The ancient civilisations of Greece and Persia were enemies for centuries – and their disagreements didn’t only find expression on the battlefield, said Daisy Dunn in The Daily Telegraph. As this “major new exhibition” demonstrates, they had starkly contrasting attitudes towards luxury goods. From the Persian perspective, “lovely things” suchContinue Reading
Many people realise that Boris Johnson is a dishonest chancer who lacks any real convictions, said David Gauke in The New Statesman. Less obvious – at least to those outside Whitehall – is “quite how extraordinarily inept he was at performing some of the basic functions of being prime minister”.Continue Reading
Writers claim they are treated as gig workers and set to be replaced by AIContinue Reading
When the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld died in 2019, he “was eulogised as the last of the old guard”, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. This feature-length BBC documentary aims to “demystify the man behind those famous sunglasses” – and it does so with panache. Directed by Michael Waldman, theContinue Reading
“There’s been no shortage of stage portrayals of real life VIPs in the past couple of years,” said Clive Davis in The Times. Jack Thorne’s “thoughtful, often wickedly droll” new play, about the relationship between Richard Burton and John Gielgud during rehearsals for a 1964 production of Hamlet on Broadway,Continue Reading
The first semi-final for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has seen Ireland fail to qualify for the main event. Wild Youth, the Dublin indie rock band, were among five acts eliminated during the 15-strong first live semi-final of the week at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. Ireland has notContinue Reading
Pioneering singer and actor turned activist who campaigned against the apartheid has died aged 96Continue Reading
The rise in popularity of staycations has “reinforced something books have been teaching us for centuries”, said Olivia Emily on Country & Town House. “You don’t have to travel far to feel like you’re in another world.” As somewhere that has produced some of the “most celebrated literary figures throughoutContinue Reading
Tartan may well be “the most categorised textile on Earth”, said Cal Revely-Calder in The Daily Telegraph. There are more than 11,000 recognised varieties of this grid of “geometric patterns of coloured thread”, each one of them loaded with symbolism. Over the centuries, tartan has been “a source of pride,Continue Reading
This six-part drama reportedly cost Amazon Prime “somewhere north of $250m”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. So was it worth it? “You betcha. It’s Mission: Impossible meets The Bourne Identity meets James Bond while glancing off Indiana Jones a few times along its irresistible way.” Richard Madden stars asContinue Reading
