As Starmer heads to China, Brits rush to buy Chinese EVs January 29, 2026 A couple of years ago, I was invited to the launch of a new Chinese EV brand called Omoda. Myself and a handful of journalists showed up to an inauspicious press event in the basement of a Covent Garden hotel. In the room was parked (I’m still not sure how they got it down there) [...]
Alta review: Serious Spanish food amid the Carnaby crowds January 28, 2026 Alta, Kingly Ct, Carnaby, W1B 5PW | Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus With its jolly pink furniture and candy-striped awnings, Kingly Court has an air of unreality. It’s a Disneyfied version of what food culture might look like if it were imagined by a private equity firm, a place designed to house tourists grappling with their disappointment [...]
A modern type of safari with Sri Lanka’s leopards and elephants January 28, 2026 If I were a wild leopard, or a tiger, or an elephant, I could think of few things more terrifying – or more frustrating – than confronting a line of jeeps, the vehicles encroaching ever closer on my personal space as I grazed, bathed, or cared for my young. Recent horror stories of tourists blocking [...]
London’s top gastropub revealed: Has your favourite made the cut? January 27, 2026 Piccadilly Guinness emporium the Devonshire has been voted the best gastropub in the country, with the capital dominating the list. The Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs awards saw the Devonshire usurp last year’s winner The Unruly Pig in Suffolk, which fell to second place. The Red Lion and Sun in Islington took the final place [...]
‘Nonsense!’ The Apprentice 2026 star Tim Campbell denies he’s ‘softer’ than Karren Brady January 27, 2026 As The Apprentice 2026 arrives to screens this Thursday, viewers will no doubt be on the lookout for more of Baroness Karren Brady’s formidable eyebrow raises as she follows contestants getting evermore confused on their tasks. By comparison to Baroness Brady Lord Sugar’s other aid, the businessman and former contestant Tim Campbell MBE, is viewed [...]
Sleep in a treehouse themed room at this eccentric UK hotel January 27, 2026 WHAT’S THE VIBE?Posh hotels are far too often cloaked in beige in order to appeal to as many people as possible while offending very few. Beige is the Toyota Corolla of luxury hotel design: boring but reliable. If you’re like me and are excited by the prospect of colour and personality, head immediately to the [...]
DakaDaka review: The comfort food we all need right now January 27, 2026 DakaDaka, 10 Heddon Street, W1B 4BX | Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus Heddon Street has developed its own culinary microclimate. Whether by luck or design, it has become a place where you can almost guarantee a decent plate of food, with its current crop of restaurants including Sabor (superlative Spanish), Fonda (respectable Mexican) and Casa do [...]
The Apprentice 2026 star Tim Campbell reveals new task he’d add – and it involves AI January 26, 2026 As The Apprentice 2026 returns, Lord Sugar’s adviser Tim Campbell MBE speaks to Morning Wire The Apprentice returns to the BBC this Thursday 29 January with many of the classic tasks pitting two groups of budding entrepreneurs against each other, as the teams compete to try to make a profit. Contestants have created books, newspapers, [...]
High Noon play review: New ground for the West End’s Westerns January 26, 2026 High Noon review and star rating: ★★ Westerns feel ripe for the stage, although very few have been staged as plays. The musicals are famous West End fodder: Oklahoma! was given a provocative, horny reimagining at the Young Vic in 2022, but while High Noon has some musical numbers courtesy of Bruce Springsteen’s back catalogue, [...]
This Soho pub is putting on a ‘problematic’ show about a drunkard January 23, 2026 The Coach and Horses in Soho is one of central London’s most storied boozers. It was a favourite of Peter O’Toole, who famously once got so drunk he climbed onto the roof and refused to get down until he was served more booze. The late landlord from the 1980s heyday, Norman Balon, earned the nickname [...]