planes

Frightful flights, a falling pound: why would you go anywhere but Britain for your summer holiday?

10 August 2019 9:00 am

The epiphany came when I was standing in the oxymoron of a speedy boarding queue at Gatwick, waiting to have…

Plywood at its most curvaceous, acceptable and collectible: Alvar Aalto armchair, 1930 (left), and moulded plywood chair by Grete Jalk, 1963

Grain of truth

8 July 2017 9:00 am

We routinely feel emotional about materials — often subliminally. Which is why new substances and techniques for manufacturing have provoked…

Why plane crashes are getting weirder – and if we’re lucky, other problems will too

11 April 2015 9:00 am

In the late 1980s, the parks service in the United States were concerned about the deterioration of the stonework on…

The perils of planespotting

7 March 2015 9:00 am

A dangerous hobby Three men from Greater Manchester were arrested and held in the UAE after being seen writing down…

Dear Mary: how can I stop my husband from chopping down all our trees?

31 January 2015 9:00 am

Q. My husband — currently unemployed — has started ‘sourcing’ logs from our own smallholding. Chopping down perfectly good trees, sawing logs,…