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Wednesday 8 October 2008

Dare to dream and make your ultimate trip a reality

The latest culture as recommended by our staff

Michael Henderson

Michael Henderson suggests

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Arts

A world elsewhere

Henrietta Bredin visits Oslo's new opera house and finds it impressive, both inside and out

Playing games

Six Characters in Search of an Author
Gielgud

Riflemind
Trafalgar Studios

Confusing frolic

La Calisto
Royal Opera House

Tosca
Opera North, Leeds

A musician friend of mine acquired his first iPod recently, and like small boys who don’t realise that everyone else went through this about five years ago, he and I frequently discuss our battles with the things.

Losing is the new winning

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
15, Nationwide

Arts

Meditation on meaning

Rothko
Tate Modern, until 1 February 2009

Garden shorts

Ursula Buchan on the new chief presenter of BBC 2’s Gardeners' World

Books

A very slippery book

A review of another biography of that tiresome poser, Lady Hester Stanhope, sent me back to Kinglake’s Eothen and the account of the visit he paid the Queen of the Desert, who dwelt in tents (as he found she didn’t) and reigned over wandering Arabs (which wasn’t the case either).

Stage-effects in earnest

Churchill’s Wizards, by Nicholas Rankin

Style & Travel

To the manner born

James Sherwood discovers a new meaning to the phrase ‘fashion house’

The scars of war

Andrew Roberts is moved by the battlefields of southern Italy and the sacrifices made there

Clinton Democrats are to blame for the credit crunch

Our current financial turmoil is not the fault of greedy bankers, says Dennis Sewell. In fact, the banks were bullied into lowering their lending standards by left-wing idealists intent on equal opportunities at any cost

Dennis Sewell

The masters of the universe have turned to drink

The failure of the $700 billion bail-out has driven her former City-boy chums to despair, says Venetia Thompson. But they must rally soon to keep the market moving

Venetia Thompson

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