London
Covid has changed London for the better
Covid has changed London for the better
The best lamb in London: Blacklock reviewed
Blacklock is the fourth restaurant of that name – there are others in Soho, Shoreditch and the City of London.…
Britain’s money laundering scandal goes back a long way
The war in Ukraine has turned a lot of people’s attention to oligarchs in the UK. How did these guys…
Food ruined by an existential crisis: Fallow reviewed
I was going to be jolly this week, for variety and denial, but I changed my mind. Instead, I wonder…
I’ve found a little Eden in London
I’m not one of life’s early risers but an exception had to be made on Wednesday last week. In an…
A victim of its own mythology: Langan’s Brasserie reviewed
Langan’s, a brasserie off Piccadilly with curling orange neon signage calling its name, is under new management after it fell…
Pass on Piggy’s, head to Hide: central London breakfasts reviewed
The centre could not hold, at least for Piggy’s. The drama of being the only greasy spoon in the West…
A modern Medea: Iron Curtain, by Vesna Goldsworthy, reviewed
Vesna Goldsworthy’s finely wrought third novel explodes into life early on with a shocking scene in which Misha — the…
The best schnitzel in London: Schnitzel Forever reviewed
It is a truism that there is never enough schnitzel (‘slice’, German); or, rather, schnitzel does not get the attention…
Who is – and isn't – welcome in Sadiq Khan's London?
Right-wing Frenchman Eric Zemmour, who is expected to run for the presidency of his country next year, has been designated persona…
Lord Lucan, Joan Collins and the greatest dinner ever
There’s a narrow stretch of Chelsea, south of the King’s Road from Oakley Street to Ormonde Gate, that reminds me…
Dregs of fake Provence: Whitcomb’s reviewed
Whitcomb’s is in The Londoner hotel on the south-west corner of Leicester Square. The Londoner calls itself ‘the world’s first…
The real Greek: Lemonia reviewed
Lemonia lives in the old Chalk Farm Tavern in Primrose Hill, which is better known as the set of Paddington.…
Harriet Harman calls for Cressida Dick to resign
Labour’s Harriet Harman has called for Cressida Dick to resign as chief of the Metropolitan Police after Wayne Couzens was…
I was the next Truman Capote
It’s nice to be back in London, and Glebe Place is a delight. Mind you, it’s not the mansion I…
Scarface’s lair with nibbles: Louie reviewed
A French creole restaurant rises in the sullen ruins of London. It is called Louie, for French king or trumpeter,…
At last, a dose of up-close culture in London
In London for the first time in 18 months, I was as excited as a child on a birthday outing.…
The watery life of the capital
To write about London and its rivers is to enter a crowded literary field. Many aspects of watery life in…
France's provocateur is coming to London
Five years ago, London’s affluent French poured their dosh into the campaign of Emmanuel Macron. This time around, supporters of…
The Liberal Democrats have a dangerous vision for the City of London
Liberals have always set great store by laws and declarations. It was joked about Lord Loreburn, the liberal Lord Chancellor…
A glimpse of lost London – before the yuppie invasion
In a 1923 book called Echo de Paris, the writer Laurence Houseman attempted to conjure up in a very slim,…
How two literary magazines boosted morale during the Blitz
William Loxley’s lively account of ‘Bloomsbury, the Blitz and Horizon magazine’ begins with W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood emigrating to…
The clever radical who led the City’s transformation
It’s a vivid example of unintended consequences that the swimming-pool builders of southern England should owe so much to Sir…
Is London being ‘levelled down’ already?
In his ‘levelling up’ speech in Coventry this week, the Prime Minister insisted time and again that this was no…
An utterly convincing dreamworld: The Ritz reviewed
The Ritz is still here, and still gaudy. No grand hotel in London feels quite so complete, if pink; as…
