Film review: Red 2 (12A)

FILM
Red 2
(12A) 116mins
★★✩✩✩

IN A NUTSHELL
The excellent cast have fun with the quips and the thrills in this espionage sequel but their enjoyment is rarely contagious.

Travel: Newquay and the south west

I had heard talk of unnatural practices rampant in the sequestered south west, far from metropolitan reproach.

Film review: Frances Ha (15)

FILM
Frances Ha
(15) 86mins
★★★★✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Greta Gerwig spreads charm all over the place in this ode to gal pals and finding oneself lost in Manhattan.

Exhibition: Line of Kings, Tower of London

The mid-1600s was a precarious time to be king. The species was threatened. The reign of Charles I had been brought to a bloody end and the country's failed dalliance with republicanism had seen a fragile rapprochement with the concept of monarchy.

Spiral Notebook: Red is the new green

There is a busy T-junction near my home. It is guarded by traffic lights. Cars obey. Pedestrians wait for the little green man. Cyclists ignore it all and do what the hell they want.

I cannot recall a single time a cyclist has stopped at these red lights if jumping them posed no risk to their safety (and theirs alone).

This observation could be made of any traffic light anywhere in London. Cyclists see them as mild inconveniences, much as they do the pedestrians they target when they take to the pavement for a shortcut.

5 reasons book translations are rubbish

Translated books are, on the whole, duff. I am currently engaged in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and it is only the story that persuades me to continue.

5 reasons translated books are rubbish…

Stage review: Private Lives, Gielgud Theatre

STAGE
Private Lives
Gielgud Theatre
★★★★✩

REVIEW
This crowd-pleasing production of Noel Coward's Private Lives is lightning in a bottle.

Book review: Stuff Matters, by Mark Miodownik

POPULAR SCIENCE
Stuff Matters
Mark Miodownik
Penguin, £18.99
★★★★✩

IN A NUTSHELL
In this fascinating little read, master of materials Mark Miodownik takes a snapshot of his home and begins picking apart the substances that make our world.

Spiral Notebook: The saints and the winners

I left one newspaper after about seven years and I got a Simpsons mug. A Simpsons mug! Sheesh.

I had played a significant part in turning around that newspaper. I had won awards and the rest. Indeed, for the purposes of literary neatness, I’d like to think I’d worked miracles.

Stage review: Fences, Duchess Theatre

STAGE
Fences
Duchess Theatre
★★★★✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Lenny Henry full occupies the role of Troy Maxson, the embittered garbage man and patriarch robbed of his shot at the baseball big time.