There is a tiny room in the basement with walls of whitewashed brick and stone shelves as thick as a bible. I have never known its original use, but it is where I keep cake tins and baking sheets, casseroles and bun tins. As you open the creaking door, you are greeted by a teetering…
The Blue Stoops, 127-129 Kensington Church Street, London W8 7LP. Bar snacks £4-£12, starters £6-£15, mains £19-£26, desserts £10-£12, wines from £38 There are many who believe a true pork scratching should be a challenging affair; that you should stumble across the odd one so rich in bristles you don’t know whether to eat it…
The question I’ve been with my partner for more than 25 years and while he’s perfect in pretty much every way, and I love him very much, I have a history – in our relationship – of casual sex and one-night stands. There have been periods of many years when I was monogamous, 10 years…
In 1970, 10 years on from the last National Service callup, long hair and less discipline were the order of the day. Cold War tension continued but, on the home front, three in five adults favoured the return of National Service. The last callup was remembered as having straightened out the ‘non-conforming elements’, wrote Alan…
Willi Schaefer Graacher Riesling Feinherb, Mosel, Germany 2022 (£24, tanners-wines.co.uk) I don’t have synaesthesia, the neurological condition that leads to experiences of “seeing” sound or “hearing” colour. But when it comes to flavour, I can’t help but think in a similarly sense-jumbling way, with certain tastes or organoleptic sensations having strong associations with certain colours…
These days, I have no energy for the steps a properly made-up face requires. Don’t get me wrong, I admire anyone wearing a painstakingly applied maquillage right now. But like I said, zero energy. “Ease” is my word for the month. A blusher that works on the lips, a tinted moisturiser with SPF, a face…