The Weekend Opener
from Andrew Tuck
Leaning into the end-of-year lull gives us a chance to relax and reflect
I like it here, this island of time between Christmas and New Year. While it might not be a tropical paradise, it is somewhere that you can regroup, shrug off the excesses of Christmas…
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Gym panic is real and apparently it comes with a lifetime membership
I have spent my entire adult life going to the gym. There was a time when I would hand over whole chunks of my salary to personal trainers in the hope of suddenly transforming…
At 38, Lee Miller was sitting in Hitler’s bathtub. Where are today’s young photographers?
Is the age of the star photographer coming to an end? This week we organised a sort of school trip, taking a team of editors and writers from Monocle to see the Lee Miller…
Want to sharpen your pen? Learn from a master of the lens
Do you want to be a better writer? Well, I do, and that’s why I have a suggestion for you: go to Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World at London’s National Portrait Gallery. Curated by Robin Muir, it’s…
Counter Editions turns 25 and the cast of originals is still in the frame
“Are you going to Margate?” messaged Ben. After not seeing each other for some years, Ben had invited me to a private viewing during Frieze week and now it looked as though our paths…
Reversing into a concrete pillar isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – it’s much more
1.There’s one drawback to sitting at the front of a plane: the people. On my many shuttles to and from Palma, you can find me on one of the once low-cost carriers and in…
Bad theatre etiquette has become the norm. It’s time to break the chain
A friend, a New York theatre producer, was staying with us last Saturday and kindly got us tickets to see the play Stereophonic, which tells the story of a band on the cusp of greatness…
Making home and in search of inspiration? Well, have I got mews for you
Twenty years ago, we were living happily in north London. Too happily. At dinner with friends, the other half declared, “I’d be happy if I only left our house when they carried me out…
Window shopping with world leaders and why diamonds are an editor’s best friend
1.Last Saturday I headed to London’s Jermyn Street to continue my hunt for a pair of good loafers. Online searches had suggested that Crockett & Jones might offer up the solution to my quest.…
Forget futile KPIs – the path to a better city is playfulness
How do you make a good city? One that’s liveable, simple to navigate and easy to love? These are questions that civic leaders must engage with as they try to satisfy the needs of…
Polished perfection is passé – memoirs need misadventure
1.I went to a very nice party this week where I saw a woman who I had worked with more than 20 years ago. She was already becoming rather famous back then. I reintroduced…
