In February 1946, George Orwell wrote an essay, The Moon Under Water, in which he outlined his ideal London pub. Sadly, the eponymous pub was completely fictitious (contrary to the belief of the JD Wetherspoon chain) and the essay concluded, somewhat bleakly, with the fact that the perfect pub doesn’t really exist. At the time, The Jugged Hare wasn’t yet operating. On the site of an old brewery, just across the road from the Barbican Centre, The Jugged Hare is...

One of London’s most exciting Modern-Indian restaurants, Darbaar in Shoreditch launched a brand new bar – Lotus - in May. Bringing a different drinking and dining experience to the city, Lotus has been given a new identity and fresh, inventive cocktail menu. The new menu features spice-infused spirits and unique Indian twists on classics, paired with a new menu of Royal-inspired dishes from chef-patron Abdul Yaseen. Heavily inspired by the flavours and spices of India, and the opulence of its...

By Jim Mackney De plus belle is a French rom-com by debut director, Anne-Gaëlle Daval, and it is a curious take on the romantic comedy genre, focusing much more on the sense of self of the main character Lucie (Florence Foresti), as she battles with the physical and mental side effects of having breast cancer. Admittedly this doesn’t sound a particularly happy area to mine for that usual light touch that romantic comedies aim for but De plus belle manages...

A little-known feature introduced with the launch of i0S 10 in mid-2016 has been allowing Apple to look at your boobs for a year. According to recent revelations iPhones are able to categorise pictures in "brassiere", as well as bra, bras and bandeaus. The function is supposed to help you rifle through your photo archive and has categories that include everything from various animals, food and fashion to inanimate objects like furniture and "sunsets". But many iPhone users were unaware it existed, or that...

We’re set for a hugely entertaining Super Sunday this weekend – as four of the top five are up against each other. Flying Man City host Arsenal, while an out of form Chelsea face the return of Mourinho to Stamford Bridge. Elsewhere, Spurs take on Crystal Palace following on from their incredible Champions League triumph over Real Madrid, while there is a must win game for Everton – after being knocked out of the Europa League, they face a Watford...

Seen by many to be William Friedkin’s overlooked masterpiece, Sorcerer was a box office flop and was met with rather mixed reviews upon its original release. After the budget ballooned to around £22 million, the film struggled to recoup half that at the box office. The critical response wasn’t much better with Leslie Halliwell going as far as saying that it was ‘truly insulting’. Perhaps it was because Sorcerer could not compete with Star Wars that opened the same summer or that it did not meet...

By Michael McNulty Samuel Fuller has become somewhat of a regular feature of the Forgotten Friday Series, but there is something so indelibly magnificent about his canon of films that make not making every Friday instalment a Fuller film an act of sheer willpower.  In fact, it should be mandatory that everybody have a Fuller box-set sitting on their DVD shelf that they can reach for whenever they are in doubt as to what to watch.  This is the man...

This shocking photograph shows patients waiting on trolleys in a cramped hospital corridor - just months after three people died after delays in treatment. The snap shows three trolleys stacked up against the wall at scandal-hit Worcestershire Royal Hospital which visitors claim is "bursting at the seams". The picture, taken on Wednesday (1/11), suggests the hospital is already under strain with the worst of winter still to come. The photo taken by a member of the public which shows at...

Whatever our reasons for Brexiting, only a wrong person would question the cultural offerings of Europe. Separated by a bridge, a river or most often an imaginary line, each country on the continent brings with it a richness of history, outlook and beauty – and when I discover there are four countries surrounding one serene lake, well, I’ve hit the Europhile's jackpot. Around 260km in circumference, Lake Constance is flanked by Austria, Germany and Switzerland, with the curious country of...