The nearly quarter-century-old, mile-long, 67-acre project to redevelop London’s King’s Cross is a monument to its age. This is the urban reorganization of the Blair era and where the third way was conceived, the idea that market forces, wisely directed by moderate government, could be a force for good. It will go down in the… Read More »
It’s a gray spring morning in London, and a box containing an old woman’s head sits on the pavement in Covent Garden. Or rather, parts of a piece. Its head is torn apart because, whole, it doesn’t fit: it’s about eight feet tall and even wider, its eyes are the size of a cauldron, its… Read More »
Few islands have captured the British imagination as powerfully as Pitcairn. It is the beautiful but desolate rock in the Pacific where the mutineers of HMS Bounty hid and their descendants have been torn apart by infighting, tragedies and crime for hundreds of years. But these days islanders tend to have more mundane preoccupations: Wi-Fi,… Read More »
I stopped at the top of the Santa Bárbara castle to catch my breath; I was astonished by the stunning view from the trenches as well as the steep climb. Between the Mediterranean Sea and the dust-coloured mountains the city lay like a cat in the afternoon sun. In the distance, the towers of Benidorm… Read More »
Capel-Y-Ffin built 1870 (Fine & Country) In the verdant hills of Monmouthshire, near the market town of Abergavenny, stands a whitewashed stone abbey built in the 19th century. This is Capel-y-Ffin Abbey, built around a square central courtyard and surrounded by eight acres of gardens and grounds. Outside, there is a white statue of the… Read More »
At 10:00 on a Saturday morning, I am sitting at a cafe table on a cobblestone street in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district and sipping a glass of wine. tea (Turkish tea) and waiting for breakfast. At the entrance of the cafe, a plump, grey-haired man in a crisp white apron sharpens his knife before slicing into… Read More »
Sitting under ceiling fans at Koshy’s Restaurant, a fixture in this city since 1952, it was as if nothing had changed. Waiters in white uniforms with silver buttons on their tunics were taking care of elderly customers with ironed shirts. Even the items on the menu looked like artifacts from a different era: cream of… Read More »
A security guard and his Alsatian patrol the former Royal Navy artillery unit behind the high, rusty barbed wire that separates the beach and its walkers from the abandoned area. The jumble of buildings used throughout the Cold War remain gaunt and forgotten; weeds grew among the cracks and piles of rubble in the huge… Read More »
“Agency” is a current buzzword in opera, well-worn but still relevant, and usually preceded by the word “woman.” Women who were abused, controlled, and died were long assumed to have no free will. A radical rethinking of history and opera as a whole put this expectation to rest. One of the sharpest cross-examiners of any… Read More »
There’s so much to discover in Munich’s cultural scene – Munchen Tourismus The beer swell, the glass clink, lederhosen and dirndls. Few cities have such a one-dimensional image, at least in terms of tourism, as Munich. True, the arrival of Harry Kane reminded him of his footballing legacy and for enthusiasts the BMW museum on… Read More »