London

The lost magic of Palm Beach

20 February 2021 9:00 am

Gstaad Good old Helvetia. I’m quitting her for the rainy but pleasant land of England. The cows are beginning to…

The cult of London

13 February 2021 9:00 am

The phrase ‘rich people’s problems’ has its uses. I once overheard a group in a Knightsbridge restaurant sympathising with a…

Lives unlived: Light Perpetual, by Francis Spufford, reviewed

30 January 2021 9:00 am

Francis Spufford was already admired as a non-fiction writer when he published his prize-winning first novel, On Golden Hill, in…

Covid sparks a major incident in London

9 January 2021 2:00 am

Is the NHS at risk of being overwhelmed? That’s a question of increasing concern in Westminster as hospital admissions rise. Sadiq Khan…

City of gold: Peter Ackroyd on the undimmed spirit of London

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Peter Ackroyd on the undimmed spirit of London

A magical field hospital for vegetables: Turnips reviewed

5 December 2020 9:00 am

Turnips is an haute cuisine restaurant inside a greengrocer in Borough Market in London. I suspect others will try this…

Letters: How Nicola Sturgeon outdoes Boris

31 October 2020 9:00 am

Ask the English Sir: Toby Young rightly criticises the juvenile posturing of the devolved governments of the Union over Covid-19…

London’s war on motorists isn’t helping anybody

24 October 2020 9:00 am

London’s war on motorists isn’t helping anybody

The best food Italy can offer: Giannino Mayfair reviewed

10 October 2020 9:00 am

Pity the gilded restaurants of Mayfair, if you can: they are dying. Some have reopened; they ache on like men…

Social distancing in Soho: The French House reviewed

26 September 2020 9:00 am

London is gasping — so where to go but Soho, which is so good at despair? It is often necrotic…

Have big cities had their day?

19 September 2020 9:00 am

About 15 years ago I noticed a few surviving chattel houses in Barbados and wondered what they were. As it…

A perfect luncheon wine

5 September 2020 9:00 am

I suspect, though this may be romanticising, that if a French lorry driver with hitherto suppressed culinary tastes won France’s…

The joy of commuting

29 August 2020 9:00 am

My train journey to work is bliss

A great Dane: Snaps + Rye reviewed

15 August 2020 9:00 am

Snaps + Rye is a Nordic-themed restaurant and delicatessen on the Golborne Road, at the shabby and thrilling edges of…

The joy of eating birdseed

8 August 2020 9:00 am

Rather like unpacking after a holiday, when you take unworn clothes from the case still neatly folded because the occasion…

London in limbo: can the capital survive this crisis?

8 August 2020 9:00 am

The capital is the motor of Britain’s economy. It needs to get moving again

Stringfellows with fish instead of women: Sexy Fish reviewed

1 August 2020 9:00 am

Sexy Fish is an Asian fusion barn in Berkeley Square, near the car dealerships and the nightingales, if they are…

Our exile in NW1

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Laikipia The sweetest sound to me now is the dawn chorus of birdsong at home on the farm. I lay…

Cyclists have become an easy police target

21 February 2020 10:00 pm

Most Britons assume at the outset that any misfortune involving a cyclist is the cyclist’s fault. After all, many a…

The food is almost too superb: Wild Honey reviewed

1 February 2020 9:00 am

Wild Honey is a ludicrous name for this restaurant: there is nothing wild about it, and I do not think…

A river of lost souls: the extraordinary secrets of the Thames

14 December 2019 9:00 am

If you spend enough time on the Thames, you will eventually come across human remains. It is a river of…

Sumptuous, remote – and forgettable: Locket’s reviewed

14 December 2019 9:00 am

Locket’s is a new café from the owners of Wiltons in Jermyn Street. Wiltons is the restaurant that dukes visit…

nato

Trump is saving Nato

5 December 2019 4:32 am

It’s almost Nato as usual when Emmanuel Macron calls Nato ‘brain dead’. It’s Nato as usual, and Donald Trump as…

Joan Collins: why I love London taxi drivers

26 October 2019 9:00 am

Percy and I have seen quite a few movies recently and enjoyed many of them, which is rare. But the…

I’ve had my fill of brasseries: Moncks reviewed

5 October 2019 9:00 am

If you review restaurants professionally you would not think Britain wanted to leave the EU. You would think she wanted…