Notting Hill
Familiar scenarios: Our Evenings, by Alan Hollinghurst, reviewed
There’s a certain pattern to an Alan Hollinghurst novel. A young gay man goes to Oxford. He’s middle class and…
How the Rillington Place murders turned Britain into a nation of ghouls
With titillating newspaper coverage making John Christie’s trial a hot ticket, everyone seemed to want to peep behind the curtains of the house of horror – or even break in
Calm down about the Notting Hill Carnival
There was recently a mass public party at which all sorts of offences were committed. As innocent attendees cut loose…
Tea and treachery: Sheep’s Clothing, by Celia Dale, reviewed
Posing as social services employees, two female ex-cons talk their way into the homes of elderly widows in order to drug them and steal their valuables
I could have directed it better: Steve McQueen's Small Axe reviewed
Unlike with every other BBC period drama series these days, I didn’t have to sit through Small Axe: Mangrove grumbling…
The guileful, soulful art of Khadija Saye
Gwyneth Paltrow has a new neighbour. On the same block in Notting Hill as Gwynie’s Goop store, with its This…
The London I loved: nostalgia for a dirty old town
All cities are shapeshifters, but London is special. London is a palimpsest of places gone but not lost. Even as…
A princess of greasy spoons: Café Diana reviewed
Café Diana is a Princess Diana-themed greasy spoon in Notting Hill Gate. It is a mad place, but it is…
How really to annoy the neighbours: build a basement swimming-pool
This book has brought out my inner Miliband. A punitive mansion tax on all properties with garden squares in Notting…
Dear Mary: How to cope with London Library overcrowding
Q. As a writer I find working at home too distracting. I am a longstanding member of the London Library…
Before we were famous: Tom Stoppard describes sharing a bedsit in Sixties London with Derek Marlowe
Tom Stoppard recalls bedsit days in Sixties London with his laconic friend Derek Marlowe, as they both embarked on a life of writing
Sebastian Faulks's diary: Inside the official first world war commemorations
A year or so ago I was asked to sit on a committee that advises the government on how to…
