Roy Lichtenstein Retrospective, Hayward Gallery, London
Pop Art sways to the whims of fashion. One minute it’s equipped with a Hoxton fin, the next it dresses like Chris Eubank. Judging from the hoards of people, it’s back in vogue again.[…]

The Marriage of Figaro, Hackney Empire
Whole cities have been built in the time it has taken to refurbish Hackney Empire. It has reopened to muted fanfare aware that a big gap in the outer brickwork doesn’t add to its aesthetic value. Inside, h[…]

Books you’re too old to read at 34
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas ‘ Hunter S Thompson
Despite four years as a student, an insatiable appetite for reading and an impressionable and gullible mind, I’ve never read Fear & Loathi[…]

Alexander McCall Smith ‘ The Precious Ramotswe books
It was the colourful book covers that first drew me in. I’m not sure if they come free with the purchase of a travelcard, but everyone on the tube seemed to be reading Alexander McCall […]

Little Georgia, Broadway Market, London E8
I don’t think I’m offending anyone but the Georgians when I say their country is a backwater. Googling Famous Georgians returns ten pages of US history before a single mention of its European cou[…]

The Guggenheim Museum of Contemporary Art, Bilbao, Spain
In 1997 a strange thing happened to the Basque city of Bilbao. Amid the industrial gloom of its docks, an apparition was reported. The man behind the apparition was Frank Gehry, a Canadian with[…]

Don Quixote and Picasso
Not many people I know have read Don Quixote. At least not all of it. Or even any of it. The thousand odd pages of dense text can appear rather daunting. It’s also a novel with an odd structure and the second half tips a[…]