Go With the Flo: The grandest of Florence’s country piles

A report published earlier this year spells it out – the luxury experiences market is now worth an eye watering $980bn (luxury experiences being defined as cars, art, home, tech, dining, hotels, travel, spas, yachting, etc). Compare that to the personal luxury goods market, worth only $390bn. There are many demographic reasons for this, but we…
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Drake Hotel, Toronto

It’s 1976. I’m five years old and perched on the stairs of our London semi-detached. The phone on the wall rings. My mother pensively answers. It’s bad news from my father, calling long distance from Toronto. He’d gone out there searching for a better life for us, as Britain economically staggered punch drunk from beyond the…
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Effing Good: Lusso reviews the Jaguar F-Type V6S

‘I don’t bloody care what the interior of the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona is like or about the quality of the food served at the journalists’ dinner at Finca Prats Hotel in Lleida or whether Ian Callum is a visionary and also you can cut out your usual preamble of nonsequitur bollocks that leads to…
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Break for the Bore Da: Celtic Manor Resort, Wales

For centuries, the Welsh fought back the Vikings. Now the Scandinavians have calmed down a bit, their style is more welcome. As the lyrics to the 2010 YouTube smash, Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind), a hilarious parody of Empire State of Mind, Alicia Keys and Jay Z’s ode to New York suggest, there’s plenty to…
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Four on the Bloor: The Four Seasons, Toronto

The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the LORD am your God. – Leviticus 19:34.  It’s initially hard to see how a deep knowledge of the Jewish Torah would lead to major…
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Les Manoirs de Tourgeville, France

Robert Clayman travels to the French coast where the Norman invasion was plotted and discovers why they’re considerably more than happy to stay put these days. Those LUSSO readers who are keen followers of my oeuvre (hello to Mrs Glenda Vyber of Port Vale, hope your grandson is well and you got the maintenance cheque as…
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The Right Stuff: BA’s 787 Dreamliner

Brain hemispheres, if they even exist, are funny things. They force us to be cognisant of the world in two formats – sensual and rational. Rarely are both equally stimulated. Luckily, British Airways have invested in ways to keep Left and Right equally busy. Any pedant who regularly flies long distance can spout the usual…
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Gill Tea Pleasures: The Angler Restaurant, London

A City fish restaurant that specialises in honest food, clear-headed surroundings and transparent prices? It’ll never catch on!! I thang yew… I haven’t seen Wolf of Wall Street. I might get round to it, but don’t hold your breath. I’ve read the glowing reviews of Martin Scorsese’s three-hour love letter to Mamon. I’ve absorbed the…
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