I arrive at City Airport. The check-in lady squints at my passport. Maybe she knows something. A few drawn-out minutes pass and she hands it back. Perhaps she’s just short-sighted. Or half-witted. “This will be no normal mission, it’s a literary affair”, the memo from HQ said. “Tolstoy and KGB will be involved. He has…
Sure, most people who buy tunas like this break them down and sell off their parts to sushi restaurants around the world, but that seems like such a waste. Why buy something this expensive if you can’t show it off? That’s why I’ve been displaying my giant tuna in the entrance hall all spring, in…
I am a self-professed technology geek and though I am happy to pay for the perfect service or product that delivers nirvana without my having to get involved, I frequently find that, when it comes to getting what I want, there is no price I can pay if the service doesn’t exist. Which brings me…
One of the most pleasing aspects of Havana cigars, for me at any rate, is that they remain, even after nearly two centuries, a very personal product. The Cuban cigar industry still produces twenty-seven different brands, each with its own style and flavour. Every one boasts its own selection of sizes chosen from over seventy…
While we like elaborate pleasures – we’d hardly put this magazine out if we didn’t – sometimes we have to step back and appreciate a simple joy. Using a fountain pen, for example, particularly one as well-crafted as these. The Breguet pens are particularly desirable, with their satisfying weight and the sort of craftsmanship you’d…
Money can’t bring you happiness – as the Pink Floyd song doesn’t go. A cliché spun by the poor to give succour to a life of Travelodges and Nando’s? Very probably. Allegedly, psychologists have definitively worked out the time it takes for lottery winners to lose the glow of good fortune. It’s 12 months. That’s all…
Art predates agriculture. And still none of us is sure what it’s for. Like religion, all civilisations have it. But still we don’t know why we need it. Anthropologists say our species started the moment when we showed the first observable sign of being separate, different, from the other primates. That moment, 40,000 years ago,…
A new name in the UK audio market is bringing its 30-years of experience in the Hi-Fi industry to households everywhere just in time for Christmas. Offering a totally fresh approach to the way we listen, Blue Auras distinctive audio products will appeal to the most discerning music fans through the winning combination of high-end…
The housing market has never received so much economic analysis and press coverage as now. We are all constantly bombarded with statistics and headlines that claim to accurately describe what is happening to the value of our homes. As with any fluctuating market place, providing an accurate forecast is tricky but the range of conclusions…
170 Galleries will again be battling it out to flog contemporary works of art by living artists (if you’re not breathing, you don’t get in) to a host of collectors, curators and celebrities all hell-bent on trying to predict Saatchi’s next move. From humble beginnings the show has grown into the art world’s foremost international…