: Resurgence is a bewildering montage of CGI disasters and giant alien spaceships June 27, 2016 Independence Day: Resurgence is pitched as an antidote to the gritty movies ushered in by the age of the super-hero blockbuster. Sometimes, however, the cure can be worse than the disease. The original Independence Day, now 20 years old, was a bona fide cinematic event, expanding the boundaries of what was possible with CGI; the [...]
Barbu review: A sexy, hairy and acrobatic exploration of the history of circus June 27, 2016 ★★★★★ | Spiegeltent, London Wonderground An acrobatic circus and dance act from the most hirsute recesses of Quebec, Barbu dismantles preconceived notions of masculinity and then rebuilds them into something new using hula hoops, see-saws, ribbons and swings. Several large, beautiful men cavort and spin about the stage, like lumberjacks trapped in a salad spinner, [...]
Painters’ Paintings at the National Gallery review: a thought-provoking exhibition featuring Freud, Matisse, Degas, Reynolds and Van Dyck June 27, 2016 ★★☆☆☆ | National Gallery Painters’ Paintings is a highly unusual exhibition in that it imposes a context onto its collection that many visitors may never have considered before; it is surprising to learn that the National Gallery possesses some 70 paintings that were owned by the other painters it displays. It takes as a starting [...]
