Having no doubt tip-toed up the Eiffel Tower, taken a photo outside the Sacre-Coeur and sailed down the Seine, you should now head for Paris’s horticultural hot spot: the Jardin des Plantes in the fifth arrondissement. Created in 1635 as a royal garden of medicinal plants, today it contains thousands of varieties spread across 11 […]
Reviews
This Is Not America — black, British and a world apart
A year ago, I opened a respected British journal and read that I was Black. Specifically, I was, it turned out, a Black historian. Who knew? Until then, I was simply known as a historian. The editor was dismayed when I complained about not wanting to be racialised in this way; he imagined I’d be […]
‘Cerebrum’ — enigmatic sci-fi horror possessed by a promising madness
The influence of Jordan Peele’s mighty Get Out lingers behind this enigmatic British sci-fi horror, with its stricken black hero, while white folk get up to insane things in basements; thanks to the often frontal framing, there is something in the visual style too. The difference is that race is an unspoken subtext here, completely […]
Plunging necklines and tiny shorts: Skin on show at Paris menswear week
Plunging necklines, short-shorts and bottoms peaking out — this has been a menswear week in Paris with plenty of skin on show. From upstart brands such as Egonlab to fabled houses Hermes and Loewe, designers have been keen to lay things bare for a more liberated male clientele. Tiny shorts were the signature look at […]
Aircraft used for ‘death flights’ returns to Argentina
A cargo plane used by military henchmen during Argentina’s “dirty war” to fly leftists over the ocean and push them to their deaths has been brought back to the country, where it may go on display in a museum on the horrors of dictatorship. The Belfast-built Skyvan PA-51 cargo plane landed in Buenos Aires on […]
‘World’s Best’ review: Roshan Sethi’s coming-of-age dramedy isn’t exactly a mic drop
If you’d like to see the world’s saddest math equation, just watch “World’s Best.” After being given a lighthearted “equation of me” homework assignment on the first day of school, 12-year-old Prem Patel (Manny Magnus) formulates the following: Prem = (mom + dad) x math + Jerome – dad.” A math whiz still reeling from […]
At Glastonbury, a giant spider powered by renewable energy
A giant spider breathes fire into the cloudy night sky over Glastonbury’s Arcadia stage as thumping beats from electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers excite hundreds of fans. The colossal metal arachnid, made from recycled military hardware, has been a fixture at England’s world-famous music festival for years, but this time Arcadia and all the […]
Finland tops UN’s World Happiness Index again
Beyond the veranda of the lakeside cottage, a brilliant June sun turns orange then red before it sinks behind the shoreline. Sibelius’s stirring music swells from speakers and a gentle breeze rustles the reeds. Indoors the log fire flickers in the stone hearth. Time to light the wood-burning sauna, accompanied by a tot of Finlandia […]
‘1920: Horrors of The Heart’ — Vikram Bhatt continues to milk the 2008 classic
Meghna loses her failed author father Dheeraj who dies by suicide and decides to leave a book of secrets for his daughter. Soon after his demise, she gets the book and reads how her step Mother Radhika has been a b*tch to his father ultimately leading to his suicide. She decides to destroy Radhika and […]
Check out the top trending destinations for solo travellers
While solo travel can be one of the most enriching experiences, it can also be daunting. Finding safe destinations that accommodate single travellers is challenging. So if you’re figuring out where to start, a study by Explore Worldwide, an adventure travel platform, has revealed the top 10 cities which are considered the best for solo […]