London
In defence of Fiona Bruce
Will I be allowed to take my dog to Europe after 29 March? A trivial question, you might think, in…
The scent of London has changed: all I can smell now is cannabis
Fewer people are smoking cannabis these days, down to 1.4 million from two million, they say. I say, if you…
If Jeremy Corbyn gets in, then I’m out
To London for much too brief a visit: a marriage, lunch with Commodore Tim Hoare, and a look-see for a…
Home at last – a celebration of 200 years of the Travellers Club
The Travellers Club was founded in 1819 to provide congenial surroundings for those who had ‘travelled outside the British Islands…
Silicon Valley’s weird ideas on how to improve human life
Which is more diverse: London or Devon? That’s not a trick question. London is much more diverse than Devon. But…
Battersea Power Station deserves its glossy makeover – but I’ll miss its crumbling glamour
Battersea Power Station once generated nearly a fifth of London’s power. It must have hummed and clanked almost as much…
Empty restaurants are becoming a bad habit of mine: Coq d’Argent reviewed
I wouldn’t normally visit Coq d’Argent, which I think means the chicken of money. It is a moderately famous restaurant…
The parking is better than the food: Nando’s reviewed
Nando’s, c. 1987, is a restaurant in the Great North Leisure Park, Finchley, N12, off the North Circular, which is my…
Watch out, London: I might be moving back
New York I am seriously thinking of moving back to London. The family insists on it. New York, they say,…
Why are men so obsessed with dieting?
In this gloriously sunny week, the cavalry horses are off on their summer break to Bodney, Norfolk. They can be…
Wedge salad in the shadow of the Tudors: Sargeant’s Mess reviewed
Sargeant’s Mess (2018) is a tourist catcher’s net in restaurant form by the Tower of London (c. 1078). It has views…
Food that’s prettier than you are: The Petersham reviewed
The Petersham is a fading hotel on Richmond Hill. I went to a bar mitzvah there in 1986, which gives…
The perils of speaking in public
I spend my life moving. Over recent years it was research. Now it’s caused by that research. But I have…
It’s time to get real about gang violence in London
Hey, Londoners — been stabbed or shot yet this week? Just thought I’d check as the place seems to resemble,…
Our sheltered lives have made us overly fearful: Aminatta Forna’s Happiness reviewed
In her keynote lecture for a conference on ‘The Muse and the Market’ in 2015 Aminatta Forna mounted a powerful…
Red London: Labour is poised to take the capital
Ever since last year’s general election, when Jeremy Corbyn inspired the strongest Labour surge since 1945, the Conservatives have been…
Sadiq Khan is a lousy London Mayor. Why hasn’t anyone noticed?
According to people at City Hall, Sadiq Khan writes some of his own press releases. I can believe it: they’ve…
How to be a tourist in Europe
Last week, I was in the Florence Baptistery by 8.30 a.m. That used to be early enough to avoid the…
Southend-on-Sea has long been a running joke – until now
Standing at the end of Britain’s longest pier, on a cold and misty morning, looking out across the Thames Estuary,…
How Soho became so-so: Kettner’s Townhouse reviewed
Sometimes I fret that Soho House & Co is doing to this column what it does to London. It places…
It’s survived universal suffrage and two world wars: restaurant Rules reviewed
Rules looks as if it voted for Brexit, and now finds itself inside an eternal Christmas Eve, where it is…
Henrietta: a casual restaurant with formal food for people wearing hats
Henrietta is a restaurant in a boutique hotel on Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, around the corner from the actors’ church…
Security overkill is terror’s real triumph
The moment the news broke on Halloween that an Uzbek in a rental truck had just killed eight people on…
Goodbye London, Reykjavik here I come
I have a message for the London mayor, Sadiq Khan: you and your policies stink! While the fuzz are busy…
The queen of hotels
Jean-Georges at the Connaught — formerly the Prince of Saxe-Coburg Hotel, but it was renamed during the first world war,…
