First Dates is Channel 4’s latest attempt to spice up the rather stagnant pool of TV programs about dating. It strays away from the game show format prominent in recent shows like Take Me Out […]
TV | Mary Berry Cooks – More simple and delicious recipes from the Queen of baking
Several years after the BBC ditched the likes of Delia Smith from their schedule, in a seemingly ageist move that instead sought after bright young TV chefs, this approach has been reversed in recognition of […]
Music | Album review – Real Estate
Real Estate Atlas 3/5 Nice – that’s the word that comes to mind on listening to Real Estate’s new offering Atlas. It’s been five years since their debut, and their sunny lo-fi sound remains untampered […]
TV | Outnumbered – The teenage years
The final episode ever of BBC1’s family comedy Outnumbered has now been aired. Having followed the family since 2007, I was enthusiastically anticipating its fifth series. However, as the children turned 11, 13 and 17, […]
Food | Gastronaut – Soul Kitchen
If you’re looking for a spot of warmth and colourful cheer to match this gorgeous weather, then Soul Kitchen at The Wardrobe is perfect. With a menu of Caribbean and Creole dishes, the restaurant oozes […]
Books | Butcher's Crossing
With the rediscovery of the 1965 novel, Stoner or “the greatest American novel you’ve never heard of” last year, the late John Williams has been propelled from relative obscurity to take his rightful place as […]
TV | Silk – Courtroom battles, sex, hypocrisy and even a little bit of Joy Division
Battles in the courtroom, sex, hypocrisy, terminal illness, love, power, and even a bit of Joy Division. What doesn’t series three of Silk have to offer? Well, for Martha Costello (Maxine Peake), it doesn’t seem […]
TV | Five reasons everyone should watch House of Cards
1) Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood Monstrously ambitious and cruel, Kevin Spacey surpasses himself as Frank Underwood. It’s a clichè but one cannot help but love to hate the most powerful man in Congress (or […]
Books | A song for the dying – As close to a perfect crime novel as you can get
When a book has a name like ‘A Song for the Dying’, it shouldn’t be hard to guess what it’s about: gruff detectives, gruesome murders and gallons of blood. In his new book for 2014, […]
Books | Longbourn – Austen would be proud, if not a little outdone
Joe Baker’s recently published Longbourn is a modern day rewriting of Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of the servants: quite right for a period currently besotted with the likes of the Crawleys. Baker’s novel can be […]
TV | Fleming – Shaken but not quite stirred enough
It’s clear that James Bond was Ian Fleming’s idol; his books were his desired autobiography, with “you as you’d like to be”, as his wife is quick to point out to him in the new BBC […]
Books | Sex and the Citadel – Reconsidering attitudes towards sexuality in the Arab world
The Middle East is present in media outlets everyday yet, in the West, sexuality in Arab culture is still only tentatively discussed. The difficult subject matter is made accessible to all readers as Shereen El […]