London
Back to the future
The west end of London is still pale and necrotic, but there are points of light. Hatchards the bookseller is…
London’s mayoral race is a warning to Tories nationwide
The London Mayoral election is more of a procession than a race. The only real question is whether Sadiq Khan…
What can Laurence Fox hope to achieve with his bid for London mayor?
As if the politics of the Western world wasn’t well past parody already, this weekend sees Laurence Fox throwing his…
Reinventing the wheel
For most London-based politicians, there’s a threat that’s worse than Covid. You’ll begin to notice it as we ease out…
Taking office
Is now the time to invest in commercial property?
The EU is stepping up its raid on the city of London
It is not usual for the Governor of the Bank of England to ask permission to make a statement about…
The problem with renaming London’s streets
In Taksim Square, the busy central hub of Istanbul, a large, viril monument stands. In the centre is Mustafa Kemal…
High life
Gstaad Good old Helvetia. I’m quitting her for the rainy but pleasant land of England. The cows are beginning to…
City limits
The phrase ‘rich people’s problems’ has its uses. I once overheard a group in a Knightsbridge restaurant sympathising with a…
Unlived lives
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
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
Roots of happiness
Turnips is an haute cuisine restaurant inside a greengrocer in Borough Market in London. I suspect others will try this…
Letters
Ask the English Sir: Toby Young rightly criticises the juvenile posturing of the devolved governments of the Union over Covid-19…
Fuming
London’s war on motorists isn’t helping anybody
Rich pickings
Pity the gilded restaurants of Mayfair, if you can: they are dying. Some have reopened; they ache on like men…
Soho: home of the brave
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?
About 15 years ago I noticed a few surviving chattel houses in Barbados and wondered what they were. As it…
Right up my alley
I suspect, though this may be romanticising, that if a French lorry driver with hitherto suppressed culinary tastes won France’s…
Commuter says yes
My train journey to work is bliss
Great Dane
Snaps + Rye is a Nordic-themed restaurant and delicatessen on the Golborne Road, at the shabby and thrilling edges of…
Actress’s Notebook
Rather like unpacking after a holiday, when you take unworn clothes from the case still neatly folded because the occasion…
London in limbo
The capital is the motor of Britain’s economy. It needs to get moving again
Bringing Sexy back
Sexy Fish is an Asian fusion barn in Berkeley Square, near the car dealerships and the nightingales, if they are…
Wild life
Laikipia The sweetest sound to me now is the dawn chorus of birdsong at home on the farm. I lay…






























