The Weekend Opener
from Andrew Tuck
The dog days can’t last forever – but there’s still plenty to celebrate
1.The dog now sounds like she smokes 20 a day. Perhaps she does. Maybe she has a secret stash of Lucky Strike under the blanket in her bed. Or is she secreting the odd…
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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…
How an elevated experience moved a Catalan concert hall to tears
In last December’s issue of Monocle we ran a story about a Catalan tradition: the building of castells, or human towers. We sent our writer Julia Webster Ayuso to the city of Tarragona to attend a vast…
Barcelona set the stage but it was our speakers who stole the show
I am racing to write this in the lunch break of Monocle’s Quality of Life Conference in Barcelona. And I’ll have you know that my commitment to never missing a deadline is keeping me…
Our big Barcelona bash is fast approaching. Let’s talk wardrobe
It’s the final countdown to our annual Quality of Life Conference. And there’s still time for you to say, “Do you know what? I’m going to abandon my family and go to Barcelona this week.”…
