Last minute ski bargains can be had if you shop around in Westendorf, Austria April 4, 2016 Eevery dedicated skier fantasises about buying a property in the mountains. With interest rates on euro mortgages at record lows and sterling strong against the euro, now may be the time to take the plunge. For many Brits, France is the obvious choice, given the cheap flights and easy access via the Eurostar. Some ski [...]
Audi’s new Q7 e-tron helps owner VW escape Dieselgate scandal April 4, 2016 The Q7 is a big, brash SUV made by Volkswagen Group’s upmarket Audi brand and fitted with a 3.0-litre turbodiesel engine. But you can drive it in London guilt-free, without paying the congestion charge and avoiding road tax. How? Because it’s fitted it with an electric motor alongside the conventional engine – and you can [...]
Need a travel companion? Icelandair is offering a free buddy to transatlantic travellers stopping over in Reykjavik April 1, 2016 Iceland has done an incredible job of positioning itself as a Tolkien-esque tourist destination, making sure everyone knows about its vast, elemental landscape – fit for frost giants – and its storied Viking history. But how to get the most out of this varied country? Why not try ice climbing, or knitting or dining on [...]
Artist focus: John Kørner’s land of milk and honey April 1, 2016 John Kørner is one of Denmark’s most recognisable contemporary artists, his semi-abstract works probing the ills of 21st century society, from poverty to sex work. Although he’s an accomplished sculptor, he’s best known for his vivid, ethereal, often wryly funny paintings: a man rifling through a skip in After Christmas; an old woman barfing against [...]
Area guide: Woolwich – why it’s tomorrow’s town April 1, 2016 It’s an unfortunate consequence of over-enthusiastic estate agents that an area described as “up-and-coming” is often, well, getting there but taking its sweet time about it. Woolwich was one such place for a long time, but 2016 is the year SE18 arrives on the property scene. “Woolwich has been touted as up-and-coming for the last [...]
How to blush your way to a brighter home using spring pastels April 1, 2016 The evenings are lighter, and it suddenly feels wrong to be putting on sombre-coloured winter coats and boots. The magnolia trees are in bloom, their distinctive petals a delicate blush of soft pink. And it’s this pretty pastel that stores have heralded as the interiors story of the season. The idea is to keep tones [...]
The Painkiller at Garrick Theatre starring Kenneth Branagh is a predictable but fun slapstick comedy April 1, 2016 The Painkiller | Garrick Theatre Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon bring star power to this funny but painfully anachronistic comedy. It tells the tale of a contract killer whose life is thrown into disarray when he is allocated a hotel room adjoining that of a lovelorn, suicidal photographer. It’s adapted from Le Contrat, a French [...]
Eddie the Eagle is a soaring success April 1, 2016 With hindsight, it’s a surprise Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards’ rise to fame wasn’t made into a film sooner. Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service) dons thick-rimmed glasses and a permanent gurn as the plucky Eddie, a young man obsessed with being an Olympian. He exploits a loophole in the rules to enter the 1988 Winter [...]
The absurdist brilliance of Franciszka & Stefan Themerson April 1, 2016 Polish husband and wife Franciszka and Stefan Themerson’s output is so varied, spanning so many types of media and so many artistic styles, that making sense of it all in one room is rather overwhelming. Along the first wall is a row of cabinets filled with illustrations, mostly for children’s books – one features a [...]
Les Blancs at National Theatre is a spectacular tour de force April 1, 2016 As you walk into the Lyttelton theatre for Les Blancs, you’re hit by a wall of incense so thick it stings your eyes. It's the first indication that this is a play that refuses to remain anchored to its dusty, sun-baked set, bleeding subtly off the stage, playing on your imagined version of Africa and setting it against the [...]
