Blown away by Dorset October 13, 2013 Head to a hotel on the south coast for wholesome activites, fresh salty air and inexpensive fine dining OF ALL the pastimes that governments enjoy, most involve splashing our cash around, telling us what to do, and chucking in a dose of mild nationalism to make it seem a bit more palatable. Little surprise, then, [...]
Restaurant review: Urban Meadow October 15, 2013 RESTAURANT Urban Meadow, 150 Bayswater, W2 4RT Tel: 020 7792 7066 FOOD Three Stars VALUE Five Stars ATMOSPHERE Four Stars Cost for two with drinks: £50 THIS is one of those columns restaurant critics write after they’ve been on holiday, where they bang on about the nice places they’ve been eating while you’ve been stuck [...]
Restaurant review: Baiwei July 30, 2013 8 Little Newport Street, WC2H 7JJ Tel: 020 7494 3605 FOOD Two stars VALUE Three stars ATMOSPHERE One star Cost per person without wine: £25 I find Chinatown incomprehensible. It’s an ever-shifting tangle of restaurants and takeaways and bars and brothels. It morphs and skews before your eyes. You can sit down in one restaurant, [...]
Greece’s catastrophic 1930s-style depression is a salutary tale August 17, 2013 SORRY, but the fact that Greece collapsed at an annual rate of 4.6 per cent in the second quarter, rather than a little bit faster, isn’t good news. It’s terrible, awful, horrible news. Greek output is down by 23 per cent since 2008 and unemployment is at around 28 per cent; no wonder, given the [...]
Should we all just stay in bed? September 23, 2013 NASA is paying guinea pigs to work from their bed – but how productive can we be outside of the office? Melissa York investigates the pros and cons of homeworking THIS week, US space agency NASA announced it was looking for regular guys like you and me to join a special project. Hold on before [...]
Greece’s catastrophic 1930s-style depression is a salutary tale August 12, 2013 SORRY, but the fact that Greece collapsed at an annual rate of 4.6 per cent in the second quarter, rather than a little bit faster, isn’t good news. It’s terrible, awful, horrible news. Greek output is down by 23 per cent since 2008 and unemployment is at around 28 per cent; no wonder, given the [...]
What the analysts are saying about UK retail sales growth August 15, 2013 Source: Capital Economics Earlier this morning, the Office for National Statistics reported that retail sales jumped by 3.0 per cent year-on-year in July, boosted by sunny weather and food sales. For the most part, analysts seemed cautious about getting too excited over the data and prospects for a sustainable recovery. Martin Beck, UK economist [...]
Tea expert who’s found a new blend September 23, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks to Mike Brehme, who is transforming hot drinks for the second time WHAT do you do when you’ve already transformed that most British of pastimes – drinking tea? That was the conundrum facing Mike Brehme – co-founder of Clipper Teas, whose newest venture FruitBroo has recently come onto the shelves at Sainsbury’s [...]
The range of premium mixers produced to raise gin’s spirits October 21, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks luck, liquor and a lightbulb moment with Charles Rolls, co-founder of drinks label Fever-Tree WHILE gin may not be the most popular global spirit (that prestigious title goes to Korean rice wine brand Jinro), the world consumes 440m litres of it each year. But back in 2000, Charles Rolls, co-founder of the [...]
How to make your fitness regime stick August 26, 2013 HOW TO MAKE THOSE FITNESS GOALS STICK Autumn can be a bit like the New Year when it comes to fitness goals. Well intentioned as you were at the start of the summer, you now realise there’s been more barbecued burgers than beach volleyball over the last couple of months. Before you start making a [...]