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Tuesday

Marianna Hunt

The best bars for celebrating Independence Day

While most parades and public fireworks displays have been called off for 4 July, it is still an excellent excuse for a good old American knees up. Good food and drink are key to any Independence Day party. From smoky barbeque joints to slinky speakeasies, here are the best places to celebrate in London. The Stafford The Stafford Hotel’s American bar was designed to dispel any sense of homesickness among visiting Americans in 1920s and 1930s London. Day-to-day items donated by visitors over the decades, from baseball caps to toy aeroplanes, dangle haphazardly from the ceiling. It is one of the longest surviving American bars in the city and a plaque

William Cook

A non-clubber’s guide to Ibiza

When my wife suggested a holiday in Ibiza, I thought she must be bonkers. I’d always hated clubbing, and now we had a baby and a toddler in tow. Shows how much I know. We went, we had a great time and the only clubbers we encountered were in the kids’ club at our hotel. That was 17 years ago, I’ve been back several times since then, and now the Balearics are on the green list we can’t wait to return. Our children are almost grown up now, far too cool to tag along, but it’ll be an ideal break for the two of us. I bet you’d love it too.

Nicole Trilivas

The dos and don’ts of flying by private jet

The private aviation industry is soaring at the moment with increased bookings and offerings in the aftermath of Covid, as well as an influx of new pay-per-seat, on-demand private jet services arriving on the market. Whether you’re flying private for the first time or the fiftieth time this summer, or simply curious as to how it’s done, good manners are always the ticket. So what’s the secret to passing yourself off as a seasoned pro? Seating ‘Always respect the owner,’ says Marine Eugène, European Managing Director of Flexjet. ‘It’s a little bit like when you’re invited for dinner…[Owners] may not put your name on the seat, but they have an idea of

Mark Mason

The power of the pre-match playlist

If England go on to win Euro 2020, you might just have Ed Sheeran to thank. The pop star played a morale-boosting private gig for the squad last week at their St George’s Park training camp in Staffordshire. ‘A bit of food, a barbecue – he jumped on the guitar and played a few songs,’ reported Jordan Henderson. But Sheeran’s set (some of his own songs, plus acoustic versions of UK garage hits) is part of a long and not-always-harmonious relationship between football and pop music. From David Beckham’s dire pre-game playlist to the reason Johnny Marr of the Smiths failed a trial at Manchester City, here’s the turf where Top 40

Monday

Robert Jackman

UFOs on screen: the best documentaries to watch

In a watershed moment for modern history, the Pentagon’s long-awaited report on UFOs landed last week. And it will no doubt send parts of the internet into overdrive. Officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said there were ‘no clear indications’ that the sightings in the report could be linked to non-terrestrial origins but that the data available was not sufficient to form a clear explanation for the various phenomena observed. If you’re amongst the millions fascinated by mysterious flying objects, here are eight films you may enjoy: The Phenomenon Amazon – to rent Undoubtedly the quintessential appetite-whetter before the big Pentagon report, The Phenomenon is the magnum opus of

Ameer Kotecha

What to eat and drink while watching Wimbledon

Wimbledon is back. Having been cancelled last year, it is now one of the pilot events chosen as part of the Government Event Research Programme, with 50 per cent capacity crowds on the main courts at the start rising to full capacity for the semi-finals and finals. What is more, organisers have said Murray Mound will also be open to spectators and the grumpy Scot himself has been given a wildcard qualification for this year’s tournament. Those attending can look forward to suffocating in their face masks as they move from court to court in the June heat. Thankfully, masks will not be required once seated in the stands and

Lauren Hill

The hottest new Balearic hotels to try this summer

Following the recent announcement of Britain’s extended green list, many UK travellers will be jetting off for the only part of Spain to make the cut: the Balearic Islands. A number of laidback luxury hotels and locally inspired resorts are making their debut across the Balearics just as travellers return. These are the brand-new properties providing beachfront, mountain-backed and garden-enclosed retreats across Ibiza, Mallorca, Formentera and Menorca. Six Senses Ibiza Six Senses is making its entry to the Balearics this summer with the debut of Six Senses Ibiza. Set over 20 acres on the northern tip of the island, the village-like retreat combines uninterrupted sea views and direct access to Cala

Saturday

James Innes-Smith

The death of masculinity

The Duchess of Sussex says she wants her father/son themed children’s book The Bench ‘to depict another side of masculinity — one grounded in connection, emotion, and softness.’ This assumes of course that men aren’t already connected, emotional and soft, which, as a touchy-feely kind of bloke I find a little off.  Imagine if I had written a children’s book about a mother/daughter relationship (that could never happen, of course) and then announced that I wanted to depict ‘another side of femininity – one grounded in connection, emotion, and softness.’ The outrage would probably be threefold – I’d almost certainly be harangued for presuming to understand the unique relationship between

Friday

Hugh Thomson

When will Stonehenge’s lockdown end?

Another year, another row about Stonehenge. A rather sad piece on the BBC News website describes how its lacklustre custodians, English Heritage, had to cancel a live feed of the sunrise on the day of the solstice due to unspecified ‘safety concerns’ when a few people were seen climbing over a low fence to access the stones. More than 200,000 people around the world had tuned in to the live stream ‘but ended up watching pre-recorded footage of the stones until the feed returned at around 5am, showing largely cloudy skies’. Oh dear. But then disappointment has been hanging over our most famous prehistoric monument like a cloud for over a

Will Gore

Malta: why the Queen’s cherished island is worth a visit

The Queen has never been one for a beach holiday, but as a young woman she loved spending time on the sun-dappled island of Malta. The then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip stayed on the island regularly just after the Second World War, the newly weds residing at the Villa Guardamangia from 1949 to 1951. They enjoyed being near the sea, visiting the racetrack and being out of the public eye. The Queen is even said to have visited a hairdresser for the first time there. Viewers of The Crown will be familiar with this period, which the Queen and Prince Philip reportedly described as one of the happiest times in

Robert Jackman

The British shows beloved by Europeans

Forget the sausage war; could the real Brexit battle be over streaming services? After all, surely even hardened Remainers will have been appalled by the European Commission’s plan to make it more difficult to stream British shows on the continent. Will it happen? Only time will tell. But here are eight shows that are a hit on the continent and that European viewers will really miss: Chernobyl Sky Atlantic/Now TV Keenly watched pretty much everywhere, Sky’s superlative disaster drama is amongst the biggest British televisual exports to the EU (another accolade to add to its various Baftas, Emmys and Golden Globes). What’s more, Chernobyl is one drama that really went out of

Olivia Potts Olivia Potts

Ratatouille: a versatile Provençal one-pot

There aren’t many veggie stews that can lay claim to being immortalised in popular culture. Fewer still that could then complain about being grossly misrepresented. But then ratatouille is no ordinary vegetable stew. Ratatouille is a Provençal dish, made by gently cooking aubergine, courgette, and red peppers, with a tomato sauce flavoured with onion, garlic and herbs. It is, in many ways, extremely simple. But for all its simplicity, it remains the subject of confusion. If you watch Pixar’s Ratatouille, you will see the terrifying food critic, Anton Ego, reduced to a Proustian state of rapture when served what we are told is ratatouille, making him recall his childhood and

Thursday

Sarah Bridge

From Bob Dylan to Zaha Hadid: how new artistic director Shai Baitel is shaking up the Modern Art Museum Shanghai

Lockdown affects us all in different ways. During New York’s first lockdown renowned art creative Shai Baitel, recently appointed artistic director of Modern Art Museum Shanghai (MAM), felt so starved of creative inspiration that he begged anyone he knew with access to an art gallery near his New York City home to let him visit – just him, socially distanced – just so he could get his artistic fillip. ‘Everything was shut down from mid-March and by mid-May I started calling friends of mine who were owners and directors of galleries, asking them just to open for me so I could go and see the art,’ he says. ‘No-one else

Wednesday

James Max

Where to find value in Surrey

The debate over whether we will end up going back to the office five days a week is likely to rumble on for the coming years. Desperate employers worried that the genie is out of the bottle are battling with those of us who happen to get more done when we aren’t distracted by gossiping at the water cooler. And it’s not just anecdotal either. According to research undertaken by Close Brothers, 39 per cent of Londoners are thinking of moving to achieve a better quality of life. So where should you move if lifestyle is driving your decision? Surrey has often been touted in times gone by as the first county

Simon Evans Simon Evans

What Sci Fi novels can teach us about uncertainty

In times of great uncertainty – and Eurovision humiliation aside, 2021 surely qualifies – many are tempted to examine ‘speculative fiction’ from the past, to understand the present. 1984 has had a good year, and seems much less dated than anything actually from 1984, such as Wham!, The Karate Kid or Roland Rat. Huxley’s Brave New World is now the standard rebuttal to Orwell – with Forster’s The Machine Stops, in at least a respectable third place. But what of the pulpier end of the market? Those privately educated literary figures were not the only ones peering into the future before The Last War and it can be illuminating to

Alec Marsh

Why the British should eat more oysters

Back when the dinosaurs still thought they were the bees-knees, another little creature was gently making its way into the big wide world. And now, more than 150 million years later – having withstood at least one planetary-wide annihilation (the one that knocked T-Rex off his perch) – the humble oyster may be on the cusp of making history itself. That’s because this simple bivalve mollusc, cultivated on our shores since Roman times, really could help save the planet, albeit this time from an annihilation of man’s own making. And here’s how: as most of are aware, we humans face two enormous challenges over the next 30 years: first, we

Tuesday

Geoff Norcott Geoff Norcott

The problem with ‘just’ another four weeks

When the government announced an extension of lockdown restrictions I was furious. Furious for political reasons. Furious for economic and libertarian reasons, but – if I’m completely honest – mainly furious because I had tickets to see The Shapeshifters to do a DJ set on Saturday 26th June. However, I have to admit that on the recent occasions I have been out in busy places it’s taken me a while to get my social ‘sea-legs’ back. When the moment came I wasn’t fully match-fit for the chaotic demands of a city centre boozer. Just like a football team preparing for a tournament, I should’ve eased back into it, with a

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Why do footballers equate health with virtue?

Last Tuesday, the great footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of Portugal, removed two bottles of Coca-Cola from a table in front of him, and tens of millions of pounds of sponsorship money went down the plughole. Ronaldo was at a press conference for the Euro 2021 Championship, in which Coca-Cola had invested heavily – and, as it turned out, pointlessly. It took Ronaldo just seven seconds to make his point: that regular Coca-Cola is stuffed with sugar and if you drink too much of it, or any sugary soft drink, you’d better book an appointment at the diabetes clinic now. Having hidden the fizzy drinks, Ronaldo held up a bottle of

Alexander Larman

The joy of second hand books

There are few aesthetic and literary pleasures that compare to browsing in a second-hand bookshop. While it is more or less a given what books will be found in a new bookshop, one of the chief joys of going second hand is that it’s entirely unpredictable what you’ll emerge with. Sometimes, the browser will leave empty-handed, but more often than not – and I speak from personal experience here – ‘a quick look’ will turn into the purchase of a dozen interesting volumes and a solid half an hour’s perusal. Yet the industry, once so much part of every town and city, has been existentially threatened by the growth of

Monday

Simon de Burton

Inside Prince Charles’s wine-powered Aston Martin

James Bond might have served as Aston Martin’s greatest ambassador for the best part of half a century, but the Prince of Wales isn’t far behind. He’s been an Aston man ever since mum and dad gave him a Seychelle Blue DB6 for his 21st in 1969, when a gallon of leaded four-star cost a reasonable six shillings and tuppence. He still owns the MKII ‘Volante’ (that’s Aston-speak for convertible) and allowed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to use it as their post-wedding ‘getaway vehicle,’ complete with cringe-worthy ‘JU5T WED’ fake registration and droll ‘L’ plates with hearts in each corner. Just four years after acquiring the DB6, the