London
Letters
Breaking the unions Sir: By the time this letter appears we shall know whether the land of my birth has…
A Cubist in New York
The American Jewish artist Max Weber (1881–1961) was born in Belostok in Russia (now Bialystok in Poland), and although he…
My little plutocrat
Rextail is a restaurant for billionaire children, such as Richie Rich. Its owner, Arcady Novikov, has already opened a restaurant…
Applause for the Beeb’s new leading lady – but did the male runner-up deserve such a kicking?
Hats off to Rona Fairhead, the former Financial Times executive who will succeed Lord Patten as chairman of the BBC…
Vienna without the Austrians
Fischer’s is Austria made safe for liberals, gays, Jews and other Untermenschen riffraff, because it is a restaurant, not a…
A sense of injustice
Sister Christine Frost, who works on an east London estate, sees why young Muslim men are going to fight in Iraq and Syria
Diary
Like many inward-looking children, I always doodled stories and poems. Knowing one wanted to be a writer is a different…
Barometer
Tough at the top The clocks on Big Ben were cleaned by abseiling window-cleaners. Some other big cleaning/painting jobs: —…
The British beheaders
Why we lead the West in exporting jihad
Boris jumps in
The next Tory leadership battle has just begun
Rebooting the Snail
L’Escargot, or the Snail, is a famous restaurant on Greek Street, Soho, opposite the old Establishment club; the oldest French…
Squaring up
In Knightsbridge and Chelsea, tension simmers between Sloanes and super-rich Arabs
Welcome to the club
Writing frankly about Jamaica has made me nervous of invitations from strangers. How would this one turn out?
Diary
The former proprietor of this magazine, Conrad Black, is in London at the moment with his gorgeous wife Barbara, and…
Here we go again: bankers taking liberties in pools full of sharks
It was at the Mansion House dinner last year that a City gent two seats away announced himself to be…
I may not know much about khat, but I know banning it is crazy
Khat is a leafy stimulant chewed mainly, I gather, by Somalis. This week the government banned its possession and sale.…
Dinner with the paparazzi
Here then is Gatsby’s house, after an invasion by the Daily Mail. It is called the Chiltern Firehouse. It is…
Long life
Although I live in the country in Northamptonshire, I go to London often — almost once a week — and…
Labour has proved that it speaks for London – and nowhere else
So, now almost all the votes have been counted — except for those in the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets, where…
Why picking holes in Piketty might help stop Miliband’s mansion tax
The postman at the door is stooped by his burden like an allegorical statue of Labour Oppressed by Capital. His…
End of the rude
Wong Kei is a mad Chinese restaurant on Wardour Street, Chinatown. Until recently it was considered the rudest restaurant in…
Marylebone
‘Take a trip to Marylebone station,’ chanted my husband. ‘Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.’ I had been…
Watching the clock
Whatever worries Kiefer Sutherland may have had about reprising the role of Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day (Sky1,…
Why I’m a kamikaze cyclist
The only way to survive as a London cyclist is to behave like a complete nutter
Rise of the mayors
The power to effect real change may lie with dynamic city halls rather than ossified national governments
