In common with many men, I suspect, I routinely used to tear the pockets of my coats and/or jackets by trying to fit into them items that really shoul...

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Bagging rights

Yesterday the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, unveiled his spring budget for 2024. It is likely to be the last major financial event until t...

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Hunting for better news

In the Shirley Sherwood gallery at Kew Gardens there is a fascinating indoor exhibition by a renowned British artist, Mat Collishaw. Among the display...

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Quite a sight inside at Kew

Late last September, I flew to Florence. My final destination was Rome but I’d left my plans rather late and by far the cheapest way to make my ...

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Adventures in Italia

Right now, the hardest place to get a reservation for lunch or dinner in London might be this one: The Devonshire, in Denman Street, W1. I managed it ...

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A quality pub on the corner

This film was released last year and is set in 2019. It was shot in Cromer on the North Norfolk coast and based in a world in which the UK is almost p...

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A trip down memory lane

First things first. The author would insist this is not fiction. Others would agree and call it hogwash, but while the jacket blurb to this book by Na...

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Stark Staring Nad

You will see – as if you didn’t already know! – from the rudimentary map on the home page that Russia is an enormous country. It str...

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Russia out of our area?

Christmas comes early to London’s West End. No sooner is Bonfire Night out of the way than the Christmas lights go on, first of all on Oxford St...

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Having a lights Christmas