Volvo V90 review: Swede dreams really are made of this July 25, 2016 Sweden’s two great carmakers, Saab and Volvo, have met very different fates. The former was declared bankrupt and production ended in 2014. The latter, on the other hand, is experiencing a glorious renaissance, funded by Chinese money and spearheaded by the brilliant XC90 SUV. Swede dreams, indeed. While the XC90 is Volvo’s halo model, its [...]
Volvo V90 D5 AWD review: The Swedes finally go into battle with the all-conquering Germans with their new estate car July 25, 2016 Sweden’s two great carmakers, Saab and Volvo, have met very different fates. The former was declared bankrupt and production ended in 2014. The latter, on the other hand, is experiencing a glorious renaissance, funded by Chinese money and spearheaded by the brilliant XC90 SUV. Swede dreams, indeed. While the XC90 is Volvo’s halo model, its [...]
Sloth-spotting in the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest is becoming a popular pastime with Brits July 25, 2016 The internet is responsible for reviving many things that should be extinct: men’s rights activism, the music career of Rick Astley and, less unpleasantly, everybody’s favourite endangered species, the sloth. Despite the fact they can barely drag themselves across a road, these smiley slow-coaches have somehow managed to take over the world wide web. Time [...]
A long weekend in Lucerne, Switzerland, a place of almost unimaginable beauty July 22, 2016 Where: Cradle of local hero William Tell, home of Wagner, Lucerne is a cobalt, lakeside idyll, ringed by mythical snow- capped mountains, a gorgeous Swiss City with a medieval Altstadt (Old Town), historic covered bridges, cobbled squares where perfectly conserved Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance houses, decorated with mosaics, jostle together inside towering city walls. First made [...]
Opinion: Sotheby’s International Realty UK’s Robin Paterson on the benefits of Brexit on the London housing market July 21, 2016 In just four weeks the UK is already recovering from the ‘post Brexit dip’. We have seen the pound to euro exchange rate bounce back and we have seen our political dismay begin to correct itself with the welcome and surprisingly swift appointment of our new Prime Minister. We cannot deny that, in the first [...]
Holiday Homes: The modern glass houses surrounding the golf resorts of Quinta do Lago in Portugal are worth millions July 21, 2016 Overlooking the Golfe green at the five star Portuguese resort of Quinta do Lago are four houses – all, at first glance, the epitome of the “escape to the sun” idyll. Three of them, recently built by the same developer, are large, ultra-modern glass homes that wouldn’t look out of place on BBC’s Grand Designs, [...]
Property of the Week: This old printing factory on Epworth Street in Shoreditch has the old Home Office’s reclaimed parquet flooring July 21, 2016 For the first time in almost a decade, this unique home has gone on the market in a former Victorian printing factory in the heart of Shoreditch. It was transformed from an industrial 80s development into the light and airy family home it is today by Julie Sibley, an Ayurvedic medical practitioner who lives on [...]
New homes on sale in London this weekend: from the biggest development in Chelsea for a century to the regeneration of Catford July 21, 2016 Chelsea Waterfront From £1.55m Overseas buyers are showing a strong interest in new homes at Chelsea Waterfront following the EU Referendum result, according to its developer Hutchinson Property Group. The first phase of the redevelopment of the former Lots Road Power Station has sold out, and 17 out of 28 units remain in the second [...]
The Fix review: A musical take on US politics that’s almost as entertaining as the real thing July 21, 2016 The long awaited splicing of House of Cards and hyper-camp musical theatre, The Fix is a boisterous show about one family’s desperate attempts to lay claim to the highest and most oval-shaped office in the land. When presidential hopeful Reed Chandler corks it during a scandalous act of extramarital sex-doing, the weight of his political [...]
11 things to do in London this weekend, including watching Usain Bolt, geeking out to Star Trek and enjoying William Eggleston’s photographs July 21, 2016 1. Go and see some filthy cabaret at the Hippodrome Cabaret, Hippodrome, Saturday, 19.30, from £15-£50 Inspired by 1930s Parisian cabaret but also swiping at the mainstream success of Cirque du Soleil, this is a sassy combination of smut and sparkle. 2. Remember your childhood watching The BFG Film, IMAX Waterloo, Saturday, 11.15, £20 A saccharine-sweet [...]