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Aqua Shard

There is a saying amongst restaurant reviewers “never trust a place with a great view.” There is another “never accept  an invitation from an owner”. I went against both yesterday when I visited Aqua Shard as guest of one of the two owners, Richard Ward. But first the view. [...]

February 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

A new angle on the rat race

There’s an old wives’ tale that those of us living in Greater London are – statistically, i.e. by calculating numbers against acreage – never more than six feet away from a rat. When I say it’s an old wives’ tale, this theoretical estimate is actually alleged to have first seen the [...]

February 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

Difficult issues

Ten days ago, at a lunch with some mates, the topic of celebrity sex-charges came up largely because the William Roche and Dave Lee Travis cases were then nearing their end. The consensus – unaided by any personal attendance at the trials and therefore based entirely our ‘reading’ of media [...]

February 16, 2014 // 0 Comments

Valentine’s Day

Call me soppy if you will, but I like St Valentine’s Day. What is the problem being romantic once a year? I composed poems for my two favourite poppets Grania and Julia. I will not publish them as: 1) they are not very good; 2) they contain in-joke;s 3) it’s none of your business. [...]

February 15, 2014 // 0 Comments

Greens

Greens at Duke Street, St. James, was a great favourite of mine in the eighties. Owned by Simon Parker Bowles, it epitomised the elegant English fish restaurant but was always more fun than Wiltons or Bentleys. It certainly was not cheap but I took the view that I would pay a subscription if it [...]

February 14, 2014 // 0 Comments

It’s all in the mind

A phenomenon of modern popular culture, and a media staple, are reports detailing the findings of cod-serious research projects that supposedly shed light upon developments in the way we see ourselves. There’s a classic example available today, featured on the website of the Daily Mail, courtesy [...]

February 14, 2014 // 0 Comments

A gap in understanding

My offering today will no doubt offend some of my ‘sister’ post-feminist scribes, but it addresses one of the dilemmas for modern women – the gap between what the vanguard of equality-strivers demand, largely for themselves, and the true concerns and instincts of the majority. Before anyone [...]

February 13, 2014 // 0 Comments

Best Western

After two nights I was not sorry to leave the small ” superior” room at the Mercure for a much larger, cheaper one at the Best Western next door. I complimented the barman on the service at the Mercure, but this did not compensate for its dreary rooms and common areas. It has too much [...]

February 11, 2014 // 0 Comments

Waiting for the tide of political correctness to go out

This week we learn that the BBC Trust has ordered its programme commissioners and makers to increase female representation on comedy show panels and the like – see today here, on the website of THE GUARDIAN Please pardon me for being male, old and set in my ways, but this sort of [...]

February 9, 2014 // 0 Comments

The Mercure

I am reviewing Brighton’s sea front hotels, starting with the Mercure. The problem that virtually all of them have is that the buildings are old and prone to draughtiness. The Mercure, which is set on the front on the border with Hove, is no exception. I checked in early and gave them full [...]

February 9, 2014 // 0 Comments

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