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[email protected] NEWS POLITICS BUSINESS & FINANCE OPINION EDUCATION ARTS & CULTUREBENJAMIN EVENTS FRANKLIN LIFESTYLE DINING OUT POETRY European & International News Publishers: LITERATURE MOTORING SPORT CROSSWORD BRIDGE CHESS 10 Kensington & Chelsea Today Limited 11 Features 12 Opinion & Comment Editor-in-Chief: Kate Hawthorne Art Director & Director: Tim Epps 14 Business & Finance Editors : Kate Hawthorne, Emma Trehane Astronomy Head of Business Development: Emma Trehane 18 Business Development: Caroline Daggett, 19 Education Antoinette Kovatchka, Architecture: Squinch 24 Literature Art & Culture Editors: Don Grant, Marian Maitland Astronomy: Scott Beadle FRAS 25 Poetry Ballet/Dance: Andrew Ward 26 Dining Out Bridge: Andrew Robson Business & Finance James Billot 29 Fashion & Lifestyle Chess: Barry Martin Contributing Editors: Marius Brill, Peter Burden, 33 Travel Derek Wyatt 36 Events Music: Geoff Cowart, Crossword: Wolfe 45 Arts & Culture Dining Out: Piers Gorman, David Hughes, Cynthia Pickard 54 Health Editorial: James Billot, Max Feldman, 58 Upstream Owen Fulda, Fahad Redha, Emma Trehane 59 Motoring Education: Max Feldman, Kate Hawthorne, Fahad Redha, 60 Crossword Events: Fahad Redha Chess Lifestyle & Fashion: Owen Fulda, Lynne McGowan, 61 Emma Trehane 62 Advertisement & Public Notices Health: Editorial team Feldman Reviews: Max Feldman 63 Sport I wish I had written that: Dudley Sutton Motoring: Fahad Redha News, Online Editor, Max Feldman Arts Correspondent & Front Cover image: Picture Editor: Poetry & Literary Editor: Emma Trehane MA PhD Women and the Right to Vote Political Editor: Derek Wyatt February 6th 2018 is a milestone in history as it marks the centenary of Travel: James Billot, Max Feldman the first women in the country to gain the right to vote in the National Elections. This was known as the Representation of the People’s Act Sport: Derek Wyatt 1918 when 40% of women were enfranchised. However it wasn’t until Sub-Editor: Leila Kooros 1928 that women were given the same voting rights as men. To celebrate Upstream: Don Grant this legendary achievement Cambridge University Library is displaying a number of posters depicting the Suffragette movement from the 1910s. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 3 News online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

acron definitely held our addressed the crowd and as he is out of will be fined £500. They will be a brand Parliament Square collective feet to the fire. This the country his poll rating went up a new service separate from the NHS Brexit stuff is much more notch or two (I may have just made that for those with Mental Illness. It will be Mserious than we all thought. I suspect we up). To be frank, who would want to hear called National Mind. People over 60 shall end up having to pay an additional from this president? He is tiresome bore. will receive a Health and Care allowance £60bn or half the annual budget of the He daily besmirches the reputation of as an addition to their OAP. This will NHS to escape. It is maddening that the great country he leads. be paid for by a new tax. A new service Jeremy Corbyn finds this acceptable. called the National Care Service separate If he had been cleverer, he would have The NHS: the Not very Healthy from the NHS will be created. It will called for membership of the single Service commission and build services for those 2 market and as a consequence be fifteen needing day and 24 hour care. It will be P points ahead of Mrs May. As it is he is The NHS has become the biggest drop paid for by a tax on plastic, diesel and an four points behind. How can anyone be in centre for sickness in the world. It is additional tax on alcohol. four points behind the Prime Minister? so big (the biggest company in Europe) The NHS will be redefined to offer Unfortunately, Brexit is derailing that no single political party has the the service free to those under 18 and President Macron Whitehall and with it, the political class nerve or the courage to reform it. We those over 60. For those aged 18-60 only By Derek Wyatt in Parliament. desperately need a health service that cancer, heart disease and brain injuries works. We need to reform it. We need will be free. There will be a sliding scale Davos to ask the Health Select Committee to of fees for all other illnesses. Citizens spend the next year writing a proposal 18-60 would be expected to buy a health The visit to the UK of It is hard to find anything good that for fundamental change and for its report insurance policy. If you are not a UK President Macron currently has come out of Davos these past four to be accepted by all political parties. taxpayer or do not have a UK passport hundred years except a half decent you will be charged for treatment. These seen as the hottest political ski resort. It is miserably small and Here’s my two pennyworth: changes to be brought in over five years. property in Europe, now takes over two hours to arrive there Any family member over 18 who does Of course, I recognise that no from Zurich airport by train. And yet not use the NHS each year will receive political party would sign up for any that Chancellor Merkel is somehow the world of extreme wealth an additional tax free allowance of of this, but we know that the current struggling to make any kind of and the world of politics both good £1,000. All prescriptions will cost £5 political class is behind the curve. There and bad are annually persuaded to (cost of a glass of wine) and the money is such waste in such a large organisation coalition work, went down like come to this rock fest. Nothing much raised will go to training additional that something drastic has to be done. a lead balloon. We Brits simply happens: nothing much is achieved nurses and doctors. Nurses will no Just offering a £1bn here and £2bn there though occasionally the fusion works. longer need a first degree to nurse. is crass. do not like it up us, especially But the event does go on and on and Visiting a GP will cost you £5 (cost of when it is from a country on. Promises are made, committees are a pint). Money raised will go to Brain A Second Referendum formed, work is processed, but does Research. Unnecessary use of A&E; it Expect to see 5m signatures on a petition we defeated at Waterloo and anyone care? It feels mediaeval to me and is an emergency centre, not a drop in asking for a second referendum on the rescued twice last century. woefully outdated. But President Trump for people with headaches or drunks, deal struck to leave Europe. ’ 300,000 square metres of office floor A Shard s worth space converted to residential space between 2013 and 2017. It stands to of office space is lose a further 730,000 square metres, including in business centres such as lost each year Victoria and Oxford Street, as a result By Fahad Redha of ongoing schemes. In less than a HEAR, HEAR decade, town planners estimate a loss of as much as 1,000,000 square metres, or 110,000 square metres a year, if left Book your tour today unchecked. This is the equal to the total floor area of the Shard. Westminster currently houses 120,000 business who Enough office space to fill collectively employ 650,000 people. the Shard is being lost from “If this trend continues Westminster risks losing business to other global Westminster each year in cities, like Paris and New York,” what has been described as an Councillor Daniel Astaire, cabinet “unprecedented decline,” as member for planning said. “We have experienced a rapid loss of office space workspace gets converted to in Westminster. It’s a worrying trend. housing. “Not only does this change the character and feel of our communities Westminster City Council said that but our reputation as a political the trend could threaten the area’s and professional centre relies upon status as a hub for international maintaining the office spaces which business as developers cash in on the allow business to flourish.” Government’s easing of planning rules. The government is looking to This has been to encourage office-to- make the planning rule on office-to- residential conversions. The council is residential conversions permanent. now looking to change its planning In response, the council will exempt 020 7219 4114 policy to protect office space and halt itself with a policy that will require the decline. developers to seek planning permission Westminster has seen as much as to convert office space. 4 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk News

Ambassador’s, London Rail & Brixton Road Westminster you spoil us Tube changes exceeds yearly air Council axes pollution limit resident ballots policy esidents of Courtfield Gardens Plans to extend the Northern Line to For the second year in a row, Brixton According to a letter seen by Insider are rushing to object to a planning Battersea will help regenerate the area Road is the capital’s first road to breach Housing, the leader of the Westminster application which was left and support 25,000 new jobs and more annual air pollution limits for 2018 City Council Nickie Aiken has dropped Rblowing in the wind. Neighbours of than 20,000 new homes, TfL says. The in just one month, readings from an its policy to ballot residents on estate the Ambassador’s Hotel only noticed two new stations being built at Nine air quality monitoring station show. regeneration. a major planning application tied to a Elms and Battersea Power Station are EU law says that there should be no Responding to Sian Berry, Chair of lamppost at the eleventh hour and had set to be completed in 2020. The areas more than 18 occasions in a year where the Greater London Authority Housing to scramble to object. Without receiving where the main work is taking place are people are exposed to more than 200 Committee, Aiken wrote: “There are any formal notification through their Battersea Power Station, Kennington micrograms of NO2 per cubic metre a variety of reasons for moving away letterboxes, residents almost allowed a Green, Kennington Park, and Nine Elms over an hour and the World Health from a vote, including the low turn- planning proposal that would greatly adjacent to Wandsworth Road and Pascal Organisation recommends that no out these votes attract, the fact that affect the strict conservation area, to pass Street. they represent a moment in time only, one is ever exposed to this level of unchallenged. Now they are scrambling The Northern line extension (NLE) whereas regeneration schemes are long pollution. to get their voices heard by the planning will improve transport links in the and complex. department. area and “is essential to support the Brixton Road exceeded this annual “Many things in an area can change The Ambassador’s Hotel situated transformation of Vauxhall, Nine Elms limit by 17 hours on the 5th of January. following any specific vote. They also between Earls Court and Gloucester and Battersea, a designated regeneration King’s College London, who run the lead to a tendency, should the vote be Road is struggling to improve their image area on the South Bank.” air quality monitoring stations, say that successful, to reduce resident consultation with a huge facelift, two more stories In addition to the jobs and new some London streets have the highest following the vote.” and eleven more rooms. The building homes, this would reduce journey times levels of NO2 exposure in the world. The Borough’s previous policy will, according to the plans, provide from Nine Elms or Battersea to the West “Less than a month into the new year stipulated that it had to ballot residents “architectural interest”. The new look End or the City to, in some cases, less and residents in Brixton are already before regeneration, but this letter was though has been criticised by neighbours; than 15 minutes. An independent report being exposed to illegal levels of air the first public confirmation that it was Courtfield Gardens Committee on the NLE shows that it could greatly pollution,” Caroline Russell, London no longer official policy. Chairman Marius Brill said, “It looks benefit the area, hence its support from Assembly Green Party Member said. The final version is due to be like a polo-necked, pipe smoking, velvet the Mayor of London and Wandsworth, “It’s a public health catastrophe and completed soon, with the Greater jacketed, architect straight out of the Lambeth and Southwark councils. needs an urgent response. London Auhority citing the Grenfell 70s, has been tasked with reimagining a TfL have also opened opened a new tragedy as the cause behind its delay. Moscow suburban tower block. Let’s at entrance at Victoria Tube Station along least get into the 21st Century.” with an enlarged south ticket hall as part Residents, already frustrated by of plans to double the size of the station, coaches trying to navigate the narrow slated to be completed this year. MARKETING & SALES streets and noisy students staying at the The new entrance via Wilton Road hotel are fearful that the extension will will allow easier access into the south WINTER INTERNSHIP only lead to more trouble. The deadline ticket hall and prevent congestion for for objections or support for the plan as customers going through the busy (PAID COMMISSION) Friday 2nd February. Victoria mainline station. The ticket hall has now roughly doubled in size, which will make customer travel a far more Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today is one pleasant experience. of the leading monthly newspapers in London. Once this project has been completed, We are offering a 3 month internship to an individual “Ultrafast” step-free access will be installed into looking for a career in Marketing, Sales & Journalism, the three lines which serve it. Victoria is broadband London’s third busiest Tube station with looking to build their portfolio over the winter months; more than 82 million customers using start February 2018. coming to the it each year. The improvements are part This is a unique opportunity to work closely with a highly ’ of the Mayor of London s commitment qualified and dynamic team. It is an opportunity for the UK to modernising public transport and reducing dependency on the car, which right candidate to get hands-on experience with sales Three million premises are to be given will help make London a greener and and marketing, and build client relationships. “ultrafast” internet connections by 2020. healthier place. An extension may be offered based on performance. Openreach, the BT-owned firm that is Ruth Duston, CEO of Victoria BID Send CV and letter to: responsible for the country’s broadband said: “As Victoria continues to grow ’ infrastructure has said that it would and evolve into one of London s most hasten its plans to run fibre connections exciting districts and economic centres, Dr Emma Trehane directly to homes and business. This more pressure is put on the already busy Joint Editor and Director of Business Development will mean internet speeds will be transport infrastructure. This substantial KCW TODAY, 80-100 GWYNNE ROAD, quadrupled from 24 to 100 megabits investment and improvement programme per second. Seven cities, Bristol, Cardiff, at the underground station is therefore LONDON, SW11 3UW Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, London, going to have a hugely positive impact on T: 020 7738 2348 M: 0771 591 0665 and Manchester, will be part of the initial commuters and visitors." E: [email protected] phase which begins this year. The £700m modernisation project “Our focus over the last two years has will be completed in summer 2018 when WWW.KCWTODAY.CO.UK been to achieve the government's target all of the new passageways linking the of getting 95% superfast coverage,” Clive station together are finished. Selley, chief executive of Openreach, said. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 5 News online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

inopportune time. A report released in September 2016 NHS funding by a special joint committee of MPs and THE Lords warned of an “impending crisis” crisis in and it cannot be ignored. MPs have the option to delay the deicision until 2022. CHELSEA Hammersmith Speaking in January, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said: “The House needs JEWELLERS and Fulham to decide whether we can afford to justify Ps in Hammersmith and Fulham the work that undoubtedly needs to take have requested that the NHS place to restore this Palace, a UNESCO provide them with extra funding World Heritage Site, with over 1 million of £1 million to “tackle the current health visitors a year at a time when there are G great fiscal constraints. crisis in the borough.” The Hammersmith and Fulham GP “If the House does believe that now Federation made the formal request to is the time, we need to think about how the Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical can we go about doing these things to Commission Group (HF CCG), citing a ensure the very best value for taxpayers’ huge strain in resources and funding. money.” According to the Federation, £1.3 The special committee have advised million has been available to spend on that a “complete decant” of the palace because it would allow for the work to primary care in the borough but only Exquisite 18ct gifts for the one you love from £395 £40,000 has been released over the past be completed in the shortest possible eight months. If that money is not spent time frame, with minimal disruption and by March 31st, it will be lost. lowest capital cost. It is estimated that Without such funding, patients in the cost could be as high as £3.87 billion. Hammersmith and Fulham are likely to miss out on extra nurses and doctors, A new gem in the heart of Chelsea. which the Federation says is “hugely The Chelsea Jewellers can be found in The Antiques Arcade, concerning.” Cyclist death on 151 Sydney Street SW3 6NT. We have a beautiful collection of Dr David Wingfield, Hammersmith Jewellery and offer a bespoke engagement ring service. and Fulham GP Federation Chairman said: “It is clear that the HF CCG is Chelsea Bridge OPEN: Wed-Sat 10am-6pm sparks protests for lower working far too slowly to invest the available NHS funds before March speed limits in Kensington & 07391 402723 │ [email protected] │ THECHELSEAJEWELLERS.CO.UK The Chelsea Jewellers, 151 Sydney Street, London SW3 6NT 2018 and this will prevent patients in the borough from benefiting from this Chelsea necessary extra investment in their care. “This is particularly frustrating at A pilot scheme has been a time when hospitals are struggling to cope and all efforts need to be launched by the Kensington strengthened to keep patients well-cared & Chelsea Council to test for in their own homes. “It’s quite remarkable. We have the 20mph speed limits in the funding but it’s not being released at a Royal Borough following the rate which is commensurate to the need of the NHS.” death of a cyclist on Chelsea The Hammersmith & Fulham GP Bridge in September 2017. Federation stated that they are yet to hear back from the HF CCG. Following a number of protests, including a ‘die-in’ outside the Kensington Council’s HQ, councillors agreed that a trial system should be put MPs vote to in place on a number of K&C roads. The die-in, organised in October move out of by the campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists pointed to the fact that the Parliament to Royal Borough is in a small minority of boroughs in London that does not have a allow for repairs 20mph speed limit in place. The motion, presented by Councillor Gerard Hargreaves for Chelsea Riverside MPs have voted in favour of moving out and seconded by Councillor Malcolm of Parliament to allow for vital “patch Spalding for Earl’s Court, read: ‘The and mend” work to commence. Council recognises the number of MPs agreed that both chambers London boroughs that have introduced should depart in a “timely manner” but 20 miles per hour speed limits on their indicated no specific date as to when it roads. would occur. Officials have suggested that ‘The Council asks the executive to run it will be no earlier than 2025. a pilot scheme to introduce a 20 miles There had been some resistance to per hour speed limit on a number of the idea amid concern among MPs that selected road across the Borough.’ moving would be costly. Given that a The decision is yet to be made as to range of public services have faced slashes which roads the pilot scheme will be in their funding, it is seen by many as an tested. 6 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk News

require demolishing the estates, a move described as “undeliverable” by the Developers Prostate cancer The self-driving council who “called on Capco to return the estates to LBHF as this is the only told to wake- deaths overtake road trip viable way forward.” The Council said that “as landowner, [it] does not believe up on ‘oligarch breast cancer A new project will see self- that the proposed level of density and mansions’ deaths for the driving cars making a complex affordable housing could be supported or journey in the UK, travelling delivered. first time The estates have 760 homes and 2000 through country roads and residents between them and were sold for £110 million to Capco in 2012 under the high-speed roundabouts. previous Conservative administration. As the population ages, the number of Residents had already been fighting this

Photograph © Pixbay Photograph The HumanDrive initiative will begin men dying from prostate cancer has sale to save their homes since the sale by simulating some conditions before surpassed the number of women dying was touted in 2009. They accused Capco beginning its 200-mile journey in from breast cancer. The cancer that causes of trying to sell to Saudi investors for December 2019. The hope is to see the most deaths in the UK is still lung, £500 million though the company denies autonomous cars on the road by 2021. followed by bowel, with prostate and this. Residents are being offered new “Low-carbon and self-driving vehicles breast cancer in third and fourth place homes in blocks built by Capco. are the future and they are going to drive respectively. The figures show 11,819 “Residents are fed up with being forward a global revolution in mobility,” deaths from prostate cancer in 2015 and kicked around in this high-stakes game Business and Energy Secretary Greg 11,442 from breast cancer. of property speculation,” Jonathan Clark said of the scheme. “Trailblazing “The number of men getting and dying Rosenberg, community organiser for projects like the HumanDrive project from prostate cancer is increasing mostly West Kensington and Gibbs Green will play a vital role helping us deliver on because of population growth and because estates, said. “Capco wants to exit the that ambition.” we are living longer,” Michael Chapman, scheme, but there’s no way anyone The project is being undertaken director of information and involvement will buy it so long as our estates and as part of a collaboration between at Cancer Research UK, said. campaign are part of the package. Groupe Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, Prostate Cancer UK, another charity, The best way for them to de-risk the Cranfield University and Highways also says that advances in diagnosing and redevelopment is to hand back the estminster City Council England, among others. have turned away plans for treating breast cancer have reduced the estates.” number of women who die from it and “UK roads throw up some particular 13 new ‘oligarch’ homes to challenges,” Mark Westwood, chief be built in the Borough on the grounds that increased funding and awareness W could benefit prostate cancer patients. technology officer of the Transport that the plans ‘did not make a good use Overall, deaths from prostate cancer have Systems Catapult, which is another Two thirds of of the space available’, as part of what partner involved in the project, said. the council has described as wider attack been rising for the past decade but the number of men dying from the disease “They are different from American UK adults have on wealthy ‘oligarchs’ using valuable roads, with roundabouts and demanding real-estate as assets, claiming “Golden has fallen by 6% between 2010 and 2015. Meanwhile, the death rate for women country lanes. These are really testing ‘nobody to talk to’ post codes must not be used as Monopoly environments. This project is about board style investments for oligarchs and with breast cancer has dropped by 10%, meaning that these deaths are declining advancing the state of the art and trying about problems the most wealthy.” to do something more demanding. The The proposed scheme would have more rapidly. Two thirds of adults in the UK believe “It's incredibly encouraging to see the control system will learn to drive like a created a row of 4, 5 and 6-bedroom human.” that they have nobody to talk to, luxury town houses on the expensive tremendous progress that has been made according to a new survey. in breast cancer over recent years,” Angela To that end, a group of “competent” York Terrace East expected to go on the human drivers will demonstrate their Based on a survey of 2,500 people, market with multimillion price tags. Culhane, chief executive of the charity 66% of respondents said that they Prostate Cancer UK said. skills in a simulator at Leeds University The council’s planning committee and the data will be gathered along with felt that they had no one to talk to deferred the decision (meaning that “The introduction of precision medicine, about mental health, relationships or a screening programme and a weighty data from roads across the country. This developers Westbourne Capital Partners data will be given to a machine learning money. The survey, led by mental health must revise their plans) on the grounds research boost has no doubt played an campaign Time to Change, found that important role in reducing the number of system. The cars will then start safety that the development did not meet the trials on private tracks. the main reasons were difficulty in council’s policy to create more housing women who die from the disease. finding the right time or place to talk. across the city. “The good news is that many of these The director of Time to Change, Not only did the development not developments could be applied to prostate Sue Baker OBE, said that a great deal provide enough individual housing units, cancer and we're confident that with the LBHF demands of work was required to break down the houses were considered to be overly right funding, we can dramatically reduce “barriers to talking.” large, four of the homes were almost 9 deaths within the next decade.” return of Over a third (36%) of respondents times bigger than a normal six-bedroom said that they could not find the time home. “undeliverable” to raise their problems, while 28% said Now the developers must reconsider that they could not find an appropriate the best use of the site to ensure that any estates place to raise their problems. 22% said Photograph © NHS Photograph future scheme would create more homes that they had waited for a year to find as well as affordable housing on site. the “perfect moment” to talk about their Westminster City Council Chairman A property company has been ordered issues. of Planning Cllr Richard Beddoe said: by Hammersmith and Fulham council Baker said: “people still think there “Developers need to wake-up before to return two housing estates. Talks were is no right time or place to talk about bringing forward schemes which don’t broken off with developer Capco over mental health and that it's something make the most of the space available. the West Kensington and Gibbs Green that should be whispered about in quiet “The council is committed to creating estates. Stephen Cowan, who heads the corners. more homes in the city and we have been council said that they should be returned “Conversations have the power to clear that if you build in Westminster, you to local authority control. The two sides change lives, wherever they take place. So must build affordable. These luxury town were in negotiations over a ‘masterplan’ whether you're at home, at work, in the houses do not offer any benefit to our for the £12 billion regeneration of cinema, or even in the car, Time to Talk local community.” the Earl’s Court area but this would Day (1 February) is the perfect chance to 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 7 News online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

be more open about mental health.” It is an issue that has been a major London Home Football focus in Westminster and Secretary Mayor extends of Health Jeremy Hunt emphasis the Hopper fare Traffic Watch importance to raise awareness: “Too to unlimited bus and tram many people still feel unable to talk about their mental health. journeys within an hour February 10 March 1 “Time to Talk Day is an important Tottenham v Arsenal Arsenal v Manchester City, reminder of the power of conversation, 12:30 19:45 and how by taking small steps to February 12 March 3 help others we can all make our own Chelsea v West Brom, Tottenham v Huddersfield Town, contribution to a better and more 20:00 15:00 mentally resilient society.” February 17 March 6 Fulham v Aston Villa, Fulham v Sheffield United, 15:00 19:45 Life in the green February 17 March 6 QPR v Bolton Wanderers, QPR v Derby County, lane 15:00 19:45 Cars, vans and motorbikes that don’t February 20 March 7 meet emission regulations could have to Chelsea v Barcelona, Tottenham v Juventus, pay a daily charge of £12.50 to drive in 19:45 19:45 the Borough from 2021 under proposals February 22 March 10 included within the Mayor of London’s Arsenal v Östersunds FK, Chelsea v Crystal Palace, ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ). 20:05 17:30 Kensington and Chelsea Council’s February 24 March 10 Air Quality and Climate Action Plan Fulham v Wolverhampton, QPR v Sunderland, 1 supports the ULEZ plan. The proposals 17:30 5:00 mean that vehicles roughly more than February 24 March 11 10-year-old that do not comply with QPR v Nottingham Forest, Arsenal v Watford, Euro 6 for diesel and Euro 4 for petrol 15:00 13:30 will have to pay the charge if the Mayor’s plan to expand the ULEZ to include the The popular ‘Hopper fare’, North and South Circular Roads comes into force. which allowed customers to Compiled and edited by Fahad Redha Two pollutants of concern are make two bus journeys for Ads_KCW_New v5.pdf 1 30/01/2018 11:16 nitrogen dioxide, NO2, which medical research reports aggravates asthma and the price of one within an particulate matter, which heightens the hour, has been extended to risk of heart disease and respiratory diseases such as lung cancer. The impact unlimited bus and tram travel of these pollutants on the borough’s within an hour. PARKBEE TECH START-UP BRINGS children is of particular concern, 80 of its 90 schools are in locations that exceed Launched by London Mayor Sadiq the legal limits for both nitrogen dioxide Khan in September 2016, over 140 AFFORDABLE PARKING TO and particulate matter. million journeys have already been made There will be two ULEZ charge levels using the Hopper fare, making bus and CHELSEA AND WESTMINSTER from April 2019, £12.50 a day for cars, tram journeys more affordable across vans and motorbikes and £100 a day for London. At ParkBee, we have developed the smart technology to open unused lorries, buses and coaches. This means The new extension will also permit private car parks to the public, offering drivers secure parking at low more polluting cars and vans would passengers to travel on the Tube in rates in top London locations. This helps maximise underutilised urban pay £24 per day and lorries would pay between their bus journeys, which was C space and reduce the time drivers spend looking for convenient parking. You can access our car parks through the RingGo and £111.50 during congestion charge hours. previously not allowed. TfL estimates M “At the moment 90 per cent of our that approximately 13,000 travellers will Parkmobile apps. schools are in locations that exceed legal benefit from the unlimited Hopper fareY limits and we will support any action that each day. CM Discover all our London locations at parkbee.com, including our improves air quality and are confident According to recent figures from MY spaces in Westminster and Chelsea! that our residents support this.” TfL, around 350,000 journeys are made CY ULEZ will affect thousands more every weekday by passengers using the PARKBEE WESTMINSTER PARKBEE CHELSEA PARKBEE VICTORIA vehicles, up to 60,000 every day, Hopper fare. CMY Luke House, 3 Abbey Orchard St. SW1P 2JJ Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue SW3 3DW Westminster, 10 Greycoat Place SW1P 1SB compared to the estimated 6,500 a day The Mayor of London said: “I’m K HOURLY RATE: £2.50 HOURLY RATE: £4.00 HOURLY RATE: £2.50 affected by the T-charge. delighted that from today thousands DAILY RATE: £12.50 DAILY RATE: £20.00 DAILY RATE: £12.50 According to DVLA data some more Londoners will be able to benefit OPEN: 24/7 OPEN: 24/7 OPEN: 24/7 80 per cent of diesel vehicles (12,900) from our landmark Hopper Fare. were registered pre Euro 6 and 36 per “The Hopper has been a huge success cent of petrol vehicles (10,600) were so far with over 140 million journeys, registered pre-Euro 4. This equates to and from today Londoners will be able to 23,500 vehicles or 50 per cent of vehicles change buses as many times as they want registered in Kensington and Chelsea. in an hour, whether commuting to work, There is expected to be 6,100 diesel and or popping to the shops and back. 3,500 petrol vehicles that would not “The previous Mayor said it couldn’t meet the ULEZ standard in 2021. be done, but alongside my TfL fares Owners will need to decide whether freeze, the expanded ‘Hopper’ is a key they wish to change vehicle or pay the part of my commitment to make London ww w parkbee.com.parkbee.com charge. a more affordable place to live and work.” 8 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Statue & Plaque STATUES Blue Plaque: Aneurin Bevan 1897-1960 Photograph © Elliot & Fry Photograph

Aneurin Bevan and Jennie Lee are Bevan discovered Marxism and a defined honoured together with a Blue Plaque by left wing attitude. In 1926 he became English Heritage at 23 Cliveden Place, a paid Union Official and was leader of Chelsea SW1 8 HD. This was the first the S.Wales Miners’ Federation which Blue Plaque to be awarded to a married resulted in the General Strike that year. couple, and this house was their married Bevan later succeeded in joining the home from 1944 to 1954. Monmouth County Council which led Aneurin Bevan was a Labour to his election as MP for Ebbw Vale. This politician who founded the National role gave him the chance to be critical Health Service ( NHS ). Jennie Lee, also generally and air his views against the a Labour politician founded the Open Government’s plans for re-armament. University. Eventually in 1939 Bevan was were expected to help around the parish When Neil Kinnock unveiled the expelled from the Labour Party, but through sewing, knitting and mending Plaque in 2015 he said, continued to oppose conscription and Charity clothes. They were taught rudimentary “This house was the home, the lair, of Chamberlain's policies. He firmly English, mathematics, singing and the greatest ever lion and lioness of the believed World War II would provide Children religious education, as well as how to ‘ ’ St Mary Abbot School behave. When they had finished their Labour Party. They are among the most the opportunity for a New Society to be education, some were apprenticed, or inspiring and magnetic political figures created in Britain. Kensington Church Street went into service, armed with a copy of of the 20th century. The legacy of the In 1945 the Labour Party swept to the bible and an English high church people who lived in this house, against Victory in the General Election and Protestant devotional work entitled The all tides of attack, enduring not only in introduced Welfare State Reforms which f one glances up at the façades of Whole Duty of Man. physical reality, but in the hearts and were paid for by raising taxes. Bevan was church schools in London, one The school was originally designed minds and hopes of millions”. made Minister for Health and Housing. can sometimes see painted stone by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1711, While living at Cliveden Place Bevan Facing many challenges he pushed statues of children, normally at that time Clerk of the Works at completed his foundation of NHS and through the Nationalisation of the entire dressed in blue, as that was the Kensington Palace and the figures were wrote the book, In Place of Fear which hospital service. The NHS Act became cheapest dye available in the mid- cast in stone by Thomas Eustace in sixteenth and seventeenth century, about 1712. They were originally placed was an autobiographical statement of Law in 1946 and fully institutionalised when many of the charity schools were on either side of the bell-tower of the his political beliefs. Lee re-entered in 1948. This year is its 70th anniversary. I Parliament at that time. Hitherto, Doctors were paid to treat founded. It is said that their stockings Kensington Charity School to mark the were dyed in saffron, to deter rats from separate entrances for boys and girls. Bevan was known as a brilliant orator, men, but women and children had to pay. nibbling their ankles. Two such figures However, the school was demolished a dedicated Socialist who was deeply Some Doctors were generous to the poor are to be seen on the wall of the north in 1878 to make way for the new Town concerned about the under-privileged and there was the option of going to a entrance of St Mary Abbots School Hall, which was again demolished a and unemployed. In fact he changed the teaching hospital to see a Doctor free. opposite the Church in Church Walk, hundred years later. The figures had face of British Politics. Lady Almoners decided if the applicant just off Kensington Church Street. been safely stored and were installed on Lee became a very successful could pay. Early on there are accounts The boy on the left wears a blue frock the north façade of the new school in Minister for Arts and she established the that show the NHS was badly managed; coat with gilt bittons, red breeches, 1875, where they remain today. Other Open University which, by 1984, had This still appears to be the case. hose and red square-toed boots. He is examples of Bluecoat Charity Children holding a quill and a scroll on which can be seen at Greycoat Hospital in over 100,000 students. In the fifties Bevan went on to is written, ‘I was naked and ye clothed Victoria, a pair at St Mary Rotherhithe, Aneurin Bevan was born in Tredegar. become Minister for Labour, Shadow me.’ The girl on the right, wearing a St John’s Old School in Wapping and Monmouthshire in South Wales. His Foreign Secretary and in 1959 Deputy white bonnet, a pale blue gown and St Andrew’s Parochial School. Allister father David Bevan, a coal miner, was Leader of the Labour Party. bodice laced across a cream blouse with Bowtell’s charming My Children in a Baptist. His mother, Phoebe (née Aneurin Bevan could be pragmatic a wide collar, an apron and bright red Duke of York Square depict two pupils Prothero) a seamstress, was a Methodist. and at times disloyal. He was not shoes, looks rather taken aback. She is from the Royal Military Asylum They had ten children. considered to be a team player, but he clutching a prayer book. Children with for the Children of Soldiers of the The young Bevan did not shine was a great man, dedicated to Socialism. no access to education, could attend Regular Army. They wore not dissimilar academically at school and left at 14 He also had a fondness for music and schools run by churches and charities, uniforms, comprising of a red bob- years of age to work in the mines. He books which he inherited from his funded by more wealthy parishioners tailed coat, white starched collar, blue joined the Independent Labour Party father. and maintained by the parish, using skirts for girls, knee britches for boys, voluntary donations and subscriptions. low shoes with brass buckles, starched and the S. Wales Miners' Federation and Aneurin Bevan, sometimes known as became a Trade Union activist. Early ‘Nye’ died of stomach cancer in 1960, at In 1707 subscriptions were raised mop caps for girls and leather caps for ‘ ’ to fund St Mary Abbot School in boys.They certainly seem to be having on he was noticed as a troublemaker home in Chesham. Buckinghamshire. He Kensington, and among the doners more fun than the two stuck up on the with plenty of ‘views’. In 1919 he gained was cremated at Gwent Crematorium in were Queen Anne and her husband school wall. a scholarship to the Central Labour Croesyceiliog. Prince George of Denmark. Pupils Don Grant College in London where he studied Economics, History and Politics. Here Marian Maitland 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 9 London Architecture online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

BRICKS AND BRICKBATS

BY SQUINCH Group © Bloomberg Photographs

The Temple of Mithras: ancient and timeless

s Londinium expanded in the second century AD, Roman soldiers and Free men built one ofA their World’s most robust Temple of Mithras. It was located on the banks of the Walbrook; a stream that ran across have groundscape water sculptures by the City into the Thames, and close Christina Iglesias; their patinated bronze to Watling Street, the main Roman matted roots imply a lost landscape road from Londinium to the West. The beneath the immaculate stone paving. secretive cult of Mithraism, rooted in Gentle streams of flowing water evoke rituals of darkness & light, thrived up an almost Pre-Raphaelite dream come to the late fourth century AD and then to life; when the water is static, it reflects declined. Over the following centuries, the temples of commerce around it. sections of London were rebuilt, Importantly, adjacent to its original site especially after the Great Fire of 1666, on Walbrook, a new gallery space has and the site was buried 6 metres below been created giving access to a basement the evolving ground level. sanctuary 6 metres below ground where The destruction of the area around the Mithraeum has been rejuvenated: St Paul’s Cathedral and Cannon Street this time, with painstaking research and at the time of the Blitz is well known. conservation expertise hand-in-hand In the early 1950s, whilst Winston with inventive, sophisticated exhibition Churchill was championing the design. rebuilding of the City of London to Descending a black stone-clad encourage economic growth, Professor stair, the space opens into the restored William F. Grimes, Director of The foundations and low perimeter walls of London Museum, led a series of major the Temple. A walkway takes you around archaeological digs within the walls of the outside. At timed intervals, the room the Roman city. Each site had a time darkens, an imperceptible mist of water restriction to enable redevelopment fills the air and ingenious lines of light without undue delay. The area imply the whole volume and colonnade immediately North of Cannon Street of the original temple structure and Station adjacent to the Walbrook was space. It is magically enthralling at one of those sites. the same time as being sensitive to The excavation proceeded its ancient memory. A triumph of meticulously for two years with a conservation skills, creative design and comprehensive record kept through substantial investment. Thank you Mr drawings and photographs. On the Bloomberg, Professor Grimes and the last day of this dig, Grimes discovered recent team that have brought this a marble bust of Mithras, the Pagan treasure back for public enjoyment. Sun God, clearly identifiable by his The new office building, Bucklersbury fortunately before the notion of Brexit A few yards away, Bloomberg has distinctive Phrygian hat. A photographer House, subsumed the original site. had entered our national vocabulary. created a third public space that enhances from The Times captured the find and Somewhat fortuitously, most such office Bloomberg’s new building is now the setting of Wren’s masterpiece, St it was featured on the front page the buildings eventually pass their ‘sell by complete and will house hundreds of Stephen Walbrook. Designed in 1672, following day. The image sparked the date’. well-provided-for employees. when Wren was exploring ideas for St public imagination. Over 400,000 visitors In 2007 at the height of architectural It is huge, low built of stone and Paul’s Cathedral, St Stephen’s smaller, queued around the clock to see this icon mania, planning consent was bronze, it sets the highest environmental lighter timber framed dome allowed the special root of London history. Churchill granted for a design by Norman Foster performance standards even if the carbon architect greater freedom. Completed on agreed to extend the dig by another & Jean Nouvel, nicknamed Darth Vader’s footprint of the build did not. Some 27th May 1679, it remains ‘The Pride of fortnight to enable further viewing. Helmet. The crash came and the Spanish critics say it is not adventurous enough. English Architecture’. Wren’s resolution Thereafter, the remnants were developer retreated. Philanthropist, Squinch likes it; time will tell. of geometry, simplicity, space and light relocated 100 metres away and to Anglophile, ex New York Mayor, It has reinstated the line of Watling evokes stillness and contemplation. It Grimes' dismay, inappropriately rebuilt Michael Bloomberg purchased the site to Street as a covered street linking two is the most timeless inspiration of what with scant regard for academic accuracy. locate his new European Headquarters; areas of generous public space. These architecture can be about. 10 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk European & International News

of two children per family but given how amid the outcry. car’s clean emissions claims. stubborn the decline in birth rates have Israeli MPs are now backing a bill to “We are shocked by the extent and UK’s iconic been, the government may consider a expand its existing Holocaust denial application of the studies,” Daimler, rejig in national policy. laws to include a five-year minimum which makes Mercedes-Benz and Smart Bangkok embassy Experts suggest that the reason jail sentence for anyone who minimises cars said in a statement. “We condemn behind the fall in the number of people or denies the role of Nazi collaborators, the experiments in the strongest terms.” sold for £420 starting families is largely due to women including those from occupied countries At the time of Daimler’s statement getting married and having children later such as France and Poland. however, only the experiments with in life. There are a number of challenges “We are very sad and surprised our monkeys were publicly known. Both million that young Chinese people are currently fight for the truth, for the dignity of Daimler and BMW said that they had facing: lack of affordable childcare, rising Poles, is perceived and interpreted in no knowledge of the study while VW house prices and relatively stagnant this way,” said Polish Senate speaker blamed “mistakes and misjudgments of incomes have all contributed to the delay Stanislaw Karczweski. individuals.” in starting a family. “Poland is a democratic state of The concern for leader Xi Jinping and law which respects the freedom of the Communist Party is that China has public debate, scientific research, and an ageing population of 240 million and the right to criticism,” Deputy Justice Canadian a shrinking working population. Based Minister Marcin Warchol said, adding on current trends, some demographers that it would be incorrect to suggest national anthem that the law would prevent people from n its largest ever sale of Foreign researching Poland’s history. to become Office property, the UK government announced last month that it had gender-neutral Photographs © CFP Photographs Isold its iconic Bangkok embassy for £420 German car- million. Nestled inside the heart of Bangkok, the sales of the UK Embassy is part of makers have government plans to raise money to renovate other embassies around the “blood on their world. The building was sold to a joint- venture consortium of Hongkong Land, estimate that India will overtake China hands” a member of the Jardine Matheson as the world’s most populous country Group and Central Group. within four years. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson Until the costs of raising a child are welcome the news, saying: “Britain is a addressed by the national government, it A bill to make Canada’s national anthem leading player on the global stage and I’m will prove to be very difficult to reverse gender-neutral has passed the country’s determined to ensure that our diplomats this trend. senate. The words “true patriot love in all have all the necessary tools to do their thy sons command” will be changed to job effectively. “true patriot love in all of us command.” “This includes working in modern, Before becoming law, it must receive safe, fit for purpose premises not just Controversial ‘royal assent’ from the governor general in Bangkok but around the world. Our before becoming law. The move was workforce in Bangkok will be moving Holocaust sponsored by late Canadian politician into a state-of-the-art premises by 2019 German car-manufacturers have “blood Mauril Bélanger and received support and this can only enhance our trade links law causes rift on their hands” the UK government’s by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who and bilateral relations in Thailand and former chief scientist said. Professor described it as “another positive step throughout the region.” between Poland Sir David King said that it was “simply towards gender equality,” and author In 2019, British diplomats in astonishing” that VW, BMW, and Margaret Atwood, among others. Bangkok will transfer to a modern tower and Israel Daimler-Benz, had undergone rigged But not all Canadians are as excited block, which the UK government will experiments on monkeys and that their about it. The bill passed the country’s lease for the next 15 years. deception has caused a large number of House of Commons in 2016 but was The Polish Senate has approved a Simon McDonald, the permanent deaths in the UK. Sir David spoke of under debate for 18 months in the controversial bill that would prohibit under-secretary at the Foreign Office, how he was tricked into believing the senate, facing opposition from the accusing the Poles of being complicit in added: “In a tight fiscal environment, it claim that diesel capture technology was Conservative Party whose members the Nazi Holocaust. In addition, it would is right that we take tough decisions to safe when on a trip to a testing lab in described it as “shameful, anti- make it illegal to describe the Nazi death ensure that the UK can maintain a global 2004. This led to a policy shift in favour democratic,” and saying that “somethings camps in Poland, such as Auschwitz, as presence while getting the best value for of diesel powered cars. just shouldn’t change.” being Polish, with penalties ranging from taxpayers.” “The number of early fatalities in However, it’s supporters have also voiced fines to up to three years imprisonment. Britain is really very, very large due to their feelings. “I'm very, very happy,” The bill has passed the upper house of NOx [nitrogen oxides] air,” Sir David said as Independent Ontario Sen. the Polish parliament with 57 votes to said, “with governments across Europe Frances Lankin, who sponsored the bill. 23 and with two abstaining, according to Chinese birth encouraging diesel on the basis that the “There's been 30 years plus of activity AGP. The country’s president, Andrzej catalyst traps worked.” trying to make our national anthem, Duda, said that Poland has the right “to rates continue fall Following the reveal that VW was this important thing about our country, defend historical truth.” cheating on emissions tests, the three inclusive of all of us. ... This may be small, The Chinese government recently This proposal bill, which must car-makers listed above have been it's about two words, but it's huge ... announced that only 17.2 million be signed off by the president before accused of commissioning or supporting we can now sing it with pride knowing Chinese babies were born in 2017, about becoming law, has caused tension a 2014 study that saw both monkeys and the law will support us in terms of the 630,000 fewer than the year before. with Israel whose Prime Minsister, humans exposed to exhaust fumes and language. I'm proud to be part of the It is a worrying sign that the birth Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Poland of nitrogen dioxide, the German media has group that made this happen” rate is still falling after the government attempting to change history. Opposition reported. O Canada has been Canada’s national removed its controversial long-standing MP Tzipi Livini of the Zionist Union One experiment saw monkeys being anthem since 1980 and changes have one-child policy. The number of Chinese Party called it “a spit in the face of Israel.” forced to inhale exhaust fumes from a been proposed several times but this women having a second child did rise last A few days before the announcement, VW Beetle and an older pick-up truck is the first time a proposal has been year, but the number of women starting the Polish president has promised to for several hours. This was to prove the successful. families fell. The current policy is a limit engage in talks with Israel over the bill 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 11 Feature online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

to an event over which you have no control, 10% of time may be given to Truth in Public the things that were promised during Service the campaign. We the voters know that By Emma Trehane 90% of the promises made during the

campaign will not be fulfilled. So why Images Abbey © Westminster doesn’t the political campaigner knock on the door and say that he or she can’t promise to deliver on everything but estminster Abbey was can work to deliver on some promises founded by Benedictine to the best of their abilities? The answer Monks in AD 960. The Foster Gilbert suggests is that ‘we’, the ruleW by which the monks lived and electorate, don’t want our politicians taught, is explained in a lecture given to tell the truth, because what we want at Westminster Abbey Institute by is the Messiah. We want our Public the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Servants to make our dreams come true, Rowan Williams: “The Benedictine and when they don’t we hate them.’ The Rule ‘identifies Honesty, Peace and reason for this, it could be argued, is Accountability as critical to the health of because the general public do not want any community”. By examining these key to be held accountable for making a wrong decision. We need only consider So how can this analogy be applied Brexit to understand Foster Gilbert’s to our Public servants and their attempts argument here. It is easier to blame our to restore our faith in their moral politicians and call them liars than to be practices? Telling the ‘truth’ when one is accountable for the part we play in the a Public Servant is wrought with pitfalls. democracy in which we live. Therefore, Foster Gilbert offers an example from a as much as this Spring’s lectures and previous lecture; ‘Leading up to elections debates are about exploring ‘moral truths’ leaders will make extravagant manifesto they are also about encouraging a debate promises.’ In 2016, Nick Clegg, who among Public Servants and private has invaluable hands on experience in citizens alike, about responsibility and treading the tricky path of politics, gave a accountability within the community at practical example of what it is like to be a large. Most importantly, finding ways to politician in public service campaigning form a more ethically and morally robust for the leadership of his party. Clegg, society in an age where it appears that virtues, the Westminster Abbey Institute Abbey floor in previous years to explore explained that if you are successful, ‘truth’ and ‘trustworthiness’ have become offers Public servants and private citizens ideas of Democracy, Integrity and Ethics. 90% of what is done in office is to react seriously compromised. a platform from which to examine It is a forum where members of the and discuss these ideas within today’s Public Services come together to reflect political, religious and social climate. on moral values and choices, and explore Over time, the country’s leading how, as Public Servants, they might WESTMINSTER ABBEY INSTITUTE public state institutions were drawn take the right moral course of action to Westminster Abbey and formed a to achieve good, at a time when values new community working on behalf of and choices appear to be increasingly the people and the State: The Houses diminished. of Parliament and its departments of This Spring the fundamental topic State, Buckingham Palace and St James’s under investigation is ‘Truth’: In the Palace, the London District of the world of Public Service, trustworthiness, British Army and Headquarters of the dependability, wise decision making and Metropolitan Police are all positioned in solid relationships all depend on truth. or around Parliament Square and home Is it in shorter supply than it used to be? to the Public Servants working on behalf How can it be recognized and where of the private citizens. These are the can it be reliably found? Is it justified for foundation stones of power and politics politicians to tell lies in order to do good, in the UK. or does that lastingly undermine the Sadly, Politics, Power and public’s faith in political leadership? Is Public Servants have become words there such a thing as diplomatic truth? synonymous with corruption, dishonesty When asked how Truth can be and moral cowardice. How often do defined, Foster Gilbert’s starting point we hear people say ‘all politicians are is Plato and the idea of ‘absolute truth’. liars’ and the actions of those who hold Plato’s position is that we all have a positions of power called into question? concept in our mind of what is an Westminster Abbey Institute was absolute truth despite never having founded by Claire Foster-Gilbert seen it. ‘There is such a thing as truth, (Director) and its raison d’être, is to there is such a thing as absolute truth’ address these questions and examine explains Foster Gilbert. ‘The fact that how to redress current public grievances. it’s impossible, it seems, to express it, Since the Institute was launched in 2013, doesn’t mean it’s not there. And it doesn’t SPRING 2018 EVENTS: TRUTH it has hosted a series of lectures and mean we shouldn’t try to be as truthful as TO BOOK (FREE): WWW.WESTMINSTER-ABBEY.ORG/INSTITUTE discussions on moral values in Public possible. Because, there are real dangers service. A number of familiar names if we simply give up the idea that there including William Hague, Baroness is such a thing as absolute truth, and to Butler-Sloss, Nick Clegg, John Major, something to which we should aspire. www.westminster-abbey.org Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, Lord Saatchi Without this we really end up in a place and Matthew Parris have taken to the where we can’t trust each other anymore.’ 12 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Opinion & Comment

From the bragging “pussy” grabbing WARNING by H.M.Government of the President, to the braying gropers LIVING CAN BE DANGEROUS MARIUS BRILL’S of the President’s Club, right the way AND MAY LEAD TO DEATH through to the horrific serial abuse of hundreds of children by the USA MEMEING OF LIFE Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, what men do with their hands is no less On the BBC Today programme last Meme: An element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another... invasive than what they do with their month, Tessa Jowell’s brave and dignified penises. Men’s hands are a menace. I’m acceptance of the possibility of her not saying that men are not responsible own imminent death should act as an for their hands, but what men find hard encouragement to the rest of us to face to consider is why they use them as they our own mortality with the same dignity, A Handy Guide do. It’s not like there are any sexually understanding and fearlessness. For while stimulating arousal nerves in male in Britain every winter we are subjected for post #metoo fingers. So what possible satisfaction to daily reminders that the National could a man get from grabbing an Health Service is about to collapse under Valentines. unwilling “pussy”, or for that matter any the pressure of old people crammed into sexual anatomy or, indeed inserting their the corridors of our hospitals, we seem digits into anybody’s vagina? as a nation to have become obsessed ell this is awkward. Of The easy answer is power, it’s a way with the notion of hanging on to life at course Valentine’s Day has for disenfranchised men to show exactly whatever cost. always been awkward, it’s who’s boss. It’s a way to feel strong and This stance is encouraged by most of synonymous with, tongue-tied inept in a position of authority. You’re a king… the media, especially the popular press, W or a President I guess. But maybe there is for whom any signs of a decline in life gestures and confused boundaries but this year, the rights and wrongs of something else going on at a deeper level. expectancy are deplored, while the news romance are more opaque, confusing and At one end of the hand-to-gland that we’re all living longer than we ever dangerous than ever before. How can we spectrum we have foreplay which, have is jubilantly celebrated. Prevailing know whether, when a date reaches out, between consenting lovers, is the culture encourages individuals more than they are mindful or a monster? beginning of a path to mutual sexual ever to demand what they consider their As populations grow, gene diversity satisfaction. At the other end is out- right to be given everything available widens. And, as potential mate selection and-out assault. Between the two we from the overstretched Health Service becomes more complex so, it seems, have a host of words: stimulate - caress that may defer death for a few more proportionally, do our underlying - touch - fondle - cop-a-feel - grope years. Hospitals are inundated with courtship rituals and patterns; the taboos - molest. The correct verb for what old people suffering multiple ailments, and to-dos of romance. And how are you to know, unless you’re might be exactly the same manual action all expecting to be treated, however In pre-history, it’s thought, meet, willing to cross it? relies completely on the receiver of this depleted their subsequent quality of life greet, rape and mate was pretty much the Sometimes it’s pretty clear. If you’re attention. The level of reciprocation or whatever the cost in human resources; order of the day; chocolates and flowers convicted stalker Edward Vine, sending defines everything and even if “no means those of their own families’ as well as the had little play with homo erectus. Even missives from your cell to newsreader no” is clear enough, “no” to intercourse already unsustainably oversized NHS. in the early civilizations of Greece and Emily Maitlis (the clue’s in the name and “no” to grope seem to occupy two The staff of the NHS are obliged to Rome, love poetry suggests there was mate), then your attentions are likely to different places in the male psyche. recommend every treatment that might more interest in ‘favourites’ than trying be unwelcome. On the other hand, if Whether it’s down to too much be seen to reduce risks of recurrence, to beguile a mate to carry your genetic you’re 54-year-old Henry Bolton (leader testosterone, or the combination of especially now that patients, disgruntled destiny. In Medieval Europe mating of UKIP at time of press) being wooed X and Y chromosomes, or a genetic that they have not been returned to a and marriage was strictly business and by 25-year-old topless model Jo Marney, urgency, or because we wear our state of perfect health, are now in the contracts. Romance itself didn’t actually Christmas is definitely the best time to vaginas on the outside, or just the social habit of casting around for someone to appear until the 12th century and even dump the wife, kids and any political expectation of gender dominance, men blame, and encouraged to reach for the then it came with a set of complicated credibility. are never far from their own sexual nearest no win/no fee lawyer advertising and contradictory rules, (De Amore, Most courtship signalling is less cut needs. Gropers, fondlers, frotteurs, in the back pages and nether regions Capellanus, Andreas, 1180), which has and dried. My own wife suffered 15 predominantly men, have all sorts of of the internet. The result of this is a been baffling horny teenagers ever since. years of advances from a man she had no sociopathy but deep down, I have no strong overstatement of what might be Part of the difficulty of romance has interest in before realising that the only doubt, there is also a misguided desperate necessary to reduce, even marginally, the always been that no one is ever sure that way she might disillusion him was to expectation of reciprocation. chances of a recurrent condition. Medical they’re doing the right thing. I urge you marry him. So here’s a simple secret that even staff must be seen to have recommended to read a fascinating history of this in Much of the naming and shaming men find hard to admit. When a man any treatment that could be deemed to Making Love – A Conspiracy of the Heart. of the last year, which exploded with touches a woman or a lover it can mean have fended off all ongoing risk. This (Brill, Marius, Doubleday 2001.) the Weinstein revelations, have been to all sorts of things as well, but it’s also a inevitably leads to a truly significant So the course of true love never did expose not just rape, which is already on plea: “touch me”. It is a primeval do-as- amount of unnecessary and expensive run smooth, but now the #metoo and the criminal statutes, but other forms I-do yearning for reciprocation, a desire medicalisation, and wasted resources. #timesup campaigns, while redefining of sexual aggression which hitherto to be touched right back. A longing There is no way out of this for the NHS. sexual politics, are throwing the whole have inhabited the greyer area between to begin foreplay. Somewhere right at When dealing with the over-65s, who range of courtship behaviour into a slap’n’tickle and GBH. The vast majority the back of Trump’s tiny mind there is currently consume 40% of their budget, maelstrom of complexity. Not just for of which seems to have something to do the delusion that if he grabs a pussy, its they simply cannot be seen to decide lovers trying to learn new inoffensive with what men do with their hands. owner might just sigh with delight, grab when a patient has had enough and ways to express sexual interest, but for English does as much as a gender his tiny Donald Jr back and orgasms will would probably be better off accepting their objects who have to figure out neutral language can to masculinise follow. This almost psychotic delusion, the inevitable. And even when an intentions from ever more subtle signals. hands. They are manual, manipulate, ridiculous as it may be, may just lie at the individual may be sure they’re ready to Valentines Day’s most famous ritual manhandle, and so on. The French main very heart of every touch-feely, gropey, die, their relations are plagued with an has always been a little creepy. The line has been conflated with the Germanic fingery man you ever met. often misguided sense of compassion, between sending an anonymous note mann but something obvious is manifest And as more and more #metoo or just plain guilt, that obliges them to declaring your passion, and stalking, has and something you dare not refuse is stories emerge, it seems the male demand never-ending treatment on their always been a thin one. mandatory. While you might get a handy inability to gauge reciprocation, or their elderly relative’s behalf. The line itself is reciprocation. You’re man in to fix your boiler, a handy woman willingness to ignore the lack of it, is a In the end, given a clear supply of fine if the object of your passion wants sounds more like a masseuse with a line delusion that creates monsters. Happy accurate information, it should be our it. But woe betide you if they don’t. in happy endings. Valentines. individual responsibility to decide if 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 13 Opinion & Comment online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

our condition merits the expense of I’d have to choose the bag, despite all treatment, as well as any concomitant the restrictions that would place on my restrictions to the way we live. We must walking and my physical relationship DUDLEY SUTTON’S learn to be realistic about the potential with my wife. It was an awful choice to benefit and the downside of being have to make. I WISH I HAD WRITTEN THAT subjected to increasing medicalisation On the next visit to the hospital, in our later years. However, making that where this time I saw my regular choice is becoming much harder now consultant, I told him that I had that we can be kept alive, often in a semi- strongly considered the possibility of Street Boy comatose state in a nursing home bed, as doing nothing, and letting my life take by Gareth Owen my own mother was, for six years. As she whatever course it would. I didn’t want to spoke barely a few words in all that time, die, but neither did I want to be terrified Just you looat me, man, it is impossible to know how she felt or into choosing a life-changing course of Stompin’ down the street whether or not she cared about staying medicalisation, which would disrupt not alive, although one could reasonably only me, but also the people close to me. My crombie’s stuffed with biceps conclude that she wasn’t having much To help in my decision, I asked what My boots is filled with feet. fun. were the chances, if I did nothing, of my While I haven’t been confronted getting full-blown cancer. He said that Just you hark to me, man, with the imminent choices faced given the position of the cancerous polyp, by Tessa Jowell, I have had direct odds of the cancer having spread to the When they call us out experience of the process. Five years remaining part of my colon were just 1 My head is full of silence ago, an examination of my upper colon in 5! My mouth is full of shout. revealed that it contained a number of I was suffused with joy. Having been cancerous polyps which were severely told that the spread was inevitable, I now disrupting its normal function. A few realised I had an 80% chance of nothing Just you watch me move, man, feet of my colon were chopped out and happening. Odds like that were more Steady like a clock it was reconnected. After that the bowels than enough for me; especially combined My heart is spaced on blue beat functioned in a way that they hadn’t for with a good dose of auto-suggestion and My soul is toned on rock. years; not only was the spread of cancer even, however mad it sounds in the 21st halted, but life had got better. century, a big dollop of prayer. A consultant (always the same one) Nevertheless, the consultant was Just you read my name, man, in the colorectal department at the local obliged to recommend that I had the Writ for all to see NHS hospital continued to monitor the colectomy, as it offered the only certainty The walls is red with stories remaining bit of my colon with a regular that there would be no return of that and thorough endoscopy. This time last particular cancer. He had to, because if The streets is filled with me. year one of these searches revealed a fresh he hadn’t and it did recur, he would be cancerous polyp, which was snipped off. held responsible. In the absence of the regular consultant, I exonerated him completely from whom I’d got to know and trust, I was that advice. given this news by one of his colleagues, My choice was no more bowel- who went on to tell me that as a result disposal and lots more life with the of what they’d found, to avoid any remaining good half of the colon. My recurrence, I’d have to lose the remaining decision was accepted. half of my colon, and be permanently Six months later for a follow up linked to a colostomy bag. I left the inspection I was not anaesthetised, consultation under the impression that if and could see for myself that there was I didn’t have this done, I would develop nothing there. full-blown cancer. I’d saved myself a massive and Over the next week, I considered the unnecessary disruption to the way I live Advertise alternatives: a non-functioning bowel, and, by the way, I’d saved the NHS a lot with all the tremendous restrictions of money. that would place on the way I lived; It would be impossible to calculate or developing untreated cancer and, just how much the NHS spends on ultimately, death. operations whose principal function is with us It placed me in a quandary. I was to avoid possible legal action by patients. enjoying a full, physically active life. I They’re not responsible for this state walk miles every month across the hills of affairs, though. Like most things To put an advertisement in KCWToday in the Welsh Marches, with the woman troubling the NHS, it’s the punters’ fault. whom I married just five years ago, and Peter Burden with whom I have experienced, and am email: [email protected] still experiencing the happiest period of my life. I have three children; all in or telephone 020 7738 2348 exciting, developing phases of their lives, to whom I still hope I have something to offer. I enjoy my work; writing pieces like this, reviews and investigations; and when I’m not doing that, pottering around salerooms and antique fairs buying stuff to sell in my wife’s busy shop in our local market town. There is also the company of my four siblings, their families and a wide range of friends to enjoy. Lots, in other words, to live for. peterburden.net If it were a choice of living with no colon

and a colostomy bag, or not living at all, www. 14 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Business & Finance NEWS Compiled by James Billot

Disney’s planned acquisition of Fox also faces a roadblock after the UK’s Beautiful Q4 for Competition and Markets Authority Trans-Pacific free-trade deal moves stated that Fox’s proposed takeover of Netflix Sky was not in the public’s interest on on without the US grounds of media plurality. Disney’s agreement to purchase the majority of Fox’s businesses would mean that it owns Sky. Image © Netflix Image The Disney-Fox deal still needs US regulatory approval and given the growing anti-trust sentiment in Washington, it is far from a done deal. Netflix, at least for the foreseeable future, still wears the crown.

Eleven Pacific Rim countries (minus renegotiations in the NAFTA trade deal. China) have agreed to sign a tariff- These are moves that form a part of London business reducing deal that will encourage greater Trump’s broader ‘America First’ policy, cross-border investment between the a key campaign pledge during his 2016 confidence countries. Originally known as the presidential campaign. Some however, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Donald are more sceptical about the benefits of highest in the UK Trump pulled out of the deal last January these tariffs for American manufacturers. Netflix’s stock price bumped amid concerns that Asian countries were Market observers posit that it is actually up by 10% after it announced undercutting US companies. Wall Street that stands to gain the most, In response to the deal, Washington where the likes of Centrebridge Partners more growth in terms of announced that there will be higher and JP Morgan & Co. are creditors for revenue and subscribers. tariffs on the imports of washing the two flagging solar companies that machines and solar panels. These brought the trade complaint forward. Netflix has continued to tariffs, slated to be as high as 50%, are Unfortunately for the US, tariffs are surpass investor expectations expected to cut down on American unlikely to revive its manufacturing, an imports for washers and panels from industry in which China is a clear market after the online streaming countries where labour costs are low. leader. According to a report from the service revealed that its Following this announcement, shares of US government’s National Renewable Whirlpool, an American manufacturing Energy Laboratory China’s dominance is streaming revenue rose by 36% firm, rose by 3% and it is expected that not replicable ‘in any condition because in 2017, adding a total of 24 US automakers will also gain from markets have changed.’ million in new memberships According to a new regional Business (compared to 19 million in Barometer report, by Lloyd’s Banking 2016). Group, overall confidence for firms in London is 47%, 12 points higher than escribing their fourth quarter the national average. last year as ‘beautiful’, Netflix Coupled with a higher economic attributed its growth to its optimism compared to other regions, original content and the shift in standing at 43%, companies in London D are reporting higher than average consumer habits towards online viewing. Netflix’s stock has already risen by business prospects at 51%. 18% this year and the company has Across the country, overall business promised to invest $18 billion into confidence has risen several points to programming over the next five years. a nine-month high, driven primarily The company has already spent vast sums by a rise in the economic optimism of on its original programming, with an companies. estimated £2 billion spent in 2017 alone. Companies’ hiring intentions show Currently, Netflix spends $500 that a net balance of 40 per cent of million more than it earns each quarter businesses in London expect to hire but the company believes that as more staff during the next year, while subscriber growth rises, relative spending firms expect a median annual increase in on original content will fall. average pay in the region of one to two Netflix has enjoyed an unfettered per cent during 2018. dominance in the online streaming Mark Burton, regional director for service industry but there are new London and the South at Lloyds Bank entrants on the horizon. A notable Commercial Banking, said: “Firms across challenger is Disney, who announced London have remained resilient in the that it will be removing its content from face of uncertainty and are now the Netflix in 2019 and will create its own most confident in the UK about the year streaming service. ahead. This move poses a risk to Netflix’s “Two-fifths of firms in the region are market share control, which is 75% of expecting to increase their staff numbers the online streaming market share in the over the next twelve months, which is North America. However, Netflix has great news for the region’s economy and responded by pivoting towards producing a further indication of business leaders’ its own original content in response to positive outlook for the capital during these market moves. 2018.” 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 15 Business & Finance online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

Ripple. On January 4, it lost 78% of its future. It is considered to be hugely value, dropping from £106 billion to undervalued because it is, in essence, a Four Cryptos £24 billion. It has since regained nearly more efficient and streamlined version of a quarter of its value following a £18 Bitcoin. It is not a classic altcoin per se billion spike in the space of just twelve because it does not provide any new idea hours. Ripple is unique because it is or service. It is better to consider it as a less a currency than a means to back a fine-tuning of the services essential to money transfer. For this reason, it is far Bitcoin. Unlike BTC, Litecoin has nearly When people get onto a more integrated with banks and financial quadruple the number of coins as Bitcoin roller-coaster, they can expect institutions. Ripple tokens are also under in circulation (84 million), which means the tight control of the company, which that it will be easier for Litecoin to meet a few ups and downs, twists owns around 60% of the entire currency. increasing demand. and turns, and maybe a spin or Pros: Pros: two. This is not dissimilar from 1. Enables cross-border bank transfers: 1. Faster block generation: it only takes today’s cryptocurrency market, remittances are therefore far cheaper. Litecoin 2.5 minutes to generate a block 2. Low transaction fees. compared to 10 minutes for Bitcoin. which has bounced around so 2. Environmentally sustainable. This much that traders have been Cons: Cons: may seem like a strange advantage, but 1.Lack of awareness and understanding: 1. Viewed as the ‘anti-cryptocurrency’: Bitcoin mining consumes vast amounts left with a queasy stomach of perhaps the most significant problem for the crypto-puritans, Ripple’s of electrical power. Litecoin’s mining their own. for new users. It is a problem that is centralised control and close algorithms are much simpler than BTC’s especially pertinent to Bitcoin users due relationships to banks makes it less and therefore do not require computers ithin the space of three to its popularity. appealing. that are as powerful. For reference, weeks in January, Bitcoin, the 2. Volatility: Bitcoin has endured at least 2 Low anonymity: another consequence Bitcoin’s estimated carbon footprint world’s largest cryptocurrency seven major crashes (losing more than of XRP’s centralised nature means that could have powered over 3,000,000 US lost nearly half of its value, sparking 40% of its value) since its inception. more third parties can access personal households last year. W information. concern of a wider price slump in the crypto-market. The lingering fear among Cons: traders however, like the roller-coaster 1. The user is responsible for the safety rider, is that it does not end with a crash. of their own purse: if a user’s wallet file is It would take a brave soul to wade lost, there is no reimbursement. It is like into cryptocurrency market at the Ether (ETH) a traditional wallet in this sense moment, but for those wishing to chance Described as the silver to Bitcoin’s Litecoin (LTC) 2. Less liquid: unlike BTC, it has not had their hand, KCW Today has compiled a gold, Ether is the currency used by the Litecoin is touted by market observers the same level of adoption by users and guide to four major cryptocurrencies in Ethereum platform with a market cap as the cryptocurrency with the brightest businesses. circulation today: of approximately $70 billion. Although Ethereum coins are distributed on a public blockchain network, it differs from Bitcoin in terms of capability and purpose. All blockchains are able to process code, but Ethereum offers a great FOR SALE: £495,000 Bitcoin (BTC) deal more freedom for its developers By far and away the largest who can build tens of thousands of • Special Price for a Quick Sale • cryptocurrency, Bitcoin accounts for over applications. In mid-2015, Ethereum half the value of all cryptocurrencies in also underwent a ‘fork’ that created its circulation. With a market capitalisation own offshoot: Ethereum Classic. of (at the time of writing) nearly $200 billion, Bitcoin is worth more than Pros: double of the next largest cryptocurrency, 1. Strong immune system: third parties Ethereum. In August 2017, Bitcoin cannot make any changes to data. underwent a split, known as a ‘fork’ and 2. Hack-proof. The algorithm that coders its offshoot, Bitcoin Cash, is technically use to mine Ether token known as ‘proof the second largest cryptocurrency. of work’ has been effective in preventing Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to hacker attacks. adopt the radical blockchain technology, 3. Short transaction times: BTC which is a decentralised database that transactions can often take days to verify stores a registry of assets and transactions whereas ETH verification can occur in across a peer-to-peer network. In under a minute. order to prevent the digital currency’s devaluation, there is a finite supply of Cons: 21,000,000 coins in circulation. 1. Constant upgrading: upgrading can disrupt trading. Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, Pros: 2. It is prone to bugs: Ether only joined London SW3 3DW 1. Low fees: there are very low or zero the crypto-market in 2015 and in cases transaction costs for BTC users. of big transactions, bugs can make it Luxury, one bedroom, first floor flat, fully furnished, fully equipped, 2. Relatively low merchant risk: BTC risky. facing the street, 24-hours porterage, security, service charges include transactions do not require any personal central heating and hot water, long lease 93 years, ideal for rental information and they cannot be reversed, investment or pied-a-terre, near South Kensington, Sloane Square which protects buyers and sellers from and the Kings Road, Harrods, shops and restaurants. potential losses. 3. Information transparency: all Ripple (XRP) Please contact Mrs Flora Baker on 020 7383 5606 completed transactions are available for or 07774 265 264 / 07429 814 381 everyone to see and transactions can be Over the past two months, there have verified at any time. been violent fluctuations in the price of 16 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Business & Finance

members can put away a small amount each week or month running up to Got the January Christmas, when they can withdraw the finance blues? funds.” Get ahead, start your savings For some people the answer may be to consider consolidating their existing plan for 2018 now debts to reduce monthly repayments. Union Credit Your © Photographs “New and existing members of Your Credit Union also have access to our affordable loans. Taking a credit union loan to pay off high credit card balances can free up weekly or monthly income that can then be saved for Christmas in a Christmas savings account.” As your local community bank, Your Your Credit Union savings plan Credit Union provides easily-accessible for 2018: and affordable loans from £100 to To find out more about credit union £7,500, with repayment plans to suit savings and loan options, call or email your circumstances and budget. We our friendly credit union team at 346 welcome new members who are working Kensington High Street to make a loan 16% of people recently questioned in a their household budget. Even better, and those on benefit. Repayments can be appointment or ask about timings for Money Advice Trust (MAT) internet she suggests they start saving now for made easily by standing order, from your our weekly pop-ups in Kensington High survey said that they were likely to fall Christmas 2018. wages or by benefits transfer. Interest Street, Ladbroke Grove, Shepherd’s Bush behind with their finances this month as “Our members tell us that saving rates vary according to the amount and Edgware Road. a result of the big Christmas spend. even a small amount regularly gives them borrowed; the more you borrow the The good news is that 68% of people peace of mind and makes expensive times better the rate. In every case interest questioned thought they were on-track of year, such as Christmas less stressful.” is only calculated on the outstanding with their post-Christmas budgeting. Your Credit Union offers easy access balance of the loan. However, MAT estimates that 7.9 savings accounts (from as little as £15 For example, a credit union loan million people will find it difficult to minimum deposit to up to £15,000 per of £1,050 could be paid back over 24 keep their New Year finances on track. person). Members can save regularly and months at just £14.18 a week or £62 Helen Mason, CEO of Your Credit usually access their savings within the a month. The total repaid, including Your Credit Union is the trading name of K&C Credit Union Ltd - Union based in High Street Kensington, same working day. Savings accounts also interest would be £1,487 over 2 years. A authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct (FCA) and Prudential * Regulatory Authority (PRA) - Firm no 564084. T: 020 7605 6341 E: info@ encourages local residents to take a have the prospect of an annual dividend loan of £7,401 could be repaid at just £43 yourcu.co.uk Web: yourcu.co.uk few minutes to look at their weekly or Helen continues “We also offer per week or £180 per month over 5 years *2% in 2015/16; Not guaranteed, always subject to end of year audited accounts monthly outgoings and make a plan for Christmas savings accounts; credit union at an interest rate of 17.23% Rep APR.

Marketing 2018, 86% of is an organic connection between the marketers incorporated influencer influencer and their following. As a The rise of marketing into their strategies result, marketers can tap into a pre- last year: 92% of whom found it existing foundation of trust between influencer to be effective. Moreover, 39% of consumer and influencer, and one in marketing marketers intend on increasing which the business may not yet have. LP © Lunchbox Photographs By James Billot their influencer marketing Another factor is consumer fatigue budgets this year, compared to towards traditional marketing campaigns; 5% that plan to decrease. The print placements, television advertising overwhelmingly positive response and outdoor billboarding are becoming among businesses towards the increasingly ineffective because of their adoption of influencer marketing inability to capture consumer attention With over 133 million suggest that these changes are not anymore. followers on Instagram, a trend but a transformation in However, as the industry matures and the marketing landscape. more players join the field, influencer Selena Gomez is a hot ticket. The dominance of social marketers will be facing greater Charging a reported $550k media means that there challenges this year. As part of the are now more channels by broader pivot towards digitalisation in for a promotional post, an which a company can engage marketing, observers predict that more endorsement from Gomez with consumers. Influencer businesses will automate their influencer marketing agencies facilitate this marketing in a bid to separate themselves is one of the most sought engagement by offering ‘campaign from the pack. While automation may after in the business world. journalists, industry analysts etc.) as management’ services on popular reduce marketing costs for a brand, it opposed to the overall market. While platforms including YouTube, Facebook, can be wasteful if it does not target the It is a signal of a new age celebrity endorsement is not a new Pinterest and blogs. Among the most right demographic. Automation would in marketing, and one in phenomenon, its advantages have popular of the new-age influencer also diminish the personal element of become more acute in the age of social marketing agencies include Blogfoster, influencer marketing and therefore risks which brands are bypassing media. Through ‘liking’, ‘sharing’, and a Berlin-based company that has since a loss of consumer trust in the same way more traditional methods of more complex data analytics, businesses expanded into the UK and tallies over that traditional advertising has faced. are now able to identify popular response 32,000 bloggers and influencers in its This year will provide the clearest advertising in favour of newer, towards their product or service with database. It appears that expansion is indication yet as to whether influencer online methods. greater accuracy. the name of the game for these agencies, marketing can withstand the tumultuous Over the past five years, influencer many of which have received multi- changes occurring in the marketing Influencer marketing is a type of marketing has established itself as a million dollar investments from outside sphere. Strong global recovery is, marketing in which the focus is placed core tenet of most business marketing investors. however, a promising sign and companies on influential people (celebrities, platforms. According to a report by Why has influencer marketing with more dry powder will likely reinvest Linqia entitled The State of Influencer proven to be so popular? For one, there into such marketing strategies. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 17 Business & Finance online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

of competition, that lies in their wake. Google’s acquisition of Waze (software Who’s been a for a navigation system), Amazon’s BAAD boy? acquisition of Souq, Graphiq, and Tech giants face political Facebook’s acquisition of Whatsapp, Instagram, and tbh (a messaging service backlash that allows users to compliment each By James Billot other anonymously) has only served to entrench their dominant standing Remarkably, none of these a market capitalisation of $1.9 trillion acquisitions were deemed anti- “If monopoly persists, dollars and are three of the ten most competitive by the US regulatory bodies, for politicians. An analysis led by Guy monopoly will always sit at valuable companies in the world. Their but since 2016, each company has been Rolnik of the University of the Chicago dominance in each company’s respective marred by a series of political setbacks: found that there were six mentions of the helm of government… fields has not gone unnoticed either: Facebook has been embroiled in US ‘antitrust’ in last year’s election compared If there are men in this Facebook has 88% of social media traffic investigation into Russian-backed to zero in the previous four. With the in the US, Google has a 90% market election meddling; Google was fined upcoming midterms in November, it will country big enough to own share in search advertising and it is €2.4 billion over antitrust in 2017 by the be interesting to see if this sentiment the government of the United estimated that Amazon captures over European Commission, and Amazon materialises into actionable legislation. 40% of online shopping in America. has been on the receiving end of Donald Companies in Silicon Valley have States, they are going to own This level of clout poses a huge Trump’s fiery tweets, which knocked its not been oblivious to the turn in public it.” risk to the tech industry. For potential stock price. opinion against them. In a statement market competitors, the barriers to Since the US presidential election last month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg ver a century old, this quote entry have become insurmountable last year, burgeoning antitrust sentiment promised that the Facebook newsfeed from Woodrow Wilson still because they cannot compete with the in Washington has made BAAD would return to a more familial focus has huge bearing on today’s access to personal data that these three companies become a popular target in place of branded and publishing Obig businesses. After eight years of companies have. Facebook has two content. Given, however, the deepening unbridled expansion under the Obama billion users worldwide and has the crisis of misinformation spreading across administration, the political tide is largest ‘social graph’, which not only lists the world, this is an underwhelming finally turning against the world’s largest their members, but shows how they are response. Until there is a clearer and tech companies. Colloquially known as connected. Consequently, Facebook can more effective system of rewarding ‘BAAD’ (Big, anti-competitive, addictive, exploit this data for advertising services, legitimate content publishing, fake news and destructive), three US companies are much in the same way that Amazon does will continue to metastasise for some dealing with the brunt of the backlash: with online purchasing habits. time yet. Ultimately, it will be left to the Facebook, Alphabet (Google’s parent Another ramification of this clout governing bodies to control these tech company), and Amazon. means that these tech giants can giants before they, as Wilson warned, Combined, these companies have swallow up any competition, or threat control them.

depend on how much consumers decide It will be interesting to see the ‘no’ excludes them from the service or to use their new rights. consumer response. With a barrage of information they have grown accustomed GDPR: Change For businesses to rely on consent for emails requesting consent, often from to accessing. or Chance? the processing of personal data, they service providers consumers have long However, at a basic level with the By Mary Elliott will need in future to comply with new, stopped using, communication fatigue new requirements for valid consent highly prescriptive requirements. Valid may well set in. It is not unlikely that and simple language to explain privacy (Senior Associate – Fox consent under GDPR requires clear consent requests will end up ignored statements, consumers should become Williams LLP) affirmative action; silence, pre-ticked or in spam folders. However, such lack better informed on how and when their boxes or inactivity will not do. In the of response may lead to a reduction in personal data is used. Another boost for coming months, we can expect to be unwanted/spam mail, while at the same consumer awareness is the requirement inundated with requests for consent time helping businesses identify their for businesses to report data breaches There are just over three months until as businesses scramble to ensure they more responsive and perhaps important to the Information Commissioner’s GDPR (the General Data Protection have valid grounds on which to process clients. Office within 72 hours. Accordingly we Regulation) comes into force. Whilst and/or control the personal data they When considering the new privacy can expect more announcements and many businesses have been preparing already hold about us. Going forward, notices which will inform consumers publicity around data breaches, which in for this for some time, often as part of a consumers can expect to be faced with of their rights, one has to wonder if turn will bring greater attention to the broader data management review, those clear, simple-language privacy notices they will be read. Like cookie policy potential risks in sharing personal data. whom GDPR is intended principally and greater information on how, if wording, or the terms and conditions you With organisations facing potential fines to protect; consumers, are often either consent is granted, their personal data click on to update your phone software, of up to €20 million (or 4% of turnover unaware of it entirely or have scant will be used. consumers quickly learn that clicking if higher), businesses are working hard knowledge of its implications. to ensure they fully comply with the For those who have not heard of it, regulations, which can only be a good GDPR is a new set of EU regulations thing for consumers. which will replace the existing UK Data Ultimately, however, significant Protection Act, and no, Brexit will not change will only occur as and when

affect its application in the UK. Not consumers utilise the new powers they © Infodrive Photograph only will the UK still be part of the EU have been granted; in particular, the right when it comes into force, but a new to withdraw consent and the right of Data Protection Act will maintain the erasure (the “right to be forgotten”). As obligations and requirements after Brexit. consumers regain control of their data GDPR is indeed coming. and have the chance to be selective about But will it really change anything or who can use their personal data and how, will it, like Y2K, be another alarming we may appreciate more the value of our acronym which turns out to be a bit of personal data which, until now, has often a damp squib? The answer seems to be been a resource businesses have been that change is indeed in the offing, but able to utilise for free with limited legal the practical extent of that change will scrutiny. 18 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Astronomy

transformed into the body of Christ. It was this experiment that led him into a In The Beginning life of science. By Scott Beadle FRAS How ironic then that it was Fred Hoyle who coined the phrase by which the birth of the universe is now known. “I do not feel obliged to believe It was in 1950 on BBC Radio’s Third that the same God who has Programme that Hoyle was giving a series of lectures on the Cosmos, one of endowed us with sense, reason which was to explain the two competing and intellect has intended us to theories. “Now this Big Bang seemed t’me forgo their use”. t’be ‘ighly unsatisfactory....On scientific Galileo Galilei grounds this Big Bang assumption is much the less palatable of the two… was born in Yorkshire in 1947. My On philosophical grounds, too, I cannot Top left: Timeline illustration of the Birth of the Universe. ESA/NASA first children’s encyclopaedia in the see any good reason for preferring the Top right: Hubble spies Big Bang Frontiers revealing the faintest and earliest known galaxies. ESA/NASA & HUDF team. early 50s, was beautifully illustrated Big Bang idea”. Although he’d intended Above: WMAP shows 13.7 billion years old temperature fluctuations in the Miucrowave Cosmic Background Radiation. Iwith the origins of the universe and the the term to be somewhat derisory, the origins of the moon and solar system greatest critic of the expanding universe the weak and strong nuclear forces and The relic radiation of the Big etc. It said the moon was born out of theory had inadvertently christened it! electromagnetism were all equivalent. Bang decoupled about 380,000yrs the Earth or a captured body (not really Nowadays the Steady State theory The universe cooled rapidly and at later, creating the cosmic microwave -35 true by modern theory), and the universe has been more or less abandoned and 10 seconds after the Big Bang, background radiation (CMBR) began with either a Big Bang or a Steady most astronomers and cosmologists agree inflation occurred, enlarging the universe unexpectedly discovered by Robert 50 -33 State theory. the universe began with a “Big Bang”, a by a factor of 10 in only 10 second. Wilson and Arno Penzias in the 1960s Ha, no contest there. I related to the tremendously powerful creation of space- After inflating, the universe slowed with their horn shaped radio telescope. Steady Staters champion who was a real time that sent matter and energy flying down its expansion rate but continued This decoupling moment witnessed Yorkshire man called Fred Hoyle, a sort outwards. to grow, as it still does today. It also the universe changing from opaque to of blunt, stubborn, argumentative and yet The Big Bang model breaks down cooled significantly, condensing out transparent. Matter and radiation were creative genius, who solved the problem into several eras and key events. Standard matter; neutrinos, electrons, quarks, finally separate. Let there be light and it of where does all the carbon come from cosmology, the set of ideas that most and photons, followed by protons and was so. (that makes us for instance). A problem reliably decipher the universe’s history, neutrons. Antiparticles were produced About 150 million years after this, the that had defeated all others, was solved apply from the present time to about in abundance and also annihilated in first stars began to form from the clouds by Hoyle, who identified the mechanism one hundredth of a second after the Big abundance, leaving a preponderance of of hydrogen that filled the universe, in stars, in which helium could be Bang. Before then, all the answers belong ordinary matter over antimatter. followed by large clusters of stars that transformed into beryllium and then into in the domain of particle physics and At a key moment about 1 second eventually coalesced into galaxies. Our carbon. quantum cosmology. after the Big Bang, nucleosynthesis took own little patch formed about 9 billion George Gamow was a Ukrainian, When the Big Bang occurred, matter, place and created deuterium along with years after the Big Bang, when the Sun a hard-drinking proponent of what energy, space and time were all formed, the light elements helium and lithium began forming the family of planets that was to become the alternative theory. and the universe was infinitely dense and (interesting to know that the lithium make up our own Solar System. He showed an early interest in science incredibly hot. But what came before in your phone battery is as old as the Where will it all end? In around 100 when he was given a microscope by the event itself, can’t really be answered universe)! trillion years when all the hydrogen’s his grandfather. Fascinated by the idea by scientific means. In fact, science After some 10,000yrs, the gone it will be downhill all the way. So, of transubstantiation whilst taking says little about the way the universe temperature of the universe cooled to the what started as a Big Bang may well end -43 communion in his local Russian behaved until some 10 seconds point where massive particles made up up as a Big Rip in the fabric of space- Orthodox church, he rushed home after the Big Bang, when the Grand more of the energy density than light. time or maybe a falling back into a Big with a piece of bread and a few drops Unification Epoch began (and which This turned on gravity as a key player, Crunch. -35 of wine saved in his cheeks. Under the only lasted until 10 second). Matter and the little irregularities in the density In the meantime, let’s just try and see microscope he concluded that there and energy were interchangeable and of matter were magnified into structures if we can deal with the fallout from a Big was no evidence that they had been in equilibrium during this period, and as the universe expanded. Brexit!

020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 19 Education online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

This one-day-a-week, 15-week-long course is an introduction to basic Why not learn a furniture-making and aims to give you a useful grounding in the field. new skill? Calcutta House, Old Castle St, London E1 020 7423 0000 Here is just a small selection londonmet.ac.uk of short courses to get your Chelsea College of Art creative juices flowing. Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign March 5-16 English National Ballet On this comprehensive and hands-on Taster Class: Absolute Beginners course, you will be introduced to the February 8 world of digital design in the shape Take part in a one-off taster session of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and to sample our Absolute Beginners InDesign. The aim is to promote your ballet class before enrolling for the full understanding of how seamlessly the term. Suitable for complete beginners, three programmes can work together NW1 1TR Lamda this course is a perfect introduction to 16 John Islip St, Westminster, London 020 7255 4700 English Communication Skills Through classical ballet technique. SW1P 4JU wmcollege.ac.uk Drama Markova House, 39 Jay Mews, 020 7514 7751 Dates TBD Kensington, London SW7 2ES arts.ac.uk/chelsea City Lit Lamda is revising this course for the 020 7581 1245 Calligraphy and Illumination summer of 2018. If you would like a ballet.org.uk The Photographers’ Gallery April 24-June 26 member of the admissions team to Get to know your camera for beginners Study lettering, illuminating, heraldry contact you when bookings open, please ’ City Lit March 9 and gold leaf. You ll get advice on tools email [email protected]. City Lit Interior Design Course Learn basic DSLR skills, meet other and materials, and basic materials are 155 Talgarth Rd, London W14 9DA From February 10 camera enthusiasts and try out using included. Left and right handers are 020 8834 0500 An exciting chance to learn from different settings to build both your welcome. lamda.ac.uk professional practitioners of practical knowledge and your confidence. 1-10 Keeley St, London WC2B 4BA contemporary interior design and No experience necessary. 020 7831 7831 Silverstone Circuit decoration, and to build an informed, 16-18 Ramillies St, Soho, London citylit.ac.uk Silverstone Rally Experience creative and individual portfolio. W1F 7LW See website for dates 1-10 Keeley St, London WC2B 4BA 020 7087 9300 Morley College Welcome to a world of natural obstacles, 020 7831 7831 thephotographersgallery.org.uk Morley Opera School mud and shale: where you’ll be speeding citylit.ac.uk April 18-July 7 over the terrain of our unique Silverstone This course requires approval from the Rally course. From watching the grit fly The Place 2 day Screen Printing Course tutor before you can enrol. from your first handbrake turn to dealing Short Courses: Dance Conditioning March 10 and 17, 22-23, April 12-13 61 Westminster Bridge Rd, Lambeth, with both over and understeer, there isn’t with Khyle Eccles This screen printing course will explore London SE1 7HT a minute during this fun-packed learning February 14 – March 21 the different techniques for developing 020 7450 1889 experience that you won’t enjoy. These sessions will provide you with a screen print initially using paper and morleycollege.ac.uk Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, better understanding of how to support hand painted stencils and then moving Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN and improve your movement capacity on to photographic stencils and Mary Ward Centre 01327 320 280 away from technique. Using Strength combinations of the two. Stretching to Music and Fitness in silverstone.co.uk and conditioning principles to improve 425 Harrow Rd, London W10 4RE Retirement components of fitness. 020 8969 3247 April 27-July 13 Urban Fit & Fearless 17 Duke’s Rd, Bloomsbury, London londonprintstudio.org.uk Carefully choreographed movements set Self-defence classes for women WC1H 9PY to a variety of music designed to promote See website for dates 020 7121 1100 London College of Fashion health, vitality and flexibility. Work on Martial Arts training, especially Krav theplace.org.uk The Complete Makeup Artist posture, mobility, flexibility, balance Maga, is a valuable and well proven tool March 19-April 10 and muscle tone to help circulation and to increase women’s safety. City Academy This industry focused professional short relaxation. 212 Bellenden Road London SE15 4BY Comedy & Stand-up Courses course covers all aspects of makeup and The Mary Ward Adult Education 077 1746 6916 Stand Up Comedy: Beginners with has been designed for aspiring makeup Centre is housed in two separate urbanfitandfearless.com Showcase artists who wish to gain the skills and buildings: February 26-April 16, March 14-April confidence to pursue a career in the 42 Queen Square, WC1N 3AQ Plumpton College 25 industry. 10 Great Turnstile, WC1V 7JU WineSkills Principles of Vine Growing The course covers a wide range of 20 John Prince’s St, Marylebone, London 020 7269 6000 See website for dates techniques and styles to help you W1G 0BJ marywardcentre.ac.uk The aims of the course are to provide a discover your own comedy voice along 020 7514 7400 good knowledge and understanding of with exercises to boost confidence, arts.ac.uk/fashion The Idler Academy vine growing (viticulture) to those who creativity and imagination. You will gain How to write a poem with Clare Pollard wish to establish a small to medium-size skills on how to hold a room, deal with WMC-The Camden College Online Course vineyard, enter the wine trade, or have a hecklers and structure your material. Saturday Oil Painting Great poets, like Keats and Tennyson, strong interest in wine like drinking it. 38 Rosebery Ave, Clerkenwell, London March 24 learned through modelling, imitating, Ditchling Road, Lewes BN7 3AE EC1R 4RN On this course you will learn the even stealing. In this vein, How to Write 01273 890454 020 7042 8833 essentials of oil painting: how to manage a Poem teaches you to read the classics plumpton.ac.uk city-academy.com the palette, control colour blending, what in order to learn what you can take from mediums to use to alter the handling them. Compiled and edited by Fahad Redha London Metropolitan University qualities of the paint, and useful Great Western Studios, 65 Alfred Road, Introduction to Furniture Making techniques such as glazing, couching, London W2 5EU From March – See website for dates tonking, and bistre. 020 3176 7907 If you have a course you’d like listed, 44 Crowndale Rd, Kings Cross, London idler.co.uk please email [email protected] 20 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Education

of the poorest parts of the world. Julia political violence and war. The funding Gillard, former Australian prime minister will build 2,400 classrooms and train and now chair of the GPE, said that by 170,000 teachers. "We need an education "increasing by 50% its commitment" the revolution, but to succeed in tackling this UK would give "millions of children an global learning crisis, we will not just opportunity to go to school". need to be open-hearted, we need to be The UK government has faced hard-headed too," says Ms Mordaunt. accusations of either giving too much "The UK will lead the way by or too little in overseas aid. Backbench supporting countries' governments to critics have called for a reduction in aid fundamentally overhaul their education budgets when public services are under systems to make sure they can ultimately pressure at home, while aid agencies step up and provide a good education for have called for the UK to show stronger their own people. All children deserve leadership with more support for a decent education to make the most of developing countries. their talents and to help lift themselves The UK's previous contribution to and their countries out of poverty; this global education fund has been building a more prosperous and more £52m per year and will now offer up to stable future for us all." £75m per year, with the GPE a high- In the autumn, the international conference in Senegal, as part of a new profile part of the UK's support for development select committee called for The United emphasis on targeting aid at education overseas education. But there were aid the UK government to give more of its projects. agencies who questioned whether such aid budget to education. A report from Kingdom Ms Mordaunt said supporting a full amount would be delivered, as the committee said that at present about schools in poorer countries was a "hard- this will be conditional on the level of 7% of UK aid was spent on education. increases its headed" investment in a more prosperous contributions from other countries. Kate Osamor, Labour's shadow future. Aid agencies warned the If these other contributions from international development secretary, said: global education amounts promised were still insufficient. donors are not sufficient, as has happened "While it may sound like a lot of money, Mordaunt is promising £225m funding previously, aid agencies warn that there this is a deeply dispiriting announcement fund by 50% over three years at a global education will be no significant increase in the from the government". conference in Dakar, hosted by France's level of UK funding. Ms Mordaunt says She said that the amount promised he UK is increasing its support President Emmanuel Macron and that the UK wants to help prevent the would leave the GPE without enough for a global education fund Senegal's President Macky Sall. "terrible waste of potential" when "half funding which was "surrendering for developing countries by This event will see international the world's children leave primary school Britain's reputation as a global leader". 50% to £75m per year. International leaders pledging funds for the Global unable to read or write" This week figures from Unicef showed T Partnership for Education (GPE), The UK's support will aim to keep that almost a third of young people living Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt made the announcement at a global which works with developing countries 880,000 children in school for three in countries affected by conflict, mostly on raising education standards in some years, including countries caught up in in Africa, were illiterate.

In Osborne’s foreword to the report he said education was “perhaps the greatest Disadvantaged challenge we face in the north”, adding: “In all the work we have done consulting children in the with businesses in the north, poor skills North of England and inadequate training come across receiving substantially lower consistently as the major issues. “As our report documents, the facts grades than their London show educational attainment in the equivalents. north of England lags behind the south. Compared with London pupils, pupils in the north make a third of a grade less progress overall at sixteen and almost Disadvantaged children in the north half a grade less in mathematics on of England achieve GCSE grades average one in four of them at secondary that are significantly worse than their schools judged by Ofsted as inadequate counterparts in London, according to or requiring improvement. Too many a report into education and skills in children in the north aren’t getting the the region. The study by the Northern education they need or deserve. “The Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) found potential is there. I’ve seen it in my that too many children in the north were own lifetime with the way schooling in falling behind youngsters in other parts London, once among the worst in the of the UK, leading to a serious skills The NPP was launched by the former mayors, a position introduced by country, is now among the best because shortage for employers. chancellor George Osborne in 2016. Osborne in government as part of his of concerted reform, investment and Provisional results for 2017 show that Among its recommendations is a call for Northern Powerhouse devolution project. private-sector involvement.” northern 16-year-olds receiving free the government to increase education The report also suggests that funding Lord O’Neill, vice-chair of the school meals achieved an average grade funding for disadvantaged areas across currently available through the free Northern Powerhouse partnership, score of 39.9, which was 6.5 points below the north by an initial £300m to ensure schools budget be geared to rebuilding said: “For the Northern Powerhouse to their peers in London and 1.3 points “every child is school ready by age five”. dilapidated schools. Disproportionately succeed and deliver a north that pulls below those in England as a whole. The thinktank’s education and skills few free schools have been established its weight in economic terms the first According to a spokesperson from the group, chaired by Manchester airport’s in the north of England. The report things we have to sort out are education NPP, under the old system the figures acting managing director, Collette points to the success of the London and skills. Sorting out schools in the might have equated to, for example, Roche, also called on businesses to act as Challenge, a school improvement Northern Powerhouse should be at the a northern 16-year-old receiving 6 mentors to at least the same number of programme launched by the last Labour top of the new education secretary’s B-grades and 3 Cs at GCSE, where a young people as they have employees. government, which has been credited in-tray, and we will be working closely pupil of the equivalent level in London They proposed that adult education with significantly improving results at with government to implement our would receive 9 Bs. funding be devolved to the new metro state schools in the capital. recommendations.” 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 21 Education online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

benchmarks for education systems. However the economic think tank has The UK and USA decided to introduce a very different

kind of test, addressing the type of skills © PISA Photograph refuse to adopt young people need to navigate a world of "post-truth" and social media "echo the new PISA chambers". The concept of global competence ‘tolerance test’ was intended to test how well young people were prepared to work alongside people from different cultures and with different beliefs. The test will measure chools in England and the United tolerance, cultural awareness and how States will not be taking the new well teenagers can distinguish between international Pisa test designed reliable sources of information and fake Sto assess respect for other cultures, news. The test will consider issues such as challenge extremism and help identify racism, cultural identity and prejudice. fake news. Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's The new "global competences" education director, said the success of test will be carried out alongside education systems had to be measured maths, reading and science, as part of on more than exam results. Speaking the Organisation for Economic Co- in London at the Education World operation and Development (OECD)'s Forum, he said there had to be a greater influential Programme for International awareness of "values". the "crunch" point was that some were often the most open and diverse, Student Assessment (Pisa) tests. Alongside globalisation and the countries were reluctant to be compared Mr Schleicher said, giving Canada as an However Western countries including rise of social media, he said, there had on these measures and that there had example. England, the United States, Germany, been a "polarisation" in beliefs, which been a "hesitation" about moving from The Department for Education in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, meant that some teenagers could be discussing students' beliefs to "hard data" England said Pisa was valued for the Finland and Ireland have decided not to left with little awareness of the views of from testing them. information it provided on schools, and take the global competence test, although other people. The test is underpinned "I take a different view. The only way that schools would continue to take they will take the other core academic by the idea that young people should to get serious, the only way to get started the other Pisa tests, with the results subject tests. Schools in Scotland, understand other cultures, show respect with this issue is to look at the truth," and rankings to be published next year. Australia and Canada are among those for "human dignity" and be able to said the OECD's education chief. Mr However it said that "like more than that will take the global competence test, objectively analyse information. Schleicher said that the test would reveal half of the 80 countries" taking Pisa which is being launched this year. The OECD has been trailing these the countries that paid only "lip service" tests, it would not place an "additional The OECD's Pisa rankings have plans for a new kind of Pisa test for to the ideas of tolerance and inclusion. burden" on schools with the new global become important international the past year. But Mr Schleicher said The most successful education systems competence test.

earnings, while two out of three said they would really be tricky. You could still of the institutions surveyed from both opposed making some universities charge get by but you would be limping, some the public and private sector said they Vice-chancellors less than others. universities it might even push to had become less optimistic over the last raise concerns “We have already modelled it in insolvency.” 12 months. The survey, commissioned about the financial future of various scenarios, and so if it was Another warned that students by HSBC, interviewed 59 university reduced by even £1,000 with no infill midway through their courses could be and college heads or deputies, with the higher education from the [government], then you would put at risk by college closures: “How majority naming student recruitment as see universities really struggling almost do you protect students who are on their single biggest area of concern. immediately,” one vice-chancellor told courses at these universities and where Nick Petford, vice-chancellor of the the researchers. “Cashflow and liquidity does it leave them?” Nearly two-thirds University of Northampton, said that Vice-chancellors are increasingly falls in income from students would be fearful about the financial outlook for “catastrophic” for some institutions, and UK higher education, after a survey blamed the removal of the government’s of university leaders found many cap on undergraduate numbers for worried that “febrile” cuts in tuition fees making matters worse. could push some institutions towards “It is the removal of the student insolvency. number cap that’s having the biggest While a majority of universities said differential impact on income. There they were financially stable, many of the is a domino effect, with medium to leaders surveyed said even relatively small lower tariff institutions, many of them cuts in fees would cause severe problems widening participation institutions, for several institutions. The confidential on the receiving end,” Petford said. survey comes as the government has “Ironic then that a move aimed at giving confirmed its desire for a major review students more choice is now penalising of higher education funding in England, financially those most closely engaged following a cabinet reshuffle that saw with social mobility.” Justine Greening deposed as Education Several leaders said the sector had Secretary because of her opposition to a become very competitive as universities review. fought to attract a shrinking pool of Theresa May is said to favour school-leavers. They reported that allowing universities to charge variable entry tariffs were being lowered and fees (above or below the current £9,250 unconditional offers were becoming per year) based on graduates’ income, but more common, even among Russell opinion inside the Government remains Group universities. The survey revealed split over how to impose the policy. Four that many university heads feel that bad out of five people surveyed disagreed publicity over the past year has “bruised” with variable fees based on graduate the sector and lost them public support. 22 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Education

parents want. After spending thirteen years at St Paul’s School as a teacher, Kensington Park tutor, rowing coach and head of the School: modern languages department, Paul © KPS Photographs excellence in the heart of joined St Paul’s Girls’ in 2011 as Deputy Head and Director of School. Paul Vanni London said: “The passion and vision of the leadership team has drawn me to s the competition for Kensington Park School; there is a clear commitment to excellence in education London school places through small class sizes, personalised heats up, Kensington pastoral care, and a unique and varied co- curricular partnerships programme. Park School, a new side of Kensington Gardens, it has put Kensington Park School really is an A together an amazing team of high-calibre exciting venture. It is a friendly school independent school for boys teaching staff drawn from some of the with the individual at its heart, and yet and girls aged 11-18, provides country’s leading independent schools. it is a school with an ambitious vision Kensington Park School offers an a much needed additional A sizeable number come from St Paul’s for education in the 21st century. With exceptional learning environment for School, including Dick Jaine, the former access to so many world-class facilities pupils at every age of education with choice for parents. acting High Master, and senior teachers and opportunities on our doorstep, entry points at 11+, 13+ and 16+. The for subjects such as Mathematics, London is our campus.” school’s sixth form, located to the south Kensington Park School is already Chemistry and Economics. Between Some of these world-class facilities of Kensington Gardens, is dedicated attracting a lot of attention and quite them, these superb teachers have decades include Imperial College’s Ethos Sports to A-Level teaching and university rightly so. Not only does the school have of experience delivering outstanding Centre with is state-of-the-art gym, pool preparation. Sixth formers have a tailored an enviable location with two sites either grades at GCSE and A-Level as well and climbing wall. The school has also timetable specifically designed for as guiding entry into the world’s top partnered with expert coaches, including A-Level learning and sixth form teachers universities. former Olympians, in fencing and riding; are a team of true experts, with several However, it is the most recent Fulham Reach Boat Club, a superbly A-Level chief examiners and textbook appointment that is really putting equipped new rowing facility on the authors among their number. Kensington Park School on the Thames; and Will to Win, a top provider If you would like to book a visit, education map. Paul Vanni has recently of tennis coaching. There will be an please contact Jane Lovell, Registrar at been appointed as Head Master. exciting outdoor education programme, [email protected], or call 020 3725 3192. Currently Deputy Head of St Paul’s including the Duke of Edinburgh award Sixth form open evening on Thursday Girls’ School, Paul has spent his entire scheme. The school’s fantastic location 22 February and 11+ and 13+ entry life in London schools and is deeply means that similar partnerships are in exam on Saturday 24 February. For more attuned to what London pupils and place for music and drama. information visit kps.co.uk.

state-educated students who started New figures full-time undergraduate courses in the autumn of 2016, compared with the show that UK previous year. There is wide variation between university student universities. While some universities recruited all their first year participation is undergraduates from state schools, at a small number of institutions almost stalling half of those beginning their studies were privately educated. In nine Efforts to widen student out of the elite Russell Group of 24 universities, the proportion of state participation at UK school pupils fell over the past year. universities have stalled, with The Education Secretary, Damian the proportion of state school Hinds, welcomed the figures, but critics said progress was too slow and efforts students stagnating and slow to widen participation amounted to progress on recruiting from little more than “tinkering around areas of high disadvantage, the edges”. Peter Horrocks, the vice- chancellor of the Open University, official figures reveal. pointed out that the overall number of students from disadvantaged Despite government pressure on backgrounds had in fact fallen by 17% universities to boost participation since 2011-12 if the drop in part-time of young people from poorer students was taken into account. neighbourhoods where traditionally “Part-time and mature students are few pupils have gone on to higher more likely to be from disadvantaged education, data shows just marginal backgrounds and often studying part- improvements with figures remaining time is their only option, so the sharp stubbornly low. Figures released by the drop in part-time students in England Higher Education Statistics Agency is actually undermining the UK (Hesa) recorded a 0.1 percentage government’s efforts to open up higher point increase in the proportion of education,” Horrocks claimed. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 23 Education online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

Word play Photographs © Flickr Photographs Orthography; the art of writing words with the proper letters, according to accepted usage (most of the time).

By Kate Hawthorne Editor-in-Chief

ne of the more complex and responsible tasks of being an editor is keeping the interest of Othe constant stream of interns who spend a short time with us. Whilst abilities and ages vary, (from 14-year olds through to MAs in journalism), their knowledge of how to use words is an interesting and infinite has played its part in this treachery. Sussurus: whispering, rustling, murmur. Ian Rankin. The Falls source of surprise. Finding ways to Words and their meaning are abused Egregious: eminent, remarkable, encourage and increase respect for the daily through lack of orthography, the extraordinary Ineffable: Too great to be expressed in ‘word’ and the value they bring to their use of abbreviation and deviation. Stentorian: very loud in voice words. work can be rewarding. Take ‘sophisticated’ (from sophistry Urbane: courteous in charm and manner Religion brings to man an inner strength, There is usually a hunger for meaning; specious and fallacious Heterodoxy: deviation from accepted or spiritual light, and ineffable peace. knowledge and curiosity to be found in reasoning). Ask most young people orthodox standards Alexis Carrel. everyone (more dormant in some), and in what this word means and they offer the Ossify: to convert into bones Nobel Prize-winning surgeon. the early days of the paper, in an attempt opposite of its true meaning. This has Malapert: saucy or impudent to utilise these skills we used to take time happened because of lack of reference Spancel: a length of rope for hobbling an Factotum: From Latin Facere = do and out for ‘word play’. in use to its true meaning. Today it is animal especially horse or cow Totum = all. A good word for a generalist Each of the team were charged with common to consider it means good taste, Gibbous: convex at both edges as of the who may be asked to do anything. selecting two words from the dictionary, a measure of refinement, subtlety and moon when half full “Every KCW Today intern needs to be a previously unknown to them. The words wisdom, rather than its earlier meaning Ersatz: made in imitation of some factotum” were to be usable in everyday language of crudeness, stupidity and vulgarity, natural or genuine product; artificial and then introduced into their own adulterated, falsified. Plangent: having a loud deep sound; There is not enough room here to insert submissions for the newspaper. The internet has done much to resonant and mournful in sound the origins of the words listed above It was a stimulating, enjoyable and deter and suppress good writing styles. Iconoclast: a person who attacks and their forms and uses; nouns, verbs, enlightening experience. The ‘competition In spite of it being a vital research and established or traditional concepts, adjectives etc or, in what year they were element’ achieved good results as all information platform if we are not principles, laws; breaks images and created, the different dictionary sources were enthusiastic to gain the upper hand. careful it will decimate the beauty of our stained glass and alternative meanings. This also Everyone learned something, the quality language and erode younger generation’s Intemperate: consuming alcoholic drink makes for fascinating reading and is of writing improved as the research paid imaginations and writing skills further. habitually or to excess; immoderate, another good reason why dictionaries off, and the words they sourced increased There is too much information, being unbridled, violent behaviours should be kept close at hand at all the potency and value of their writing digested too swiftly. Social media is a Nebulous: lacking shape or form or times. Try Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary At grammar school we were taught prime culprit, fostering lack of respect content, vague or amorphous (shortened version edited by Jack Lynch) comprehension. Over and over again for our language and obstructing the Maleficient: causing or capable of by your side. Life will never be dull again. we had to summarise lessons, subjects, desire to seek out better alternatives. producing evil or mischief; harmful or We need to rally round, with books, or an incident, into a short Having penned one of the first internet baleful collective responsibility to maintain and paragraph, a skill which is of paramount directories full of websites across the Intermerate: rare not defiled; pure, uphold one of the greatest inventions of importance to journalists’ and especially National Curriculum for young people, unsullied all times ‘the written word’. Good quality for Letter Writing. This vital lesson is whilst being told that the internet would Prolepsis: a rhetorical device by which journalism, lessons on the importance largely defunct in the educational system never take off, I am as guilty as we all are objections are answered in advance and use of words in different mediums today and it is a great shame these of using this medium. Portent: a sign or indication of a in the education system, and print have principles are not being upheld or given So, back to the word game. future event especially a momentous or never been more important. the importance they deserve within our calamitous one Of course Shakespeare’s use of words learning institutions. Here are some words tha the KCWToday Glabrous: without hair, bald had the most descriptive powers and a A carefully crafted letter, showing team found and used during the “word Malversation: professional or public dip into any of his great works will yield respect for the written word, relevance play” sessions. Some of these have been misconduct a great shot of inspiration too. He really of content, and a keenness to alert the written by the interns, one of whom knew the Art of raising the bar with recipient of the author’s talents, can hitherto had not used a dictionary. After Here are a couple more with the words. Glabroustransform one’s life and circumstance for being charged with finding some words examples used in sentences; Anyone for the high jump? ever. Of all the subjects in the education for this article he commented; “I found system surely ‘word usage’ is one of the some really cool words in there”. Thank Crepuscular: Relating to twilight. Please do send in your own words and most important? Many young people, you It was one of those cool, crepuscular KCW Today will attempt to use them in including my daughter do not know how days that could have belonged to any of our future issues. THANK YOU to address an envelope, let alone where to Lexicographer: A writer of dictionaries, at least three Scottish seasons, a sky like put the stamp when they leave school or ‘a harmless drudge’ as Samuel Johnson slate roofing and a wind that Rebus's LONG LIVE PRINT! ‘ ’ university. Of course the advent of email defined it. father would have called snell . Subscribe to KCW Today, see page 44. 24 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk

Literature “When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow” Ursula Le Guin

can’t be distinguished from each other) N THIS MONTH’S POETRY PAGE WE OFFER UP A LOVE MISCELLANY IN TRIBUTE OF CUPID’S SEASON. There are poems here for the that redefines ‘hot or not’ as an all hopeless romantic, the sceptic, for those with hidden desires, posthumous love and the kind of love that is questioned against logic and reason. Sonnet 61 ‘Since Anniversary consuming case of OCD. there is no help’ is a Petrarchan sonnet written by a contemporary of Shakespeare’s, Michael Drayton, and decries, the conflicting emotions experienced when In his own words Patrick Bateman a relationship breaks down. Love’s Philosophy is Percy Bysshe Shelley’s enquiry into a set of logical laws to which love appears to conform despite its highly doesn’t really exist, he is merely “an complicated nature. Perhaps, one of the most famous love sonnets of the ages is Sonnet number 116 by William Shakespeare. No 116, speaks of love in ways in which entity”, with no real personality of his Ieven the most embittered heart must surely be moved to melt; love, in its most ideal form. Anabelle Lee, by Edgar Allen Poe describes the kind of love that lasts ebruary is the most romantic own besides what the banality of the beyond the grave. A love that began in youth, was the envy of the angels and continues in death. Finally, on a darker note, there is love and the sociopath. Porphyria’s month in the calendar, mostly egocentric New York yuppie culture has Lover by Robert Browning is a dramatic dialogue in which a deranged lover kills the women he loves and stays with her corpse throughout the night looking to thanks to the relentless corporate defined as important. His murderousness capture a moment in time. pushing of Valentine’s Day as an excuse may be an existential cry of despair at A happy Valentine's thought from all the team at KCW Today! F a meaningless existence or it may just to sell greetings cards and chocolates. However this February, in celebration of be the alpha-male cutthroat rapacity all the anti-Valentines out there, we’re of business taken to its logical extent. focusing on the bloated corporate angle It’s worth noting that Bateman doesn’t rather than the romance and cracking the view his double life as inherently more spine of Brett Easton Ellis’s infamous important than his clothes or lifestyle. satire on yuppiedom, American Psycho. Murder sits on roughly the same level as Before American Psycho was even Phil Collins, give or take. released it had already become the most York Times titled its book review Snuff and torture, but it is also filled with The book’s take on the 80s is caustic infamous novel of the nineties. Word This Book! On the opposite coast, Los Bateman’s hysterically deadpan musings and specific, but Patrick Bateman and his had leaked that Brett Easton Ellis, the Angeles Times begrudgingly wrote that on the greatness of Genesis (naturally vapid empty world transcends the period amphetamine sharp author of 80s hipster “Free Speech Protects Even an American after Phil Collins took control of the it is supposed to be satirising, in the era bibles Less Than Zero and The Rules of Psycho.” The National Organization of band and “they came into their own, of #metoo, ever increasing corporate Attraction, had abandoned his traditional Women attempted to organize boycotts. commercially and artistically”), the overreach, toxic masculinity and the wheelhouse of pæans to upper-middle Stores refused to order it (and when they emotional catastrophe of potentially not emptiness of chasing materialism the class ennui for a bloodthirsty nightmare did it was often sold shrink wrapped to getting into a trendy restaurant (“I’m spectre of Bateman looms over us like a where a ghoulish businessman murders protect the innocent) and Ellis received on the verge of tears by the time we malign patron saint. It’s for this reason his way through a slaughterhouse worth death threats. Predictably when the arrive at Pastels since I’m positive we that American Psycho will be relevant for of men, women and children (mainly book was finally released in 1992, this won’t get seated but the table is good, decades after its 80s specific joke has women if truth be told). whole circus resulted in sales almost and relief that is almost tidal in scope faded from the public consciousness. Simon and Schuster, the original as monstrous as Patrick Bateman, the washes over me in an awesome wave.”) Western culture’s demons can rarely publisher, clearly having expected another eponymous psycho of the title. and endless lists of what everyone is be completely vanquished, every time ‘poor little rich kid’ pity party, were so The thing about American Psycho wearing and where they bought it (it’s you think they’ve gone, they just pop horrified by the novel they told author that often surprises people is just how a running theme that basically none of up again a few years down the road, Bret Easton Ellis he could keep his funny it is. The book (and the excellent the characters can actually tell each other smirkingly explaining that they were advance money, but to please leave them film adaptation which it inspired) is apart on the street, everyone dresses so never defeated, they just had to return alone and never come back. The New filled with deliberately excessive murder similarly that half the time they literally some videotapes. Max Feldman

attracted to science fiction magazines before she lost interest in her adolescence because, she recalled, the stories “seemed OBITUARY: to be all about hardware and soldiers: Photograph © Hajor Photograph Ursula Le Guin White men go forth and conquer the universe.” However after her graduation from Even today, with ‘nerdy’ interests like Redcliff college (she won a Fulbright super-heroes and Game of Thrones style scholarship to study for a year in Paris fantasy being at an all-time high of where she met her husband Charles Le social acceptability (prog rock might Guin who survives her) she found herself have to wait a while longer. A long drawn back to her childhood interest in while.) science fiction remains a boys the form but determined to approach club so deeply dug in that it might be science fiction her own way, beginning better to describe it as a Fortress of with her first published novel (she had (enforced because girls are icky) Solitude. already written five unpublished non- However, strides have been made to science fiction ones) Rocannon’s World bring the female perspective to science in 1966, before she began her most fiction (a concept that should not seem well-known series two years later with A so revolutionary considering that it’s Wizard of Earthsea. literally fiction about the future. Not Always ferociously keen to promote exactly male by default) and the future, the importance of the genre she chose if you’ll pardon the pun, seems bright. to work in, her battles for the respect However the beginning of 2018 was of the mainstream literary circles were marked with the sad passing of one but she came at it in her own unique antagonist races. formally rewarded in the 2014 National of the original trailblazers for female fashion, generally avoiding the ‘one man Her books have been translated into Book Awards, where she was awarded written science fiction, Ursulla K. Le defeats an entire evil empire through more than 40 languages and have sold the Medal for Distinguished Contribution Guin, author of such seminal texts as The the fact his sword is really really sharp’ millions of copies worldwide. Several, to American Letters. She accepted the Left Hand of Darkness (1968) and the (where conflict is exclusively solved in including The Left Hand of Darkness (set medal on behalf of her fellow writers of Earthsea series, died on January 23rd, at a manner roughly similar to Alexander on a planet where the customary gender fantasy and science fiction, who, she said, the age of 88 after a long illness. The Great vs The Gordian Knot) rather distinctions do not apply which is taught had been “excluded from literature for so Le Guin played in the same genre the conflicts her heroes face tend to be as much as a seminal feminist text as it long” while literary honours went to the sandbox of her fellow (nearly exclusively typically rooted in a clash of cultures and is science fiction) have been in print for “so-called realists.” Her novels helped lay male) sci-fi/fantasy peers, with her are resolved more by conciliation and almost 50 years. She was born Ursula the groundwork for a more inclusive and works featuring the usual melange of self-sacrifice than dramatic space battles Kroeber in Berkeley, California on Oct. diverse future and her words will remain dragons, spaceships, magic and prophecy, or justified heroic genocide of the ‘evil’ 21, 1929, and as a child was immediately with her readers forever. Max Feldman 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 25 Poetry online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

N THIS MONTH’S POETRY PAGE WE OFFER UP A LOVE MISCELLANY IN TRIBUTE OF CUPID’S SEASON. There are poems here for the hopeless romantic, the sceptic, for those with hidden desires, posthumous love and the kind of love that is questioned against logic and reason. Sonnet 61 ‘Since there is no help’ is a Petrarchan sonnet written by a contemporary of Shakespeare’s, Michael Drayton, and decries, the conflicting emotions experienced when a relationship breaks down. Love’s Philosophy is Percy Bysshe Shelley’s enquiry into a set of logical laws to which love appears to conform despite its highly complicated nature. Perhaps, one of the most famous love sonnets of the ages is Sonnet number 116 by William Shakespeare. No 116, speaks of love in ways in which Ieven the most embittered heart must surely be moved to melt; love, in its most ideal form. Anabelle Lee, by Edgar Allen Poe describes the kind of love that lasts beyond the grave. A love that began in youth, was the envy of the angels and continues in death. Finally, on a darker note, there is love and the sociopath. Porphyria’s Lover by Robert Browning is a dramatic dialogue in which a deranged lover kills the women he loves and stays with her corpse throughout the night looking to capture a moment in time. A happy Valentine's thought from all the team at KCW Today!

Robert Browning William Shakespeare Edgar Allen Poe The rain set early in to-night, Sonnet 116 Annabel Lee The sullen wind was soon awake, Let me not to the marriage of true minds It was many and many a year ago, It tore the elm-tops down for spite, Admit impediments. Love is not love In a kingdom by the sea, And did its worst to vex the lake: Which alters when it alteration finds, That a maiden there lived whom you may know I listened with heart fit to break. Or bends with the remover to remove. By the name of Annabel Lee; When glided in Porphyria; straight O no! it is an ever-fixed mark And this maiden she lived with no other thought She shut the cold out and the storm, That looks on tempests and is never shaken; Than to love and be loved by me. And kneeled and made the cheerless grate It is the star to every wand’ring bark, Blaze up, and all the cottage warm; Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. I was a child and she was a child, Which done, she rose, and from her form Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks In this kingdom by the sea, Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, Within his bending sickle’s compass come; But we loved with a love that was more than love— And laid her soiled gloves by, untied Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, I and my Annabel Lee— Her hat and let the damp hair fall, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven And, last, she sat down by my side If this be error and upon me proved, Coveted her and me. And called me. When no voice replied, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. She put my arm about her waist, And this was the reason that, long ago, And made her smooth white shoulder bare, In this kingdom by the sea, And all her yellow hair displaced, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling And, stooping, made my cheek lie there, Michael Drayton My beautiful Annabel Lee; And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair, Since there is no help. So that her highborn kinsmen came Murmuring how she loved me- she And bore her away from me, Too weak, for all her heart’s endeavour, Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part; To shut her up in a sepulchre To set its struggling passion free Nay, I have done, you get no more of me, In this kingdom by the sea. From pride, and vainer ties dissever, And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart And give herself to me for ever. That thus so cleanly I myself can free; The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, But passion sometimes would prevail, Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows, Went envying her and me— Nor could tonight’s gay feast restrain And when we meet at any time again,

Photograph © Hajor Photograph Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know, A sudden thought of one so pale Be it not seen in either of our brows In this kingdom by the sea) For love of her, and all in vain: That we one jot of former love retain. That the wind came out of the cloud by night, So, she was come through wind and rain. Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. Be sure I looked up at her eyes When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies, Happy and proud; at last I knew When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death, But our love it was stronger by far than the love Porphyria worshipped me; surprise And Innocence is closing up his eyes, Of those who were older than we— Made my heart swell, and still it grew Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, Of many far wiser than we— While I debated what to do. From death to life thou mightst him yet recover And neither the angels in Heaven above That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Nor the demons down under the sea Perfectly pure and good: I found Can ever dissever my soul from the soul A thing to do, and all her hair Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; In one long yellow string I wound Percy Bysshe Shelley Three times her little throat around, Love’s Philosophy For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams And strangled her. No pain felt she; The fountains mingle with the river Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; I am quite sure she felt no pain. And the rivers with the ocean, And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes As a shut bud that holds a bee, The winds of heaven mix for ever Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; I warily oped her lids: again With a sweet emotion; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Laughed the blue eyes without a stain. Nothing in the world is single; Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, And I untightened next the tress All things by a law divine In her sepulchre there by the sea— About her neck; her cheek once more In one spirit meet and mingle. In her tomb by the sounding sea. Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss: Why not I with thine?— I propped her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore See the mountains kiss high heaven Her head, which droops upon it still: And the waves clasp one another; The smiling rosy little head, No sister-flower would be forgiven So glad it has its utmost will, If it disdained its brother; That all it scorned at once is fled, And the sunlight clasps the earth And I, its love, am gained instead! And the moonbeams kiss the sea: Porphyria's love: she guessed not how What is all this sweet work worth Her darling one wish would be heard. If thou kiss not me? And thus we sit together now, And all night long we have not stirred, And yet God has not said a word! Compiled and edited by Emma Trehane MA Ph.D 26 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Dining Out

My own Michelin Chef By Cynthia Pickard Photographs by Cynthia Pickard Cynthia by Photographs

wondered how chef Chris Bower was going to manage to Icook Michelin quality food within the basic facilities of my narrow galley kitchen. But he and his assistant Craig arrived carrying everything they would need contained in several large boxes; ingredients, saucepans, glasses and unique plates, without me having to provide anything at all. (And no washing up afterwards either.) While we sipped the kindly proffered glass of Prosecco, Chris set to work conjuring up his magical four-course dinner. Nibbling sourdough bread spread with seaweed butter and Chris’s signature chestnut houmous, we settled into our roles as imaginary Masterchef judges. Chris brings 20 years of award-winning culinary know-how, extraordinary creativity and a northern sense of humour to his bespoke menus. He was the launch chef at Zayane, Notting Hill, the wonderful Moroccan restaurant that I reviewed for KCWToday in 2016, and previously Michelin Starred Executive Chef at Thackerays. Now he has left the world of restaurants to launch a private dining service aimed at meeting the growing demand for people who choose to stay home and order in affordable, restaurant-quality meals. Our starter was a Plaice Ceviche served in true fine-dining style embellished by artistic twists of wafer thin daikon radish, sprinklings of dried spring onion powder and finished off with nasturtium leaves. Next a Ballotine of Rabbit rolled in a thin coating of blitzed black leek ash and accompanied by a tiny square of charred sweet corn, tarragon purée, cèpe purée in an onion shell and salted chestnut popcorn. Our wine was a perfect match, an individual white Albarino from Colinas de Uruguay. The main course was crispy skinned Fried Stone Bass with lobster gnocchi. I wasn’t sure I could discern the lobster against the accompanying cubes of chorizo, red pepper aioli, artichoke puree, red pepper crumb and a magical shellfish cream, a distillation of Mediterranean bouillabaisse. Following this, a deconstructed Rhubarb and Black Pepper Cheesecake, poached rhubarb, yoghurt sorbet, sable crumb, topped with yet more artistic creations in the form of translucent waves of gel, one of rhubarb and the other, contrasting in taste and colour, of celery, genius! The size of my kitchen presented no problems for totally professional chef Chris. We awarded full marks for the experience, the food and for assistant Craig’s friendly and knowledgeable service, and not least for not having to drive home afterwards. By offering bespoke menus for private diners and occasional pop-ups all over the country, Chris now has more freedom to develop his recipes and play with new ideas. As a by-product of not having the responsibility of the 24/7 nature of running a restaurant, he feels his quality of life has improved too. Chris and his team have created Olive & Thyme By Chris Bower to offer, affordable, but elegant, Michelin quality private dinner parties cooked and served in guests’ own homes. For events large or small, Chris will discuss budget and plan menus beforehand with clients. The website gives an idea of the scope and pricing. Guests are guaranteed superb service and separately priced wine pairings curated by Chris’s sommelier. Highly recommended by this Masterchef judge! www.oliveandthyme.events T: (0)20 8851 8777 M: (0)7775 894 045 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 27 Dining Out online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

smoked bacon mashed potatoes, and was The Library pronounced delicious. Fish Stew had a London Marriott Hotel bit less to love, the tomato sauce being a bit bland, and the fish too salty and just County Hall, Westminster placed in the sauce after cooking, so it Photographs © The Library The © Photographs Bridge Rd, London SE1 7PB lacked cohesion. It might be straying a bit from our shores, but I couldn’t help Hours: 2:30–4:30pm thinking that a splash of Pernod in the By David Hughes sauce would have united the saffron potatoes and fennel with the rest of it rather well. Winter Berry Pudding was my choice for dessert. A minimal shell encased a beautifully tart and balanced compote This is a bit of a nostalgia trip centre, with a sweeter fruit purée to pour for me. It’s been a long time over. It’s a brave move having no cream or crème fraiche to accompany this, but since I walked these corridors it made for a very pure finis; or it would of power that used to rule over have done, had I not been tempted to order a cheese plate as well! There’s a London. When I was last here, bit of a retro vibe going round at the the Greater London Council moment with the old style Jacobs and guise, and you really feel as if you might Onions somewhat missed the mark, Hovis biscuits, but I’ve moved on to was a force to be reckoned be walking back in time onto the set of the Sherry component tasting like a more Hipster-ish sourdough crispbreads. with, and one which had a Hercule Poirot adventure. Channelling splash of sherry vinegar had been added Traditional cheeses complete the picture, a bit of that Edwardian ambience, I did after overcooking the livers. M was and are a safe bet for those who don’t imposed its vision on much the gentlemanly thing and gave up the somewhat neutral about the Cucamelon fancy anything too runny or pungent. ’ of the landscape we still see prime seat with a splendid view across (more cucumber than Melon in taste) M s medley of chocolate; a ganache, a the river to M. but overall it was a good dish, with the shot of silky chocolate milk and a version today. G & T and a beer organised, we had a Woodalls blackcomb ham, fig and basil of marshmallow were all very agreeable, look at the very wallet friendly “3 courses scoring a solid 8.5 out of 10. and we strolled out of the tranquillity ince its dissolution in 1986, the and a glass of Sparkling wine for £30” M once again had the surer touch of The Library thinking this would be Grade 2 listed frontage has played menu which majors on UK produce. when it came to picking the main course. a perfect setting for a Murder Mystery host to a number of enterprises, one There’s a choice of 4 starters, mains and The economically named Chicken weekend. Sof which is the Marriott Hotel and its desserts, and we kicked off with Liver & Wine contained slow roasted free Library Restaurant. The interior has been and Onions and Melon & Cured Ham. range chicken, Chapel Down red wine, Reservations on 020 3641 7694 or kept remarkably faithful to its original Though nicely presented, the Liver and pearl onions, chestnut mushrooms and Bookatable.co.uk

sharing it with friends and family and give them so much pleasure they will be asking Dry January? for more. That’s a resounding ‘No’ The new mantra appears to be “Drink from Burns & German… less but Better” and I for one, can buy into that. I am happy to take a night or two off the vino, if it means I can push the budget a little further to drink something that will genuinely make me feel the money has been well spent; and that the pleasure I am Thank goodness, it’s February! getting from drinking it is ten times what Asking a wine merchant to sponsor you I would get from an ordinary, but palatable for Dry January is a bit like asking your Sauvignon Blanc. local butcher to sponsor you to become To find such wines at a reasonable price a vegan. Of course, Macmillan Cancer is not an easy task, but it is precisely the Support is an incredible charity and some challenge that gets me out of bed every day time ago I completed a London Marathon and striding down Royal Hospital Road to to raise funds for them, but I could not the office; wondering what vinous pleasures bring myself to sponsor a friend for giving I can find for my customers, or crossing up drinking, no matter how worthy the London to taste a wine with a producer cause! from abroad. Consumers are demanding Only today a report in the press queried more and better for their money, at a time whether there were any health benefits to when even an ordinary village Burgundy giving up booze for a month and that those comes at a price you would have paid for a Second Growth claret a decade ago. Join us for Sunday lunch and take your pick from our selection of who drank all year sensibly, were often mouth-watering roasted meats. healthier than the abstainers who will often However, there are plenty of exciting binge drink after their dry January, feeling wines coming on to the market (although, Sit back and enjoy the view of Kensington Gardens while savouring they have earnt it. to date, I have drawn the line at Blue a delighful wine from our extensive list. You might assume that a binge drinker wine!) so for 2018 I encourage you to is the ideal customer for a wine merchant, drink less, but better, but when I say less I 2 courses £24.00 3 courses £29.00 but generally those who drink excessively certainly do not mean give up completely; do not tend to seek quality over quantity that makes no sense, even for a good cause! Piers German To make a booking, please contact and so will often buy up sloshing wine [email protected] or call 020 7361 1999. from the supermarket shelves or worse. 2-24 KENSINGTON HIGH STREET LONDON W8 4PT What a wine merchant needs from TEL +44 (0)20 7937 8000 FAX +44 (0)20 7361 1991 a customer is someone who never stops Burns & German Vintners Ltd. WWW.ROYALGARDENHOTEL.CO.UK wanting to learn more; someone who wants Chelsea, SW3 to drink a wine they will feel a thrill from, www.bgvintners.co.uk

28 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Dining Out

(fried bread-crumbed Mozz, which subtle in their approach. The sensory tickle incidentally is made in Battersea, and under the armpit now morphed into the ’ excellent) with a bit too sweet cherry Sweets for my brush of a feather across the eyelids. I m on tomato dip, Arancini, Bruschetta, Frittura the poached fillet of halibut, herb gnocchi, di Calamari e Zucchine (bit bland on the sweet slow roast tomatoes & oyster fritter with oyster and cucumber broth. I’m not sure dip) and some delightful lightly garlicked Pop pickers might know this as the ’ opening line from the Searchers 1963 I m completely on board with this change pizza base with rocket, more Battersea of tempo, and I find myself longing for Mozzarella and Parma Ham loosely hit, but it’s also very appropriate for Love Potion number 9, the bright red opening a bit more savoury oomph. The oyster Made in Italy, scattered on top. particularly was a bit nondescript, and 249 Kings Road SW3 5EL cocktail of the Valentines sensory eating ’ I think we may have had the best experience at The Arch hotel. The first one sadly didn t have me swinging rampantly By David Hughes waitress in the house in Simone, comes out gushing ethereally, but this is from the chandeliers. My paramour went who kept the table supplied, but not for your eyes only as quaffing dry ice does for the Grilled Dedham Vale beef, rather overloaded with our impromptu Meze, nothing for your evening. After that, the excellent ratatouille, pesto glazed Portobello elcome to the Tardis, where and didn`t blink an eye when I decided barman brings over a couple of champagne and balsamic reduction. Those who favour a small side-cum-front door to tough it out and continue with a saucers that contain the real thing. Two red wine and red meat to stoke the fires (due to be changed shortly) Pasta. Hello Tagliatelli with Porcini, strawberry hearts on the rim hint at things will do well here. Pineapple ravioli, passion fruit jelly and apparently leads only to a few downstairs fennel infused Sicilian sausage and mixed to come. W A red velvet cake it set before us, but lime sorbet had to be the one for desserts, tables and a small open terrace above mushroom, goodbye January resolutions! of course it’s a tease, being made of thinly if only to see how that ravioli was going which can be glimpsed from the street. You don`t have to ask if it was worth it. to be conjured up. The answer: slice your Then you notice the steps leading up And so to the question of dessert. sliced caramelised beetroot, goats curd and a piped horseradish cream. Another pineapple very thin, cook gently in a syrup, to a mezzanine level from the ground OK, I admit it, I did order, and no, I then allow to cool before wrapping over ’ ’ sweet thing for the palate, and as I sip the floor, and there s more. A spacious lower don`t have an excuse. I surely didn t last of my cocktail I get to thinking about a square of sorbet, imaginative and tasty. ground, a large upper level private room, need the calories at this stage. Let’s gloss Coffee and petit fours follow, and for those ’ the film of the same name. It’s a 1992 and two roof terraces. In the summer over this bit, as I m still about 50,000 comedy about 2 scientists who are hopeless either too full to move, or imbued with you can also dine out the back. As if steps short of working off the mains let with the opposite sex so experiment with unstoppable carnal desires, a suite for the ’ this wasn t enough they are thinking of alone anything else. Despite the obvious a potion that makes them irresistible to night. For the rest of us luvved up types, it’s extending up further. dichotomy of Made in Italy proudly anyone who hears them speak. I’m not so a less prosaic trip back on the tube. The Valentine’s Sensory Experience at Confronted with this architectural selling Battersea Mozzarella, this is a sure real life will be that accommodating, Hunter 486 is £75ph for 5 courses, coffee slip in the space time continuum, some so I refrain from huskily asking the girls on great place for the simple flavours of and petit fours and is available on Friday strange inverse law overtook us; on authentic produce shining through, and the neighbouring table if they are hearing anything they like the sound of. the 9th, Saturday the 10th, Wednesday the seeing the menu, we ordered masses. a terrific venue for quality Pizza that you 14th, Friday the 16th and Saturday the Could all of this lavish spread be fitted A Rhubarb sorbet with Granny Smith can buy by the yard. granita slides into view to cleanse the 17th of Feb. Book early and try to snaffle in? I needed beer to limber up for this, I nipped in here just before some palate, and confounds one’s expectations one of the gauze shrouded banquettes for a and the citrusy limited edition Moretti changes are due, so expect some menu bit of extra romance. David Hughes ’ by having granny as the sweeter element to Sicilia was ideal. My date went for the updates, however I m sure the underlying partner the tartness of the rhubarb. It’s a Sangiovese del Rubicone. Our Blitzkrieg philosophy will continue. good combo, and I’m cleansed and ready Bookings on 020 7724 4700 on starters included Sorriso di Mozzarella Reservations on 020 7352 1880 Mains are, strangely, more muted and 50 Great Cumberland Place W1H 7FD Fitaly 389 Kensington High St. London W14 8QA Hours: 0800-2000. T: 020 7603 7398 www.fitalyfood.com

By David Hughes Hughes David by Photographs

A cold wind blew enthusiastically across the tables on the terrace. Currently, there was no room at the inn, at least not for the 3 of us. Within a few minutes the other 2 arrived, and a table had become free. Miraculous! I gratefully finished my coffee and headed inside. In keeping with its diminutive size, think small local café; it has a fairly compact menu, but one that will very much appeal to the growing tribe of vegetarians, the gluten intolerant and vegans. There is only Halal Lamb Ragu (either as meatballs or in a wrap) or Cod by way of alternatives, and on the day we went, Cod was off. Danilo Cortellini, a native of Abruzzo and now head chef at the Italian Embassy created this menu, and in typical Italian style he has championed his regional produce in a rustic way, employing spelt in wraps and pasta, lamb, aubergines, black olives, chickpeas and pepperoncini hot chilli oil. Being a café there’s no starter/ main type separation, so we all order different things and agree to share. I start on the Chestnut and Borlotti Bean Soup, very nourishing and warming, with the Buckwheat Pasta, which is worthy, but largely tasteless without a good shot of the chilli oil. Uniquely, this dish appears on the menu twice, once under the Vegan/Lactose Free heading, and again under Gluten Free. Kate has the Hamburger di Ceci; a chickpea burger topped with avocado salsa that gets a universal thumbs up, despite the tautological impossibility of having ham in its title. Somewhat disappointed with the absent cod, M has plumped for the Timballo di Crespelle: Lamb Ragu meatballs layered with Spelt Crepes, Mozzarella and Swiss Chard, which is presented rather like a Lasagne with a side salad of rocket. She’s a bit neutral, and I am inclined to agree; another case for the chilli oil to work its magic. A request for a mix of desserts nets us three styles of cakes, which could have done with some of their frozen yogurt or fresh fruit to alleviate the austerity, but we could have ordered another juice or coffee. Whilst on the subject, the Ginseng Coffee has sweet vanilla tones and provides a great alternative to the usual gamut of Latte, Cappuccino or Espresso, and provides a gentler lift. Just the ticket for an afternoon of Yoga or Pilates. Go for: clean eating; it’s a detox without the de luxe Spa. David Hughes 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 29 Fashion & Lifestyle online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

have spent time in Coventry away from with something far worse; The Great Hampton Court and Windsor Castle. Fire. Up in Coventry, compounded by In 1404 King Henry IV summoned the recent sacking of monasteries by Parliament to be held at St. Mary's Henry VIII’s Thomas Cromwell, further Priory and later Henry VI and his court injury to insult resulted in the bubonic

were based there for 2½ years, twinning plague claiming hundreds of lives. © Herry Lawford Photograph national history with that of Coventry Clocks and watchmaking became a and so elevating it to England’s second booming industry in the late 17th capital. century and both cities basked in better London has always had the good fortune times; having always been a city that and prosperity to be a cultural mecca, but makes things Coventry was ranked during the Elizabethan and Jacobean era alongside Clerkenwell as a major the main cultural centre in England for manufacturer. With the decline of the music and drama was Coventry wool-cloth trade, Coventry followed Shakespeare was a frequent visitor London, turning to sumptuous silk. to the city, acting with several travelling By the middle of the 19th century half theatre troupes and last played with the working population of the city was the King’s Men in 1603. Guildhalls employed in producing silk-ribbons set up with side rooms mirrored the for fashionable bonnets as worn by Shakespearean theatres in London and characters in Middlemarch, the fictional parallel, the two of them had the living his own plays have many references to town said to be based on Coventry. A daylights blitzed out of them in WW2, the Mystery Plays played out on the century later the motor industry crashed A Tale of both cities have charming medieval stages. St Mary’s, the grandest Guildhall like that of silk-ribbon causing great Two Cities buildings sitting ‘cheek by jowl’ with of them all might have provided distress amongst the sacked workforce London and Coventry; post war architectural eyesores; both are inspiration to young William with a and tracks were heartlessly ripped out hugely multicultural and both use the magnificent ancestral King’s window and like the weaving looms before them. the best & worst times LTC iconic black cab. arras below, heavy with symbolism. The One of London’s best moments was By Lynne McGowan Roman London has been well tapestry portrays Henry VI with his most hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic documented, but very little is written powerful courtiers including a furtive Games receiving widespread acclaim about Roman Coventry. Buried under Duke of Gloucester, later to be become and riding the wave of enthusiasm the a millennia of concrete, archaeological Richard III, who was reputed to have city became vibrant and alive. Coventry’s oth cities have much in field work has thrown up copper coins, murdered Henry in the Tower. ‘place in the sun’ will happen in a few common despite one being a pottery, mosaics and stone carvings from A succession of pandemics have years time when it is crowned City of vast metropolis and heralded a AD60 showing evidence of a Roman plagued each city since the 1300s wiping Culture 2021 and despite the priory Bworld-class Capital whilst the other has settlement with roads and hill forts out swathes of the population, but in purging, bombardment, bulldozers and endured diminished status – Coventry around the city. London those few who survived The blight of unemployment, it is rising again being ‘Sent to Coventry’ if you like. In Over the centuries Kings and Queens Great Plague in 1665 were struck down like a phoenix out of the ashes.

mile to help you get the best results either. 3 St James’s The personal fitness professionals Square at 3 St James’s Square have an extensive London SW1Y 4JU knowledge of the body and how to attain a stronger and healthier physique in a

T: 020 3909 7133 realistic timeframe. Square © 3 St Janmes Photograph [email protected] The equipment is state of the art and the club is one of the few centres in www.3sjs.club the world to connect a full body scan to By Emma Trehane DNA testing with a view to providing a 360 degrees scan, (internal and external). The results allow the team to develop a personalised nutritional plan and fitness workout of the highest and most A new private members’ sophisticated levels. If you have a passion for golf and yet wellness club has opened at find the only range you encounter from 3 St James’s Square offering day to day is a product range, then 3 St James’s Square is worth a visit if only a unique experience in health for the purpose built golf simulator that and fitness. offers a choice of different courses from where members can learn to perfect their The building boasts 6 skylights, which swing. Jeremy Kavanagh is a professional fill the extensive reception/lounge area golfer and private coach who can assess with a positive light and energy to kick your fitness and technical levels through start your new wellness health and the simulated course and help improve fitness experience. The reception/lounge your game and take it to the next level. area is complete with a personable bar, 3 St James’s Square Spa measures Italian soft furnishings and a professional up too, offering a 90 minutes full concierge team who are attentive and body treatment called the Red Carpet professional to the last. The attention to Experience, which includes a Fire and detail is in the design and the importance Ice re-surfacing treatment combined of comfort and personal space when with a hot stone massage. The treatment training can be felt throughout the was not a disappointment and had the facilities. Members won’t be disappointed desired effect to relax and rebalance both in the staffs’ willingness to go the extra mind and body. 30 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Fashion & Lifestyle

that were classic and understated. A dress fears and dreams. We discuss life in made from exquisite pure Italian wool or the corporate sector and by the end The Semple silk that could be worn in the day into of our session I have suggested some evening. Over the last year the Semple new connections to be explored. Our

Brand © Semple Photographs Bespoke clothing for Collection has expanded. We now design clients include senior partners in law and make a full wardrobe of bespoke firms, accountants, bankers, company professional women clothes including gowns, suits, trousers, founders, doctors, philanthropists and skirts, blouses, jackets and coats, but that entrepreneurs. Many of them can be seen is not all that we do. on international stages speaking to an he It’s important to me that our clients audience or in a board room. Some will idea have a good and memorable experience be based New York, Washington DC, of of Semple. The relationship goes Houston, Chicago, Melbourne, Hong theT Semple beyond the transactional to genuine Kong or mainland Europe as well as the brand began personalisation. I welcome every client UK. in July 2009 to their first consultation where we If you would like to know more about when a spend 45 minutes discussing our hopes, Semple please visit www.maggiesemple. friend said com and email: dulcie@maggiesemple. she liked a com to arrange a visit. dress that I was wearing. Doctor Maggie Semple, OBE, FCGI She knew is a successful business woman and that my We spent the next four years entrepreneur. She owns a management clothes were researching our market and in March consultancy that works with global bespoke and 2015 launched the Semple womenswear businesses on leadership development made by collection and turned our premises in to and the Semple womenswear collection. my designer a working atelier. Maggie is a Non-Executive Director of based in Semple occupies a small house the Criminal Cases Review Commission Italy and we built in 1692, hidden in a tiny mews where she chairs the Audit & Risk discussed in Covent Garden, London. It is an Committee and a Member of the why it was difficult to buy affordable aesthetically pleasing environment with Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel. She is bespoke clothes in London for a history that can only be imagined. We a Fellow of the City & Guilds Institute, professional women. A year later the transform the bow-fronted bottle-glass one of 500 Fellowships awarded since Semple Company was formed with a front window regularly with displays 1878 and an Associate Member of rationale that every woman has an item that say something very positive about the Senior Common Room of Exeter of clothing in her wardrobe that she loves the Semple brand: they tell a story about College, Oxford University. Maggie and would not give away. We wanted to who we are and our values. is cited in World Who’s Who and was meet these women and hear their stories. Initially I designed bespoke dresses awarded an OBE in 2001. Custom Made Footwear

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Home Measuring and Fitting Service www.specialfootwear.co.uk 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 31 Fashion & Lifestyle online: www.KCWToday.co.uk 32 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Fashion & Lifestyle Photographs © Pixbay Photographs

training, and maybe race day itself. term. Moreover, look for lessons in the could change your primary energy system Finding the right training plan, one negatives. Did you run too hard on your and spell disaster for a personal record Marathon that suits both your marathon targets and easy days? Was your pacing off? Learn attempt. Consider Haile Gebrselassie’s current fitness, is a critical part of your from these lessons and make your next world record attempts at Berlin in 2008, Training tips and training regime. Following that training workout count. where he became the first person to run advice plan closely however, can admittedly be a When training for the marathon, a marathon in under 2:04, and Dubai in By Owen Fulda lot harder than picking it. The foundation you’ll likely be running more mileage, 2009, where he faded badly the last 10 of a solid marathon plan is selecting a harder workouts, and grueling long runs. kilometers. goal time that is realistic and corresponds All this training means you have to focus In Dubai, Gebreselassie was just 23 to your abilities and current fitness levels. even more on recovery, which means seconds faster at halfway compared to All too often, runners choose their increasing your calorie intake. his world record pace in Berlin the year goal time based on a qualification mark Most runners forget to monitor their before. However, even this small shift in or an arbitrary number. This almost calories-in versus their calories-out as pace (about one second per kilometer) he end of winter is in sight and immediately sets them up for failure. they increase their mileage and training resulted in a crash that resulted in him you’ve only gone and done it. More importantly, it usually results in intensity. They keep eating the same finishing some 90 seconds slower than You’ve signed up for the big one. getting injured as you push beyond your foods and same proportions as usual his Berlin time over the final 10 km. TheT marathon, 26 miles and 385 yards of capabilities. (sometimes purposefully to try and lose Unfortunately, pacing is not an aspect pounding the asphalt. When training for A gradual, managed increase in your weight). of racing most runners are particular a marathon most people do a lot more training mileage is key to avoiding injury. During your training the main good at. A recent study found that running than they have ever done before. If you’re following a training plan, this general dietary advice is to ensure you’re recreational runners misjudges pace by Hopefully this should not be news to will be taken into account. If you don’t eating enough carbs to fuel your exercise, almost 40 seconds per mile compared you. follow a particular plan, try and avoid protein to help your muscles rebuild and to experienced college runners that Firstly, if you haven’t already done so, massive increases in your total weekly recover, and fruit and vegetables to keep estimates inaccurately by just 10 seconds get your gait (running style) analysed. distance. Making consistent increases of your immune system in good shape, per mile. Many running shops perform a gait around 3 to 5 km is a good rule to follow especially if you’re training in the winter. In the lead up to the big day, it’s analysis for free. A quick run on a when marathon training. Getting race day nutrition perfect considered wise to complete your longest treadmill will help an expert ascertain You are going to have a really bad requires more than just one or two runs. training run roughly two weeks prior to if you overpronate (where your foot workout in marathon training. In fact, You need to experiment with how your the marathon itself. You’ll need to give rolls too far inwards when it lands) or you’re probably going to have a few. body reacts to the different flavors and your body a chance to recover fully for underpronate (it doesn’t roll far enough), Unfortunately, even when you know this, consistency of nutri-gels and sports the main event. If you have only reached or if you are a neutral runner. a bad workout is still damaging to the drinks, changing weather conditions, and 20 miles in training expect to hit ‘the Given that the most common cause psyche. You start to question your fitness. how far apart your stomach can handle wall’. of running injuries like plantar fasciitis, Are you working too hard? Not hard different amounts of fuel and fluids. This is when glycogen stores are at a runner’s knee, shin splints and achilles enough? Will you be ready for race day? Finding the right recipe takes time and minimum and when the real race begins. tendonitis is a rapid uptick in the amount Don’t panic, and remember that practice. If you’ve slacked off in the last few weeks of running done, it’s not surprising that having a bad workout is a normal part of Learning to properly pace yourself of training, those final 6.2 miles are lots of would-be marathoners are struck marathon training. The best approach is during a race is one of the most critical going to hurt. Seriously. But if all goes to down with injury during their training. to examine why you had a bad day and skills a runner can develop. The line plan and you’ve trained correctly, fueled You want a well-cushioned shoe for try to fix that problem before your next between setting a new personal best and efficiently and put yourself in the right marathon training, because you’ll be session. Did you not fuel well? Not get a near miss is razor thin, especially if you frame of mind, you have nothing to fear racking up a lot of distance. If you can enough sleep? are a veteran runner with an impressive and everything to look forward to. stretch to more than one pair, then it can Make sure you address these more training log and lofty goals. Final words of advice? Don’t forget to be worth getting a lighter, less cushioned important factors to ensure more Running just a few seconds too fast apply vaseline to any areas that might be pair too, for faster interval sessions in consistent workouts over the long- or too slow at any point in your race prone to chafing! 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 33 Travel online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

named) ‘shivering mountain’ when we and manmade (clearly the only way the were already halfway up the M1 with enjoy beautiful landscape is to get as Heart of Darkness Derbyshire the kind of self-confidence in his own far beneath the earth as you possibly By Max Feldman directional abilities only known to the can). From flooded tin mines that you true narcissist. As a result the rest of the traverse by boat to vaulted caverns which car ride was spent glumly drawing lots to for centuries housed villages of rope pick who we were going to eat first when weavers living beyond the touch of the we inevitably found ourselves becalmed sun, the Derbyshire peak district is filled in the snow. with unusual and fascinating sights, all Irritatingly his confidence was reasonably priced and most with amusing justified and rather than a re-enactment and informative guides. of the Donner Party, everything went When we attempted the climb itself, out without a hitch with the snow we had to abandon some of our more providing an incredible backdrop to ambitious plans due to the heaviness some of the most outstanding views and of the snow fall (there is an airplane natural beauty to be found in a county graveyard of crashed WWII era German already overflowing with it. The bucolic bombers on the close-by plateau of village of Castleton surrounded by the Kinder Scout that we sadly accepted was rolling foothills of Mam Tor seemed to out of our reach) but made quick time have been assembled piecemeal from across a mountain that seemed to shift various guidebooks: all sleepy country from winter wonderland to Antarctic pubs, babbling brooks and even a wasteland from second to second. We looming castle on a hill (still sentineled made it down with nothing more serious by a migratory gang of sheep and one that my hair freezing solid (a trifling imperiously territorial cow). We were problem I’m sure you’ll agree) and, able to rent a ludicrously delightful two despite ourselves, felt compelled to return iking has never been my calling bitterly lashed at me like a cross between bedroom cottage for two nights for an again before too long. It seems a waste in life, it (or, more precisely, a scorned lover and a rabid wolf (whilst almost unthinkably cheap £50 a night to ignore some of the fantastic weekend hiking enthusiast friends) has love may take many forms, I’d advise (which did create the sneaking suspicion getaways to be had in Derbyshire just Hoften come calling but usually I pretend against dating a rabid wolf.) I was lured that the whole thing was a trap to lure because it’s winter. The views are still to be out of the house, busy with work out of the capital by a friend who wanted London hipsters into some kind of majestic, the pubs plentiful and in all or literally dead to avoid the strain of to hike across the hill rather than do Wicker Man scenario) though we found likelihood things will be significantly putting one foot in front of the other. As something wholesome like drink his so much to do in the run-up to our cheaper than waiting till the spring. a result it was with some bemusement own body weight in rum. He blithely frigid hill-climb (the snow had already February and March can always do that I found myself atop the imposing informed us of the various blizzard built up to Escobar levels) beyond the with a little lift and with the snow gone, Derbyshire Peak District hill Mam warnings and dire pronouncements beautifully rugged countryside, the hills involuntary cannibalism should be off Tor this January, as the wind and snow that would be stranded atop the (aptly are honeycombed with caves both natural the menu.

The Swiss Bernese Oberland I

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S N NO HIDDEN EXTRAS –W our holidayA price includes dinner each night and all the excursions mentioned in the itinerary. L I T Z E R Experience the outstanding natural beauty of Switzerland on RD BOA IN a tour to the Bernese Oberland, renowned for its myriad lakes F S Tour Summary L W A I H T and the most famous peaks in the Swiss Alps, including the from Z S

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D 7 Our Swiss Bernese Oberland tour is jam packed full of exciting and interesting places to visit and our holiday package price Single supplement £115 includes the following visits: ✱ Steam on the Brienz Rothorn Railway All prices shown are per person. ✱ Lake Brienz Cruise Price includes: ✱ Visit Jungfraujoch on the Jungfrau Railway ✱ Bern Steam Tram charter • 7 nights half board at the Sunstar Hotel ✱ Cruise on Lake Thun including complimentary beverages from ✱ Schynige Platte Railway the minibar (beer, mineral water, soft drinks – refilled daily) and free use of the hotel On top of these included excursions you also have two free facilities including WiFi, swimming pool, days to use your Berner Oberland regional pass to visit other sauna and steam bath places in the region. Book now for this exceptional tour and discover for yourself the unspoilt beauty and diverse nature of • First Class rail travel from London to these stunning Bernese ‘Highlands’. Switzerland and back • A standard class regional pass for travel 6th June to 13th June 2018 The Railway Touring Co. UK Steam Rail Day Trips and Tours around the Bernese Oberland All rail, tram 18th July to 25th July 2018 and boat trips as detailed in the itinerary* 1st August to 8th August 2018 The Railway Touring Co. • All escorted visits as detailed in the 12th September to 19th September 2018 Worldwide Steam Rail Tours itinerary (*see website for more details) 3rd October to 10th October 2018 • All seat reservations and transfers To order your FREE Brochures please (except on free days)

call us on 01553 661 500 or visit Autumn – Winter – Spring 2017/18 • The services of a tour manager railwaytouring.net on the web.

The Railway Touring Company, 14a Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1JN Autumn – Winter – Spring 2017/18 For more details contact us on 01553 661 500 or visit our website, railwaytouring.net EUROPEAN RAIL TOUR Your booking is made subject to the terms and conditions of The Railway Touring Company 34 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Travel

The One&Only Cape Town, families and children. Cape Town As part of the package, the five-star resort are offering free nights and a range Dominican Republic’s rainy season Glorious beaches, great weather and of exciting benefits for guests to take between July and November can see friendly locals makes Cape Town an advantage of. Easter Family up to 40 centimetres of rainfall, so ideal destination for family holidays. The new Chelsea Foundation soccer families would be wise to head out there The One&One Cape Town is perfectly school, the first of a series that will Holidays & High beforehand! positioned on the waterfront with a be held at La Manga Club over the fantastic view of Table Mountain. next three years will take place from Destinations Awarded the Oyster Best Kid-friendly April 9th-14th, giving youngsters the By James Billot Ostuni Rosa Marina Resort, Italy Hotel in Cape Town and winning plaudits opportunity to train using the same from Condé Nast, The One&Only Cape methods used by the Chelsea Foundation Town runs excursions for children aged around the world. 3-17 to the Two Oceans Aquarium on Training will be open to boys the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, a and girls agreed between 6-16 years Dreams La Romana Resort, great area for eating and drinking too. old. The school includes up to three Dominican Republic Cape Town is also home to Africa’s hours of training each day from the biggest bird sanctuary, World of Birds, Foundation’s expert team of coaches Situated in the former fishing village of home to over 3,000 birds and small with all participants receiving an official Bayahibe, this expansive resort has it all: mammals south-west of Table Mountain. Nike training kit including a shirt, shorts, four pools, a nightclub, spa, fitness centre, In the hotel, there is a Nobu that uses and socks. La Manga Club will also be tennis courts, a games room, PADI dive locally sourced ingredients and Reubens, a running its own junior football academy centre and an indoor theatre. The resort is Brasserie-style bar with a bistro fare that from March 26 until April 2 as well on the south-east coast of the Dominican also accommodates children of all ages. as a three-week children’s animation Republic, nestled beside an eco-friendly Sitting in the heart of Puglia, southern The One&Only Cape Town also boasts a programme over Easter. beach on one side and a lush tropical Italy, the Ostuni Rosa Marina Resort is dazzling infinity pool that stretches over jungle on the other. the perfect getaway for families looking thirty metres wide. Tucked away in Murcia, South-East There are a range of dining options to escape from the city hubbub. Set in While the flight over is quite long Spain, La Manga Club sprawls across on offer, with a choice of seven à la carte a white stucco building enveloped by (around 12 hours), the time difference is 1,400 acres and continues to maintain restaurants, the main buffet, two bistros tropical gardens, this chic beachfront only two hours so there is no jet lag to its reputation as one of Europe’s most and one café. It is the perfect spot for resort has two restaurants and a selection recover from! The excellent service at the popular sports and leisure spots. Its active families who love to explore and of spa services to go with it. hotel ensures that your stay is as seamless featured awards include: Europe’s see what the Caribbean island (shared With numerous tennis courts, and enjoyable as possible. Leading Luxury Resort & Villas 2017 with Haiti) has to offer. The Pico Duarte, football pitches, and children’s clubs for from the World Travel Awards Europe the Caribbean’s tallest mountain, can also ages 4-17, the Ostuni Rosa Marina Resort and Europe’s Best Golf Venue at the 2017 be found here. has something to offer for all the family. La Manga Club, Spain World Golf Awards. For children aged 3 to 12, The The southern region of Puglia escapes Explorer’s Club is fully supervised by the cooler climate of northern Italy and In partnership with the Chelsea For further information about the trained childcare specialists. Every week the sun shines here throughout the year. Foundation Soccer School, La Manga Chelsea Foundation Soccer School or there is a camping adventure on the Ostuni has a lively port atmosphere that Club (Murcia, Spain) are providing an the La Manga Club, please visit www. beach and several nature and science bustles with culture and is a stone’s throw action-packed Easter programme for lamangaclub.com based outings. The Dominican Republic from gorgeous white beaches along the is one of the most bio-diverse countries Puglia coast. in the world and children have the For the culture vultures, the Rosa chance to see this with daily snorkelling Marina Resort is within 6 miles of the available. Ostuni Cathedral. The Museum of For teens aged 13-17, the Core Zone Preclassical Civilizations of Southern from 9am to midnight offers nightly Murgia Hills and L'Ulivo Che Canta are entertainment, weekly bonfires and foam also within 9 miles. parties. Other activities include archery, On special offer, there is an early baseball, water activities in the pool and booking discount (25%) for stays spa, and gaming consoles for those quiet completed between 03 Apr-14 Oct days in. 18 booked by 31 Mar 18 or 20% early The Easter period is the perfect time booking discount for stays completed to visit this quaint country, averaging between 03 Apr-14 Oct 18 booked by 30 around 26-27 degrees Celsius. The Apr 18. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 35 Travel online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

La Sultana Marrakesh the waters are suitably shallow for Marrakesh, Morocco youngsters. For those interested in exploring their surroundings a little further, guests can take a short taxi ride This hotel is exquisitely located inside to the lively fishing village of Elounda the imperial city walls between the royal for its shopping, tavernas and boutiques. palaces and Saadian Tombs, known as Alternatively, guests can take a boat to the ‘Golden Triangle.’ With a terrace the quaint Island of Spinalonga, a former overlooking the Saadian Tombs and a leper colony steeped in history. lantern-lit courtyard, guests are spoiled The hotel has 80 suites and 40 villas. for dining options, who can choose While Spring time is not as hot as the between the Mediterranean menu or the summer months, temperatures sit around Moroccan Discovery menu. the early twenties mark. Importantly, the There are 28 rooms and suites sun shines throughout the day and there fitted with Roman-style bathrooms. is very little rain! The stain-glassed windows and large There is a special early booking hanging drapes do not detract from the discount on offer by Sovereign on the gorgeous views from each bedroom but hotel price for holidays between 28th the temptation to stay there may be too March to 24th May. An additional 10% can be saved when staying in any of strong with a satellite television and the Luxury Domes Residents or villas minibar on offer! between 28th March to 31st October. La Sultana Marrakesh, Marrakesh, Morocco In April, tourists flock to see the

Jemaa en-Fna, a cinema cum-open-air Driros Sa Tsifliki, theatre that has snake-charmers, henna Schisma Elountas 720 53 tattoo artists and several performing +30 2841 043500 artists in action. It is considered to be the beating heart of Marrakesh and it gives a fascinating insight into the hubbub of Moroccan life. For those looking to escape from the city, the Jardin Majorelle offers the The Capra Saas-Fee, perfect respite. Named after the French Saas-Fee, Switzerland painter Jacques Majorelle, who dedicated 40 years of his life to the design of the garden, combining Moorish and Art For those that prefer the snow to sun Deco influences. during Easter time, then look no further The sun shines all year long in one of than the charming little village of Saas Africa’s northernmost countries. Spring Fee, tucked away in Swiss Alps. The time is an ideal period of the year to visit; Capra Saas-Fee is an intimate alpine temperatures during the day average lodge that has easy access to the Saas-Fee around 27 degrees Celsius and night Berbbahnen cable car. It is a modern- time is a little cooler. rustic lodge with a glorious mountain- view setting. 403 Rue de La Kasbah, Capra Suites and Capra Signature Marrakech 40000, Suites are both bright and cosy, Morocco. combining the privacy of a chalet with 00 2 120 524 388 008 the service of a five-star hotel. With Doumes of Elounda, Crete, Greece lasultanahotels.com large windows and private balconies, the rooms are bright and spacious; each bathroom has a rain shower and a bathtub for guests to relax in afer a long day of skiing. The village is dotted with après-ski and snow bars for guests in Doumes of Elounda, search of a well-earned hot chocolate (or Crete, Greece something stronger!) Described as the ‘pearl of the Alps’, Saas-Fee is a car-free village that is Doumes of Elouda is a luxury-five-star surrounded by peaks reaching heights property with absolutely stunning views of 4,000 metres and above. It is also a in the North of Crete. With a lavish very reliable resort for good snow, and spa and an outdoor swimming pool that this year has been exceptional with over overlooks the bay, the Domes of Elounda XYZcm of snowfall recorded in January is one of the most sought-after spots alone. Most of the Saas-Fee runs are across Greece. Facing the Aegean Sea, above 2,500m and north-facing. It also its amenities include beach access, an has a glacier ski area, which is open over outdoor pool, spa, fitness centre, four bars Easter. While beginners practice in the and four restaurants. village, there are a selection of snow parks for freestylers to ski in at the likes Regular boat tours around the Greek of the Mittelallalin. islands are on offer and its four restaurants cater to all tastes ranging Lomattenstrasse 6, from international to classic Greek 3906 Saas-Fee, +41 27 958 13 58 cuisine. There is also a kid’s club and The Capra Saas-Fee, Saas-Fee, Switzerland a natural ‘Blue Flag’ beach where 36 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk EVENTS KensingtonThe Newspaper for the Royal Borough & 020 7738 2348 December 2014 / January 2015 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 33 Dunham Massey, Cheshire english-heritage.org.uk ChelseaBROMPTON, CHELSEA, EARLS COURT, HOLLAND PARK,Selling, NORTH & letting, SOUTH KENSINGTON, management, TodayKNIGHTSBRIDGE, refurbishment, NOTTING HILL surveying and valuation Events Café open from 10:00-17:00, garden from 10:30-17:00, all week. House Cerney House Garden closed on Thursdays and Fridays, Open all week from 10:00-19:00. otherwise open from 11:00-17:00 01 285 831300 0161 941 1025 Cerney House Gardens, North Cerney, Woodhouse Lane, Altrincham WA14 Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 7BX 4SJ cerneygardens.com nationaltrust.org.uk Burton Agnes Hall Garden, near Belton House and Garden, near Driffield Grantham All week from 11:00-16:00. E V All week. Garden open from 09:30- 01262 490324 16:00, park from 09:30-16:00, café from Burton Agnes Hall, Burton Agnes, 09:30-16:00 and shop 09:30-16:00. Driffield, Yorkshire, YO25 4NB House closed until March 3 burtonagnes.com 01476 566116 Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG32 2LS Cambo Gardens, near St Andrews nationaltrust.org.uk Monday to Saturday 9:00-17:00. 01333 450313 Benington Lordship Garden, Near Cambo Estate Gardens, Kingsbarns, St E N Stevenage Andrews, Fife, KY16 8QD Snowdrops from 12:00-16:00. camboestate.com 01438 869668 Benington, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Wallington, Northumberland SG2 7BS Open all week. House from 12:00 - beningtonlordship.co.uk 17:00. Café from 10:30 - 17:30. Shop from 10:30 - 17:30. Walled garden from Brodsworth Hall and Garden, near 10:00 - 18:00 Doncaster 01670 773600 T S Only open weekends until the 9th of Cambo, Morpeth NE61 4AR February, from 10:00-16:00. All week nationaltrust.org.uk at the same times from the 10th until Fountains Abbey the 18th. Weekends only from the 19th Water Garden open 7 days a week from February 2018 until March. 10:00 - 16:00. 01302 722598 01765 608888 Brodsworth Hall, Brodsworth, Fountains, Ripon HG4 3DY Doncaster, Yorkshire, DN5 7JX nationaltrust.org.uk

SNOWDROP DAYS Sheringham NR26 8TL nationaltrust.org.uk SNOWDROP One of the greatest joys of visiting gardens at the end of winter are Cliveden BY JOHN ARMSTRONG snowdrops. They can completely change Garden and shop open 10:00-16:00 all woodlands and gardens through January week. Fearless fragile, and wondrous winter flower, and February. Here is a selection of 01628 605069 Lonely lantern bearer, in the darkest hour, some of the best places to see them Cliveden Rd, Taplow, Maidenhead SL1 Bold witness, to the bitter icy blast, across the country. 8NS nationaltrust.org.uk Trembling in defiance, you remain steadfast, THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY Bravely breaching the frozen crystal crust, Anglesey Abbey The truth to tell, propels your thrust, Peckover House & Garden House open 11:00-16:00, garden, A pendulous pearl, on cold winter's ear, Open weekends at 12:00-16:00. restaurant, and shop open 10:00 - 16:30, Whispering in prophecies, of change and cheer, Tours on weekdays (except Friday) at every day of the week. A pious sister, head bowed in prayer, 11.45am, 13:15 pm and 14:45 pm. 01223 810080 01945 583463 Quy Rd, Lode, Cambridge, CB25 9EJ Renewing your vows, each start of year, N Brink, Wisbech PE13 1JR nationaltrust.org.uk Slender, in habit green, and wimple white, nationaltrust.org.uk Your mission, to bring forth hope and light, Hill Top, Cumbria In sorry orchards, now denuded and forlorn, Batsford Arboretum, Near Moreton on Closed until Saturday 10th of February. Amongst tilted tombstones, all weather worn, Marsh House, garden, and shop open 10:00- Open 9:00-17:00, Monday to Saturday 16:30, Monday through Sunday. From clustered cells, you spread your word, and 10:00-17:00 on Sundays and Bank 015394 36269 To the winter weary, and those despaired, Holidays. Near Sawrey, Ambleside LA22 0LF The intemperate tyrant is in retreat, 01386 701441 nationaltrust.org.uk Stretching days, will, long night defeat, Batsford Arboretum, Moreton in Your faith a spur, to the flagging heart, Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 9AD Belsay Hall Garden batsarb.co.uk From 10:00-16:30. Open only on As trust appears, dark doubts depart, weekends until the 11th and from the The sun scales higher, the leaden sky, Sheringham Park 17th of February. From Monday the The smothered earth, once more does sigh, Park open dawn till dusk. See 12th open all week. Your three petalled bell, the changes ring, nationaltrust.org.uk for courtyard café 01661 881636 Beyond the bleak horizon, comes jutting Spring. and visitor centre. Belsay Hall, Belsay, Northumberland, 01263 820550 NE20 0DX In memory of Amanda Love Visitor Centre, Wood Farm, Upper english-heritage.org.uk

020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 37 EVENTS

Last entry 30 minutes before closing Mottisfont 020 7352 5646 Garden open 8 days a week from 10:00 66 Royal Hospital Rd, Chelsea, - 17:00. London SW3 4HS RHS London Early 01794 340757 chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk Mottisfont Ln, Romsey SO51 0LP Spring Plant Fair Complimentary nationaltrust.org.uk From February 8 drink for visitors Cobble Hey Garden Late Mon 12 Feb to the Late on Sizergh Castle and Garden See website for opening times. Tues 13 Feb–Wed 14 Feb Mon 12 Feb Charity No: 222879/SC038262 RHS Registered Café open from 10:00 - 16:00. Garden 01995 602643 open from 10:00 - 16:00. Shop open Hobbs Lane, Claughton on Brock, from 10:00 - 16:00 Garstang, Lancashire, PR3 0QN 015395 60951 cobblehey.co.uk Sizergh, Kendal LA8 8DZ nationaltrust.org.uk Ends March 9 Chippenham Park Gardens Ickworth Open from 10:00-16:00. Café open from 10:30-16:00. Gardens 01638721416 between 09:00-17:30. These times may Chippenham, Ely, Cambridgeshire, change. See website for details. CB7 5PT 01284 735270 chippenhamparkgardens.info The Rotunda, Horringer, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP29 5QE February 6 – March 6 nationaltrust.org.uk Kiplin Hall Open Saturday, Sunday, Monday, The Chelsea Physic Garden Tuesday and Wednesday, 11:00-17:00. 5 Feb- 29 March Closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Monday-Friday 01748 818178 Garden, cafe and shop 11am- 4pm Scorton, Richmond, North Yorkshire SEASONAL PLANTS • TALKS • WORKSHOPS Easter Weekend DL10 6AT Good Friday, Easter Sunday & Easter kiplinhall.co.uk Royal Horticultural Halls Monday February 6 & 7 St James’s Park / Pimlico London Victoria Garden, cafe and shop 11am- 6pm RHS Members £5, public £8 in advance/£9 on day, Late £5 for all Main Season 3 April- 2 November Hill Close Gardens Monday- Friday, Sundays and Bank Open weekdays from 11:00-16:00. Last rhs.org.uk/londonshows Holidays entry at 15:30. Closed on weekends. #RHSLondon Garden and shop 11am- 6pm 01926 493339 Cafe 11am- 5pm Hill Close Gardens, Bread and Meat

A stunning mixed media jewellery and silversmithing fair presenting highly talented exhibitors, from emerging British talent to more established designer makers

READER OFFER Admit One Adult FREE For free admission please complete your details and hand in on entry to the fair. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. Name Ref: KCWT18

Address Admission £6 10am - 5pm Daily Post Code W8 7NX

CIF_Desire_Kensington18_160x260.indd 1 12/01/2018 09:33 38 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk EVENTS

Close, Warwick CV34 6HF 01743 708123 Ends February 9 hillclosegardens.com Attingham Park, Attingham, Atcham March 16 Nick Dale: World Wildlife Exhibition. SY4 4TP Artists 4 Artists - Juxta 508 King’s Road February 7 nationaltrust.org.uk Rich Mix Bears in Alaska, tigers in India and Austwick Hall An intimate night curated by a group penguins in Antarctica are just a few Open 12:00-16:00. February 18 of hip hop theatre artists working of the wild animals that Nick Dale 015242 51794 Devonshire Mill collaboratively to present an evening of captured with his camera. In the last Near Settle, North Yorkshire LA2 8BS Open 11:00-16:30. truth. couple of years, he travelled all seven ngs.org.uk 01759 302147 020 7613 7498 continents patiently spending hours Canal Lane, Pocklington, York, North 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London and days to take a perfect shot. His February 7 Yorkshire, YO42 1NN E1 6LA new exhibition will show an incredible 7 The Grove devonshiremill.co.uk richmix.org.uk collection of animal portraits and Open from 11:00-3:00. will bring the world wildlife to your 01803 862866 February 28 April 12-21 doorstep. Highgate Village, London, N6 6JU Dunham Massey Voices of America 020 3719 3109 ngs.org.uk Garden opens daily from 10:30-17:00. Sadler's Wells 508 King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW10 0161 941 1025 Jerome Robbins. William Forsythe. 0LD February 7 Dunham Massey, Altrincham, Cheshire, Aszure Barton. Three generations of 508kingsroad.com East Lambrook Manor Gardens WA14 4SJ choreographers in New York. Each with Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00- nationaltrust.org.uk a distinct style, but with work infused Ends February 17 17:00. Closed on Mondays. with the raw, in-your-face attitude of Winter 01284 827087 DANCE American-style neo-classical ballet. Everard Read London East Lambrook Manor Gardens, Silver 020 7863 8000 Showcasing new works by Liberty Street, East Lambrook, Somerset, TA13 Ends February 17 Rosebery Ave, Clerkenwell, London Battson, Tamlin Blake, Laura 5HH Cirque Berserk! - Zippos — Real EC1R 4TN Ellenberger, Jane Eppel, Guy Ferrer, eastlambrook.com Circus made for theatre sadlerswells.com Colbert Mashile, Nigel Mullins, Peacock Theatre Blessing Ngobeni, Nouneh Sarkissian, February 10-11 13-18, 24 & 25 Now in its fifth thrilling year, Cirque EXHIBITIONS Caryn Scrimgeour, Lionel Smit, Arjan Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire Berserk! returns to The Peacock to van Arendonk, Shany van den Berg, Garden, restaurant, and shop open from celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Ongoing Barbara Wildenboer, Neill Wright 11:00 - 15:30. invention of circus, with a jaw-dropping Bond in Motion and Simone Wurz 01904 472027 spectacular that combines contemporary London Film Museum 020 7590 9991 Beningbrough, York YO30 1DD cirque-style artistry with adrenaline- Over 100 individual items are on 80 Fulham Rd, Kensington, London nationaltrust.org.uk fuelled stunt action. display including the Aston Martin SW3 6HR 020 7863 8000 DB5 from GoldenEye, the ‘Wet Nellie’ everardlondon.com February 11 onwards Portugal Street, Holborn, WC2A 2HT Lotus Esprit S1 from The Spy Who Oxburgh Hall sadlerswells.com Loved Me, the Rolls-Royce Phantom III February 10 – March 3 Garden, shop, and tea room open from from Goldfinger, and the ‘Little Nellie’ Fintan Whelan: Synthesis 11:00-16:00. Ends February 27 Wallis WA-116 Agile Autogyro from 508 King’s Road 01366 328258 Satyagraha You Only Live Twice. For his very first solo exhibition in Oxburgh Hall, King's Lynn PE33 9PS London Coliseum 020 7836 4913 London, the Irish artist and Artfinder nationaltrust.org.uk With an idea, Gandhi founded a 45 Wellington St, London WC2E 7BN bestseller, Fintan Whelan is exhibiting movement. With a movement, he londonfilmmuseum.com a selection of his recent work at 508 February 13 & 14 created a nation. With a nation, he Kings Road Gallery. The value of Little Ponton Hall changed the course of history Ongoing Fintan’s art doubled in the past year, Open 11:00-15:30. 020 7836 0111 Brilliant minds in Hut 8 making him one of the most sought 01476 530216 St Martin's Ln, London WC2N 4ES Bletchley Park after international artists. 01476 530342 eno.org Formerly the Codebreaking Hut 020 3719 3109 Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire NG33 5BS leading the breaking of German Naval 508 King’s Rd, Chelsea, London littlepontonhallgardens.org.uk Ends March 4 Enigma messages, today Hut 8 houses SW10 0LD Cirque du Soleil exciting interactive exhibitions helping 508kingsroad.com February 13 - 21 Royal Albert Hall adults and children alike to understand Easton Walled Gardens Cirque du Soleil returns to the iconic the different methods the Codebreakers Ends March 27 Open on Wedesdays, Thursdays, Royal Albert Hall in 2018 with its used to help them with their work. The The Centre for Russian Music: Fridays, Sundays from 11.00-16.00. never before seen in the UK show, Mansion, Bletchley Park, Sherwood Dr, Inside the Collections 01476 530063 OVO! A colourful carnival of crazy Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK3 6EB Barbican Easton, Grantham, NG33 5AP crickets, amazing ants and flexible fleas, 01908 640404 The Centre for Russian Music at visiteaston.co.uk OVO uncovers the natural world at our bletchleypark.org.uk Goldsmiths, University of London, feet. Rush headlong into an ecosystem opens up its collections for display at February 14 teeming with life, where insects work, Ends February 8 Barbican Music Library. The gardens at Doddington Hall eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and love. Late Debate: Women of the future 020 7638 4141 See website for opening times. 020 7589 8212 London Transport Museum Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS 01522 694308 Kensington Gore, Kensington, London 2018 marks 100 years since women barbican.org.uk Doddington, LN6 4RU SW7 2AP in Britain were allowed to vote for doddingtonhall.com royalalberthall.com the first time. Driven by the suffragist Ends April 8 and suffragette movements, this was a Ayurvedic Man: Encounters with February 18-25 March 1-15 major step towards equal voting rights Indian medicine Middleton Hall A Midsummer Night's Dream for all women and men, achieved in Wellcome Collection Open 11:00-16:00. London Coliseum 1928. London Transport Museum Taking its name from the 18th-century 01827 283095 Confused couples, lopsided loyalties and Transport for London are Nepali painting, the Ayurvedic Man, this Middleton, Tamworth Staffordshire and a terrible case of mistaken identity. hosting a Late Debate to recogise this exhibition showcases an exquisite range B78 2AE Falling in love can make you lose your momentous period in history. of material from Wellcome’s historical exploremiddletonhall.co.uk head. 020 7379 6344 collections, including Sanskrit, Persian 020 7304 4000 Covent Garden Piazza, London and Tibetan manuscripts, vibrant February 18 – 20 Bow Street Covent Garden London WC2E 7BB gouache paintings, erotic manuals and Attingham Park WC2E 9DD ltmuseum.co.uk animal-shaped surgical tools. Walled garden open 09:00-17:00. roh.org.uk 020 7611 2222 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 39 EVENTS

an interest in cruising the opportunity to meet industry leading cruise lines Ticket Giveaway! who will put the personal touch on their Get Inspired For The Trip Of holiday packages. Olympia will be filled A Lifetime. with the world’s top organisers, packages and will offer you the chance to meet the lines face to face. Wander around the show and find your perfect holiday before meeting a professional organiser and personalising your package with show exclusive offers. Don’t miss out on visiting the three theatres where you can learn from experts, meet the cruise lines and witness the wondrous landmarks that are within your reach. With cruise lines sailing to some of the most remote locations on earth, it Olympia London 17-18 February can be overwhelming deciding which route is right. Cruise experts, the London Cruise Show aim to connect cruise enthusiasts with their perfect cruise. From health and wellness cruises in the We’re giving away 500 FREE tickets* to our readers. Mediterranean, to exploring Cuba or the fjords of Alaska, there has never been a Just visit www.cruiseshow.co.uk and quote better time to jump on board with the upcoming cruise trends for 2018. At the KCWT to claim yours today. London Cruise Show, visitors are sure to he Cruise Show, Europe’s largest meet with some of the top names in the event focused on the cruise industry and pin down the perfect cruise industry, returns to London on for them. theT 17th and 18th February to showcase And we have 50 tickets to giveaway! the best of luxury travel by sea and river These are available on a first come, first to destinations across the globe. However served basis so you have to be quick. adventurous the imagination, there’s a Simply enter KCWT when booking at cruise for everyone at the London Cruise https://cruiseshow.co.uk/london/ . We Show. hope you enjoy the show and find the *Maximum two tickets per order. £1.25 booking fee applies. Offer only available in advance. The Cruise Show provides anyone with holiday of a lifetime!

Spend your Thursday evenings listening to some of the freshest acts on the London jazz scene.

royalalberthall.com/jazz /RoyalAlbertHall Box Office: 020 7589 8212 @RoyalAlbertHall 40 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk EVENTS

183 Euston Rd, Kings Cross, London Kensington, London W8 6AG hackneyempire.co.uk traveller. Swap brochures and screens NW1 2BE designmuseum.org for real life and receive personalised wellcomecollection.org February 14-25 advice from The Telegraph journalists Ends April 18 Flamenco Festival London in our Travel Genius Bar. Browse and Ends April 8 ABBA: Super Troupers - Access Tours, Sadler's Wells plan with leading travel providers and Living with gods, peoples, places and Part of Nordic Matters In a fortnight featuring 12 unique discover new destinations to explore. worlds beyond Royal Festival Hall shows and film screenings, audiences Immerse yourself in new cultures, try British Museum Come on a musical journey with will be able to enjoy performances from your hand at cooking world dishes, Beliefs in spiritual beings and worlds Swedish pop sensation ABBA as they some of the world’s most outstanding pick up travel hacks and learn from beyond nature are characteristic of all take over 1970s Britain in this one- flamenco talent. international travel writers, bloggers, human societies. By looking at how of-a-kind exhibition. Throughout the 020 7863 8000 adventurers, broadcasters and much people believe through everyday objects exhibition’s run, specially adapted tours Rosebery Ave, Clerkenwell, London more. of faith, this exhibition provides a are being offered, including British EC1R 4TN 020 7069 5000 perspective on what makes believing a Sign Language Interpreted, Autism sadlerswells.com Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western vital part of human behaviour. and Tourettes Friendly and Dementia Gateway, London E16 1XL 020 7323 8299 Friendly tours. Feburary 15-18 travelshow.telegraph.co.uk Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London 0844 875 0073 London Classic Car Show WC1B 3DG Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, Excel March 2-4 britishmuseum.org Lambeth, London SE1 8XX The London Classic Car Show is the The Baby Show southbankcentre.co.uk must-attend event for any discerning Excel Ends April 15 classic car owner, collector, expert or The UK's leading pregnancy and Ferrari: Under the Skin FAIRS & FESTIVALS enthusiast. Now in its fourth year, parenting event. It features over 200 Design Museum London Classic Car Show has established exhibitors offering an unrivalled choice The exhibition, created in collaboration February 7 itself as one of the UK’s best classic of top baby brands and products; with Ferrari, offers an insight into the A Belter for the Shelter car events right in the accessible heart all under one roof. There will also life of Enzo Ferrari, unique cars and Hackney Empire of the country’s capital. Experience be innovative product launches and rarely seen documents. Celebrating Returning for a fourth time, Belter is over 700 classic cars in London this boutique, not-on-the-high-street 70 years of precision design, from the bringing yet another stellar line-up of February. brands. launch of the first Ferrari car in 1947 to comedians to the Hackney Empire 020 7069 5000 020 7069 5000 the latest car production. This ambitious to help raise money for the Shelter’s Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western display will bring together early design vital work with local homeless people. Gateway, London E16 1XL Gateway, London E16 1XL models, rare personal memorabilia All money raised on the night goes thelondonclassiccarshow.co.uk thebabyshow.co.uk and archival material relating to Enzo towards keeping people off the streets Ferrari’s life. of Hackney this winter and providing February 16-18 February 24 020 3862 5900 them with a hot meal and warm bed. Carole Nash MCN London PBFA Bookfair 224-238 Kensington High St, 020 8985 2424 Motorcycle Show Children's, Illustrated and Modern 291 Mare St, London E8 1EJ Excel First Editions. The Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Hilton London Olympia Hotel Show is the most exciting bike show in the 11am - 5pm John Parnham’s Children’s Fun Fair Proudly presents... UK and for 2018 it’s bigger and better 380 Kensington high Street, London, than ever. Your ticket gives you access W14 8 NL to all the latest and greatest bikes, free live action plus the chance to browse a FAMILY & CHILDREN huge range of clothing, kit, accessories and motorcycling bargains. This is the Ongoing show where riders can buy a bike and Gong Babies kit themselves out from head-to-toe all Royal Festival Hall in one day! Join this relaxing music workshop 020 7069 5000 aimed at new parents, carers and non- Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western crawling babies (0-6 months). On the Gateway, London E16 1XL island of Java, many children experience mcnmotorcycleshow.com the beautiful sounds of the gamelan, ( Javanese percussion orchestra) as babes February 21 in arms. WHERE Women on the Move Against Cancer 0844 875 0073 (WOMAC) Fundraiser Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, The Kia Oval Lambeth, London SE1 8XX THE half-term The Kidney Cancer Support Network southbankcentre.co.uk (KCSN), which was founded in 2006, is a patient-led network of kidney cancer Fridays During Term Time facebook.com/johnnys children’s fairs FUN BEGINS! patients, carers and family members Under 5s affected by kidney cancer. Founders Kenwood House everybody Rose Woodward and Julia Black created Friday’s during term time, families the network to help kidney cancer with under 5’s can join in craft making, welcome! patients come together, so that they may storytelling, and sing-alongs. NORMAND28 74 190 share their experiences and insights, and 0370 333 1181 391 430 N28 help improve knowledge and awareness Hampstead Lane, Hampstead, NW3 N74 N97 of kidney cancer. 7JR These Fairs are PARK 28 74 190 Token operated events 0844 375 1845 english-heritage.org.uk NO CASH ON RIDES OR STALLS ACCEPTED FULHAM • SW6391 430 N28 7ST Surrey County Cricket Club, 1 TOKEN: £1.00 NEXT TO FULHAM N74ACTIVEN97 POOL Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SS February 10-11 th th womac.co.uk Peppa Pig's Adventure 12 TOKENS: £10 Hackney Empire TOKENS ON SALE AT BOOTH FRI 9 to SUN 18 FEB February 23-25 Peppa Pig and friends are back on OPEN: DAILY 12 NOON - EARLY EVENING The Telegraph Travel Show the brand new live show Peppa Pig’s Adventure! Join Peppa as she gets ready www.parnhamfunfairs.co.uk TELEPHONE: 07956 245531 Excel A must-attend event for the discerning to go on an exciting camping trip to 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 41 EVENTS the woods with George and her school February 13 020 8543 4888 rmg.co.uk friends, including Pedro Pony, Suzy Chinese Tales & Ribbon Dance 240 The Broadway, Wimbledon, Sheep, and Gerald Giraffe. British Library London SW19 1SB Ends February 18 020 8985 2424 Celebrate Chinese New Year at this polkatheatre.com Poetry of Place: Paul Hart’s Landscapes 291 Mare St, London E8 1EJ fun family workshop. Join artist and Photographers Gallery hackneyempire.co.uk performer Jih Wen Yeh as she weaves Ends April 2 British photographer, Paul Hart fascinating stories and performs a Investigate for families (b.1961) has spent the past thirteen February 11 beautiful ribbon dance. Then take part Natural History Museum years exploring human relationships Sunday Story Sessions: Supersaurs in a ribbon dance workshop for all the Get a feel for how scientists work by with the land through photographs Polka Theatre family. having a go yourself. Come and explore largely devoid of people. His interest Imagine a world where dinosaurs 0330 333 1144 hundreds of real nature specimens that is both humanistic and socio-historical, survived. Jay Jay Burridge will be 96 Euston Rd, Kings Cross, London form the evidence Museum scientists using sequences of specific landscapes presenting an introduction to the World NW1 2DB use in their work. Science Educators are to highlight nature’s innate ability of Supersaurs and also talking about the bl.uk on hand to help you look closely at real to self-preserve whilst addressing accompanying Supersaurs app which objects using the many tools provided. contemporary issues on the effect of brings the book to life with augmented February 16 020 7942 5511 human intervention and damage to the reality. This highly interactive talk is for James Campbell: The Hilariously Cromwell Rd, Kensington, London natural order. children aged 7+ Funny World Of SW7 5BD 020 7087 9300 020 8543 4888 Foyles nhm.ac.uk 16-18 Ramillies St, Soho, London W1F 240 The Broadway, Wimbledon, Hold onto your socks, take the banana 7LW London SW19 1SB out of your ears and enjoy the best FILM & PHOTOGRAPHY thephotographersgallery.org.uk polkatheatre.com comedy for kids in a stand-up comedy show for children over six, their parents Ongoing February 9 February 12-16 and anyone who likes comedy without Meet the Neighbours Planetarium Alien (1979) Discoveries and Inventions the rude words. Show Movie Nights at the Natural History Eltham Palace and Gardens 020 7440 3212 Royal Observatory Museum Are you a budding Darwin or an up- Foyles Bookshop, Southbank Centre, Tour the Solar System and beyond, After receiving a distress call, the crew and-coming Brunel? Get your thinking Riverside, London, SE1 8XX and meet our next-door neighbours in of the spaceship Nostromo venture to a caps on and your brains buzzing at foyles.co.uk space! Vote with the audience on which distant moon to investigate, only to be Eltham Palace! Take a trip through planets to explore in depth, before attacked by an alien creature. Escaping history's most exciting inventions from Ends March 22 moving beyond to explore neighbouring to their ship to return to Earth, the crew the totally practical to the downright Polka Youth Theatre stars and galaxies far away in the depths realises that they are not alone and must wacky, can you design something to add Polka Theatre of space. Packed full of spectacular deal with the consequences. Starring to the record books? A unique opportunity to get expert sights and fun facts, this interactive Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, and John 0370 333 1181 drama training and develop new show will be presented live by an Hurt, and directed by Ridley Scott. Court Yard, London SE9 5QE performance skills, for everyone astronomer from the Royal Observatory. 020 7942 5511 english-heritage.org.uk aged 9 – 14 who enjoys theatre and 020 8858 4422 Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD performance. Blackheath Ave, London SE10 8XJ 42 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk EVENTS nhm.ac.uk in high-definition on a 40-foot screen, watch the film accompanied by a live February 15 orchestra performing John Williams’ Sue Tompkins And Tony Conrad iconic score. Experience the wonder Katrine Levin Tate Britain of talking spiders, scolding letters, and A seminal structuralist film, The Flicker giant snakes all over again! emphasises the manner in which film 020 7589 8212 conveys meaning through the use of Kensington Gore, Kensington, London Galleries codes and conventions, something that SW7 2AP finds a parallel in Tompkins use of royalalberthall.com language and narrative in performance which she has described as ‘a process April 7 of layering’ through which ideas are Babette Mangolte: What Maisie Knew THE WOODBLOCK PRINTS OF obscured and revealed. Tate Modern 020 7887 8888 Babette Mangolte emerged as a key CHEN LI Millbank, Westminster, London SW1P figure in New York’s 1970s avantgarde 4RG art, film and performance scenes, and tate.org.uk is celebrated equally for her work as a filmmaker, photographer and February 17 cinematographer. For over four decades, REFLECTIONS IN A BLUE LAKE Screening of Jack L. Warner: The Last her practice has addressed complex Mogul (1993) questions about the act of looking. Cinema Museum 020 7887 8888 Produced with the full cooperation of Bankside; London, SE1; United Warner Brothers, the film explores the Kingdom fascinating rise of Jack Warner from tate.org.uk 19 – 24 FEBRUARY 2018 obscure poverty to become head of one of the most famous movie studios in MUSIC history. THE CONINGSBY GALLERY 020 7840 2200 February 13 30 TOTTENHAM STREET, LONDON, W1T 4RJ 2 Dugard Way, Lambeth, London Tosca SE11 4TH Handel & Hendrix www.katrinelevin.com / [email protected] / cinemamuseum.org.uk Let yourself be drawn into a journey throughout 17th-century Europe. Ends March 10 From Rome to Paris through Vienna, Merrie Albion - Landscape Studies of a Lucie Chabard will explore how Small Island great composers such as Froberger, Flowers Gallery Frescobaldi, and Louis Couperin Merrie Albion; Landscape Studies inspired each other. of a Small Island brings together 020 7495 1685 foundlingmuseum.org.uk Under the Bridge iconic images and many previously 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K British electronic band Blancmange unpublished photographs, recording 4HB February 23 first broke through in the early 80s with social practices and customs linked to handelhendrix.org Cindy Wilson their mix of synthesizers and surrealism, the British landscape, as well as some of Under the Bridge fused in groundbreaking singles such the economic and political theatre that February 15 Cindy Wilson is a vocalist, songwriter as Feel Me, Living On The Ceiling, Blind has helped define recent history. Carly Paoli “Singing My Dreams” and founding member of The B-52s. Vision and Don’t Tell Me. The inspiration 020 7920 7777 A special Valentine's concert. Cindy Wilson is about to release her continues with Blancmange’s new Flowers Gallery, 82 Kingsland Road, Cadogan Hall extraordinary debut solo album Change album Unfurnished Rooms due out on 22 London E2 8DP Abiah Music Production presents and will perform exclusive UK concerts September, 2017. flowersgallery.com Carly Paoli who headlines a special to celebrate in February 2018 taking 020 7386 3327 Valentine’s concert filled with special on Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol & Stamford Bridge, Fulham Road, March 21 guests and romantic music making. Under The Bridge in London. London, SW6 1HS Kennington Noir Presents: The Blue Carly’s debut album Singing My Dreams 020 7386 3327 underthebridge.co.uk Dahlia (1946) went straight in at No. 2 in the Classical Stamford Bridge, Fulham Road, Cinema Museum Music Charts but this is a chance to London, SW6 1HS Ends March 3 At the end of WWII, a war veteran see a singer who comes alive onstage. underthebridge.co.uk Tosca (Alan Ladd) and his buddies (William With special guests Andrea Griminelli, Royal Opera House Bendix and Hugh Beaumont) return to Federico Paciotti & Tring Park 16 March 1 Three casts, led by Adrianne Pieczonka, Los Angeles, and one of them becomes 020 7730 4500 Mozart Requiem by Candlelight Angela Gheorghiu and Martina Serafin a murder suspect when his adulterous 5 Sloane Terrace, Belgravia, London St Martin-in-the-Fields and conducted by Dan Ettinger and party-loving wife is found dead. Helped SW1X 9DQ Robert Porter founded the Plácido Domingo, star in The Royal by a beautiful blonde (Veronica Lake), cadoganhall.com Brandenburg Sinfonia in the early Opera’s production of Puccini’s thriller. he tries to avoid the police while 1980s, the first of a group of orchestras 020 7304 4000 looking for his wife’s killer. February 23 under his artistic direction, which now Bow Street Covent Garden London 020 7840 2200 Red Priest: Handel in the Wind also includes the Brandenburg Brass WC2E 9DD 2 Dugard Way, Lambeth, London Foundling Museum and Brandenburg Baroque Soloists. roh.org.uk SE11 4TH Red Priest will take you on a whirlwind Playing regularly both in this country cinemamuseum.org.uk tour through the music of George and abroad, one residency, at St Martin- Frideric Handel. Their programme in-the-Fields gave him the idea for a Ends March 16 Ends April 29 includes sonatas, chaconnes and Choral Festival based around some of Carmen Harry Potter and the Chamber of virtuoso variations, transcriptions the most beautiful churches in London. Royal Opera House Secrets in Concert both sublime and tempestuous and an 020 7766 1100 Barrie Kosky directs Bizet’s much- Royal Albert Hall audacious suite drawn from his most Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ loved opera, with Jakub Hrůša and Harry Potter will return to the Royal celebrated work, Messiah. stmartin-in-the-fields.org Christopher Willis conducting two Albert Hall next year with a sensational 020 7841 3600 casts led by Anna Goryachova and live orchestral screening of Harry Potter 40 Brunswick Square, Bloomsbury, March 9 Gaëlle Arquez in the title role. and the Chamber of Secrets. Projected London WC1N 1AZ Blancmange 020 7240 1200 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 43 EVENTS

Bow St, London WC2E 9DD record, celebrate and document it. illustrate the full scale of the issue and roh.org.uk TALKS & TOURS 020 7730 0717 its effect on women everywhere. Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London 020 7440 3205 March 22 Ongoing SW3 4HT 107 Charing Cross Road The Czigány Quartet London Duck Tours nam.ac.uk foyles.co.uk Eaton Square Concerts Hop aboard one of London Duck The Czigány Quartet was formed by Tours’ distinctive yellow vehicles February 10 March 1 postgraduate students at the Royal and enter the wonderful world of Key Speakers: 4 Saints In 3 ‘Secret Lives Exposed: If Walls Could Academy of Music. Part of the amphibious travel. It is far more exciting Photographers Gallery Talk’ Academy’s prestigious Davey Posnanski than just an ordinary sightseeing An afternoon of discussion exploring with novelist Sarah Dunant and Quartet Scheme, they are the 2018 bus tour or river trip. See some of the varied themes and contemporary historians Bettany Hughes and winners of the St Peter’s Prize. Its London’s most talked about sights, understandings of 4 Saints in 3 Acts - A Suzannah Lipscomb at The Royal programme includes Debussy’s string learn interesting facts about the city Snapshot of the American Avant-garde, Geographical Society, London quartet, in acknowledgement of the and be entertained by an action packed the first exhibition worldwide to focus The evening will provide a unique centenary of his death. live commentary before the thrilling on the photographic dimensions of this opportunity to discover history’s hidden 020 7553 4039 splashdown onto the river Thames! ground-breaking American modernist stories, from the private life of Henry St Peters Church Eaton Square, 119, 020 7928 3132 opera. VIII to the secrets of Renaissance London SW1W 9AL 55 York Road, Lambeth, London 020 7087 9300 courtesans, cloistered nuns, and a Pope’s eatonsquareconcerts.org.uk SE1 7NJ 16-18 Ramillies St, Soho, London daughter. The talk will be followed londonducktours.co.uk W1F 7LW by an audience Q&A led by Stephen April 25 thephotographersgallery.org.uk Sackur, Just a Drop Patron and presenter ’ Eliades Ochoa Ongoing of BBC s HARDTalk. Royal Albert Hall War Paint: Brushes with conflict February 20 020 7591 3000 One of the most important Cuban National Army Museum Laura Bates - Misogynation: The True 1 Kensington Gore, Kensington, musicians of all time, the former Buena Explore why artists and soldiers have Scale of Sexism London SW7 2AR Vista Social Club frontman makes his painted scenes of conflict, in the Foyles rgs.org solo debut at the Royal Albert Hall, museum’s first temporary exhibition Last year the Weinstein allegations fronting his own band. A winner of at the new museum. to create records, shook Hollywood and brought the March 14 several Latin Grammy nominations and report news or commemorate events. topic of sexual harassment to the fore Morris in Oxford: Politics and Design awards, Ochoa is known as ‘Mr Chan But above all, war paintings are personal – highlighting for many the silent Walking Tour Chan’ in his hometown of Santiago de perspectives on war and its vast impact struggle and ritual abuse suffered by William Morris Society Cuba. on people and places. War Paint features women around the world. Five years This day long walking tour of Oxford 020 7589 8212 over 130 paintings and objects exploring after the launch of her pioneering will include some of the places most Kensington Gore, Kensington, London the complex relationship between war Everyday Sexism project and Girl associated with Morris as a designer SW7 2AP and the men and women who map, Up, Laura Bates is back with a fresh and maker, and his later political royalalberthall.com collection of essays joining the dots to The Illustrated Children’s & Modern First Editions Book Fair Returns

Time to be captivated by the most beautifully illustrated children’s books and an array of other coveted literature as the PBFA returns to the London Hilton Olympia with the Children’s Illustrated & Modern First Editions Book Fair 2018.

ver 30 of the UK's finest specialist book sellers will be offering a huge range of rare and collectible titles at prices to suit every enthusiast. Among the hundreds of books on offer, many will be some of the most evocative reads and recognisable covers you Ocould hope to find under one roof. A few highlights to look out for include: numerous first editions of Enid Blyton’s legendary Famous Five Books (Lucius Books) other exhibitors will also have first editions of A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. Author-signed books are always special The Adventures of Paddington signed by Michael Bond (Ashton Rare Books) is well worth seeking out as is the signed copy of William and the Witch by Richmal Crompton at Yonkers Rare Books. Fans of Narnia are sure to love the original 1951 illustration created for C S Lewis’ Prince Caspian by Pauline Baynes at Blackwell Rare Books, which will also be offering a wonderful His Dark Materials magic folding cube of images signed by Philip Pullman, originally produced for the National Theatre Production in 2005. There will be many other titles to explore and you can also bring your own treasured books along for a free valuation from our experts! This literary equivalent of Aladdin’s Cave is sure to inspire children and bring back memories for those a little bit older. No magic words necessary : entrance for adults is £2 on the door or free with tickets downloaded from the www.pbfa.org website (admits two). Accompanied children go free!

The Fair takes place on Saturday, 24th February at London Hilton Olympia Hotel, 380 Kensington High Street, W14 8NL, 11am-5pm. The venue is three minutes away from Olympia Station and bus stops for the 9, 10, 27, 28, 49 and C1 routes are located just outside the hotel. 44 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk EVENTS engagement with the city. Lunch and Ends February 17 London SW10 9ED company of actors and musicians, any admission charges are extra. Full The Open House finboroughtheatre.co.uk award-winning playwright Conor joining details will be confirmed a few Coronet Printroom McPherson beautifully weaves the days before the event. The Open House is Will Eno’s wildly February 15 – March 10 iconic Songbook of Bob Dylan into this 020 8741 3735 subversive and darkly hilarious take on Jubilee show full of hope, heartbreak and soul. 26 Upper Mall, London W6 9TA the archetypal family drama. Son and Lyric Hammersmith 0844 871 7628 williammorrissociety.org Daughter have come home to celebrate Faith in the establishment collapsing Old Vic Theatre their Mother and Father’s wedding everywhere. The far-right on the march. oldvictheatre.com THEATRE anniversary but the atmosphere is Culture wars and random violence; all strained and the dog is nowhere to be decked out in red, white and blue. But March 15 – April 7 Ongoing seen. Just as they hit stalemate, things a spirit of anarchy hangs in the air, the The Plough and the Stars Dreamgirls start to take a very unexpected turn… desire to burn it all down and start over. Lyric Hammersmith Savoy The Open House unites the talents of 020 8741 6850 Following a sell-out season at the Smash-hit, Olivier Award-winning Michael Boyd, former Artistic Director The Lyric Centre, King St, London W6 Abbey Theatre as part of the 100th Broadway musical Dreamgirls plays at of the RSC with multi award-winning 0QL anniversary celebrations of the 1916 the West End's Savoy Theatre London Will Eno, one of America’s leading lyric.co.uk Easter Rising, as well as a successful to packed out audiences. Directed by contemporary playwrights. Irish and US tour, The Plough and Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, 020 3642 6606 February 27 – March 24 the Stars, comes to the Lyric as a co- Aladdin), Dreamgirls is the musical 103 Notting Hill Gate, Kensington, Returning to Haifa production with the Abbey Theatre. inspired by hits from The Supremes, The London W11 3LB Finborough Theatre 020 8741 6850 Shirelles and James Brown. the-print-room.org The world premiere of the first English- The Lyric Centre, King St, London 0844 871 7687 language adaptation of the classic W6 0QL Savoy Court, Strand, London WC2R Ends February 24 novella by Ghassan Kanafani, Returning lyric.co.uk 0ET Booby’s Bay to Haifa, adapted for the stage by savoytheatre.org Finborough Theatre Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi. A Above a secluded cove in Cornwall, compelling story of two families, one Ongoing Huck, a former fisherman, is holed up Palestinian, one Israeli, forced by history Hamilton in an empty second home. The holiday into an intimacy they didn’t choose. Victoria Palace Theatre season is fast approaching, the sharks 0844 847 1652 The critically-acclaimed and multi- are coming, but he refuses to budge. 118 Finborough Rd, Kensington, award-winning Broadway musical, will As Booby’s Bay fills up for the annual London SW10 9ED open at the end of 2017 at London's surfing competition, Huck wants to finboroughtheatre.co.uks Victoria Palace Theatre. shake things up, even if no one is Compiled and edited by Fahad Redha 0844 482 5138 listening. He’s got media connections Ends March 24 Victoria St, Westminster, London and intends to make a political stand. Girl from the North Country If you have an event you’d like listed SW1E 5EA 0844 847 1652 Old Vic Theatre in the next edition, please send any victoriapalacetheatre.co.uk 118 Finborough Rd, Kensington, Brought to life by an exceptional information to: [email protected] Take a subscription of KCW TODAY for 2017/8 and receive a copy delivered

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J J Zoffany. The Academicians of the Royal Academy 1772. © The Royal Collection

a sense of both place and history, presence of a naked man, but portrayed Jonathan Yeo’s 3D self portrait leaves one surrounded as one is by plaster casts as paintings hanging on the studio wall. wondering why, other than to publicise From Life ’ ’ Royal Academy of Greco-Roman sculptures, busts, After Moser s death in 1819, no further Google s program Tilt Brush. skeletons, life-size horses, and even a women were elected as full members The explanatory graphic panels are The Sackler Gallery cast of the crucified body of a flayed of the Academy until Dame Laura painstakingly hand-drawn in graphite, Until 11 March 2018 murderer, known as an écorché. Knight in 1936. No female students rendering them all but unreadable, and Amongst some of the earlier students were enrolled at the Schools until 1860, the same applies to the picture captions, Admission £14 were Sir John Flaxman, the Neoclassical when L Herford was admitted, the then which become more irritating as the sculptor and draughtsman, J.M.W. Keeper thinking they were electing a exhibition grinds on. Even the little Turner, Sir John Soane, who became male student, not realising ‘his’ name was booklet handed out has an annoying professor of architecture at the Royal Laura. cuteness, with its ‘handwritten’ text and Academy, Thomas Rowlandson, William This part of the exhibition is of over-designed and unnecessary half Blake, Sir Thomas Lawrence, John historical interest, but the rest of it is -trimmed pages. To cap it all, there is a Constable, George Hayter, who became a bit of a shambles adding little to the VR experience in the Tennant Gallery on he Royal Academy Schools is Queen Victoria’s Principal Painter in debate about whether it is right to have the first floor, which adds nothing to the not only the oldest art school in Ordinary, Sir David Wilkie, a Scottish life drawing taught at art schools, or visit, other than valuable time taken up Britain, having taken in its first portraitist, William Etty and Sir Edwin not. One entire gallery is devoted to the with queuing. pupilsT in 1769, it is still one of the few Landseer, who combined both the work of twenty or so students from the The whole conceit is of one of the art institutions that hold life drawing graphic and the plastic arts, and was a New York Academy of Art instigated by slightest exhibitions ever staged in classes. As the Academy celebrates 250 great favourite of the royal family. Jeremy Deller, drawing the scrawny rock the Sackler Gallery, home to many years since George III used a personal When Zoffany painted the entire star musician Iggy Pop. The results range fine shows in the past. These include act to promote the arts of design through Academy, he portrayed them all sitting from bad, to worse, and one wondered Daumier’s Visions of Paris, Watteau education and exhibition, it looks back around chatting, while the first Keeper what else the RA had to offer. Well, more drawings, George Bellows, John Zoffany, on the significance and development of the RA Schools, Michael Moser, work from RAs it transpired, including The Glasgow Boys, The Scottish Colourists, of drawing directly from the human posed the model. His daughter Mary, Gillian Ayres, Humphrey Ocean, Sargent and the Sea,Vilhelm Hammershoi body; a discipline sadly not taught in the along with Angelica Kauffman, a Swiss Chantele Joffe, Jenny Saville, Yinka and William Nicholson, all gems in their manifold colleges around the country. Neoclassical history painter, were Shonibare and Antony Gormley. There is own right. This is a tired, piss-poor Having drawn in the life drawing founder members of the RA, but due to a shabby excuse for a drawing by Lucian travesty in comparison, particularly in the room at the RA on a number of modesty and moral propriety, they were Freud, which is almost an insult to RAs 250th anniversary year. occasions, one immediately absorbs not depicted as part of the group in the visitors forking out fourteen quid, while Don Grant 46 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Arts & Culture

The computers can cope! The Mayans were very sophisticated. They understood Mathematics, having a vigesimal number system, based on 20. Their mathematical work was very precise and they used it for Astronomy to watch the heavens which really Museum © British Photographs interested them. They were advanced in their studies, observing the movements of the planets, the stars and the sun and they succeeded in charting the passage of the sun and almost measured the solar year and the length of the lunar months accurately. The British Museum houses the Long Count Calendar stela from Quirigua which numbers the days from the creation; invaluable for chronology. The Mayans wrote books called codices, but they only survive from later times. e.g., the Dresden Codex in the British Museum. The Museum has a fine collection of Mayan masks, which are still used in ceremonies today, and are used by the Mayan Lords to impersonate their gods; The Museum is fortunate in having the Olmec Mask made of hard serpentine rock. A very important part of the Mayan A glimpse into Heritage treasures in the British Museum are the casts of monuments, the research and stelai and scientific documents relating to excavations in Mayan cities. They are in technological the Alfred Maudslay collection. He was a 19th Century explorer and collector preservation who took many photographs. The casts have a special value because they often of the Maya outlive the original monument.Serious preservation work has been carried out heritage. on the casts. The Google Programme shows how the laborious and meticulous conservation work is done. Many tools are needed with preparations and “This is an account of how all chemicals. The casts have metal dowels and the plaster cracks around them. Salt was in suspense, all calm, in efflorescence is damaging and leaves the silence, all motionless, quiet cast pitted so much detail is lost. Digitalisation has brought the Mayan and empty was the expanse story to life. Google Arts and Culture of the sky. Turbulence ensues, Tikal and Chichen Itza in the Yucatan has a dedicated page with exhibits online. are popular with tourists. The latter has It also has Google Street View Tours and the world and its living a ruined observatory and a temple of which take the viewer to Guatemala to inhabitants emerge from the Kukulkan. A familiar feature of Mayan view the original sites and provenance cities were the high stepped pyramids of the objects. They use Google emptiness.” used for religious ceremonies. They also cardboard to visit Quirigua and Tikal, the had irrigation systems and cut through UNESCO World Heritage sites of two These words are translated from the the jungles with raised roads. The Mayan cities. famous Popol Vuh inscription which is Mayans traded and exchanged cultural Many glass plate photographs taken in K'iche, a Mayan language found in ideas. by Alfred Maudslay have been digitalised Higher Guatemala. They refer to the Their society was hierarchical; Kings together with his diaries. Several casts history and mythology of the Mayans. ruled with divine right and there was a scanned in 3D and scholars can adjust This is but one priceless treasure of small noble class. The rest were writers, distance and lighting to obtain a perfect the wonderful Mayan Collection in the musicians and workers. view. Gone are the days of hunting in British Museum. The Museum has been The Mayans were the only people dusty stacks of libraries for material and collaborating with Google Arts and who had writing in the early Americas, finding another student had taken it. Culture to digitalise the entire collection; but only a few Mayan scripts remain. This project, a collaboration by the the past in all its astonishing glory meets with their colourful patterned dresses They are most important, because British Museum with Google Arts the latest technology of today. and jewellery. (Frederick Whitaker and they are the only pre-Columbian, and Culture gives the world a new Mayan cities in South Mexico and Eileen Monaghan Collection). Mesoamerican scripts which have understanding of Mayan culture and Northern Central America have long Early Mayan settlements appeared been fully deciphered.Their language their great cities.The Mayan cities are been abandoned and lost, but many in 1800 BC. Buildings of limestone and is unique consisting of glyphs which no longer lost. They are safe from the Mayan descendants live on, their culture sandstone have been found in South are representative of image and sound, damaging wear and tear of the years and having survived centuries of Spanish Mexico and Higher Guatemala. Mayan known as logograms and syllograms. the flight of the ages in Cyberspace! cruelty and colonisation. Paintings El Mirador was one of the largest cities They mostly appear on stelai, lintels and Marian Maitland show the proud beauty of their women in the world at that time. The ruins of ceramics. They have all been digitised. Ref: g.co/BritishMuseumMaya 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 47 Arts & Culture online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

Charles I : King and Collector Royal Academy of Arts Until 15 April 2018 Admission £20 www.royalacademy.org.uk Photographs © The Royal Collection Trust HM The Queen The HM Trust Collection Royal The © Photographs

Rubens lent his name to a form of painting voluptuous female nudes, and nowhere is this more apparent than his 1629 Minerva Protects Pax from Mars (Peace and War), with a swirling mélange of flesh, drapes and clouds, a muscled satyr, plump putti, a cornucopia, a playful n the other side of Green Park by Raphael for Pope Leo X a hundred leopard, children and Ceres, Goddess from the Burlington House is an years earlier, and purchased by Charles of the earth, squirting milk from her exhibition of the art collection and woven at the Mortlake Workshop breast. In the same gallery is a stunning of Charles II in the Queen’s Gallery set up by his father King James I of Roman marble statue from the 2nd O century AD of Aphrodite (The Crouching comprising paintings, drawings, prints, England. They now hang in Paris. furniture, silver and sculpture, all from Andrea Mantegna’s monumental series Venus), a stance adopted by Rubens in the Royal Collection. Her Majesty’s of nine paintings The Triumph of Caesar, some of his paintings, when he saw walls must be virtually bare, as she was purchased as part of the Duke it in Mantua. It was bought from the has generously lent over 90 of the 140 Gonzago’s collection in Mantua, and Bernini asking that he make one of Commonwealth Sale by Sir Peter Lely, works to this major exhibition at the were hung in Hampton Court, where her, but, although portraits of her by before being owned by Charles II. After Royal Academy as well. Charles I was a they remain today. All these works are van Dyck survive, the bust was never the intimidating scale of many of the consummate collector of art, both from displayed in darkened rooms, and, in the completed, and his bust was destroyed in paintings in the collection, it was a relief the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, case of the five Roman marble busts from the Whitehall fire of 1698. to discover some of the contents of the including works by JacopoTintoretto, the Gonzago collection, dramatically lit, A strange and ‘busy’ painting is King’s Cabinet Room, a private enclave Titian, Mantegna, Veronese, Albrecht with great effect. Landscape with St George and the Dragon in his apartments, containing some Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, The sheer scale of some of the by Rubens, one of the few paintings he smaller paintings, drawings by Holbein Peter Breugel the Elder, Raphael and portraits are exaggerated almost beyond produced while in England, although it and others, miniatures by Nicholas Correggio. He also commissioned belief, bearing in mind that the King was shipped back to Flanders for him Hilliard, bas-reliefs, statues, a portrait paintings by contemporary Dutch was a bit of a shrimp, some reports to finish. Before he left, however, he by Rembrandt of his mother, medals, artists, like Anthony van Dyck and stating that he measured a mere five finished nine canvases to decorate the coins, ivories, books and mathematical Peter Paul Rubens, both accepted into foot in his stocking feet. There are three ceilings of Inigo Jones’s magnificent instruments. the royal circle in London. By the time equestrian portraits by van Dyck of Banqueting House in Whitehall. It The catalogue is a sumptuous of his untimely death in 1649, he had the King, the most successful being of is ironic that, 13 years after they were publication for £28 softback that amassed a collection of around 1,500 him in the Hunting Field, dismounted installed, Charles was found guilty does the exhibition justice, with many paintings and 500 sculptures. When after the chase from his steed, which of high treason and executed directly intelligently-written essays to explain Cromwell sprang to power with his is being attended by a groom, casually outside the same building. There are so the complexity and provenance of the Commonwealth, he largely disposed of posing, one hand on hip, the other on many focal points in the landscape, with collection. One is always amused by what the collection across Europe, sometimes a cane in a nonchalant manner. The clusters of onlookers, weeping mothers the merchandising people come up with at unrealistically low prices, but when more classic compositions on horseback with toddlers, angels, corpses, a man in the shop, and the ‘luxurious selection Charles II was restored to the Stuart display animals with diminutive heads, in armour on horseback, and, of course of jewellery, homeware and accessories’ throne after a decade of Civil War, totally out of proportion, to emphasise the saintly George handing the girdle does not disappoint. One can choose he managed to retrieve many works, his control and power, in a strangely back to the once endangered Princess between a King Charles Spaniel necklace although some were lost forever to the primitive manner. Van Dyck also painted in the centre. Another foreigner to visit at £32.50 or a King Charles Spaniel Prado in Madrid and the Louvre and the one of the very best paintings in the London was the Tuscan painter Orazio Salt & Pepper Set for twenty. Or how Mobilier National in Paris. This is the first show, the deeply sensual Cupid and Gentileschi, who arrived with three about a Tapestry Patterned Silk Scarf time since the 17th century that these Psyche, with the sleeping maiden being sons, followed by his seriously talented for £120? Hungry? Then a jar of Red works have been reunited, and the overall woken by an adolescent Cupid. His triple daughter, Artemesia, who arrived one Legged Partridge Paté at £9.50 could effect is somewhat overwhelming. portrait of the King, Charles I in Three year before her father died aged 72. fill that gap, followed by a bar of Rococo There are twelve galleries, each Positions, was actually painted as a guide In one notable painting, Joseph and Rose chocolate or a Raspberry and seemingly with larger and larger works, for the great Italian sculptor Gianlorenzo Potiphar’s Wife, he uses the theatrical Chocolate Nougat Slice, also available in until the last but one room contains four Bernini as a reference for a marble bust, devices of heavy drapes, a figure receding Amaretto, all washed down with a bottle absolutely colossal tapestries of the Acts of which was delivered from Rome a year into the darkness beyond, and the of McQueen Super Premium Dry Gin the Apostles measuring up to 5 metres by later, and was much admired. Charles’s shunned, brazen woman failing in her at £35. 7 metres, based on seven cartoons drawn wife Queen Henrietta Maria wrote to attempt to seduce the blameless Joseph. Don Grant 48 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Arts & Culture

and have a delicacy to the point of wistfulness. Hanging next to her, and Winter in complete contrast, are Lionel Smit’s Everard Read ‘in yer face’ paintings, oil on linen, 80 Fulham Road, SW3 6HR the most arresting being the largest, Locate-Revision #2. comprising a series www.everardlondon.com of strong female nudes from different Ends February 17th angles. The Armenian artist and author Nouneh Sarkissian, has several abstract works of ink on paper, which are both stablished in 1913, Everard Read intriguing and beguiling, some with is Africa’s oldest established sanguine overlay, which accentuate the commercial art gallery, and, predominately black on buff images. although they display modern and It could be argued that the abstract E images work well enough on their contemporary art from Africa, they also promote artists from around the world. own, but she introduces simply-drawn The current show is entitled Winter, birds to the pictures, which lend a and has a broad range of works on slightly whimsical note to an otherwise show. Lucinda Mudge is a ceramicist complete composition, which could be with a bold style and a penchant for described as ‘playful’. The calligraphic bolder titles. One example has a series style and tone of her works as a visual of dangerous looking daggers around language is most satisfying, and one’s the shoulder of the vase with the mind wanders into a free-ranging caption, Baby, I live for Danger. Liberty pictorial interpretation of her abstracted Battson works in stripes of autopaint on imagery. Barbara Wildenboer takes us canvas, which, although meticulous, are back to the whimsical with her handcut reminiscent of Ian Davenport’s vertical rephotographed analogue collages and poured lines or even Paul Smith’s socks paper sculptures, while Blessing Ngobeni and scarves. Simone Wurz works in has a lively, colourful and idiosyncratic watercolour, but her figures are on such style, with action-packed mixed media a miniscule scale, they are all but lost canvases, one, with Egyptian motifs, in the blizzard of white paper. Dylan entitled Black Sugar it’s a Cream, which Lewis has a bronze cheetah on display, defies analysis. In all, a pot pourri of a powerful image of a powerful animal, varying styles, mediums and subject maybe not as purposeful or elegant as matter, attractively arranged in this Rembrandt Bugatti’s Walking Panther, Tardis of a gallery, which is well worth but a great deal less pricey. Jane Eppel’s dropping into. flower etchings are certainly well-drawn Nouneh Sarkissian. Casimir Effect Don Grant

Still reeling from the tumultuous although Dee Rees made history this Outside Ebbing, Missouri aftershocks of the Weinstein scandal, year as the first black woman nominated Margot Robbie, I, Tonya The Oscars are Hollywood’s award season is as much a for Best Adapted Screenplay. French Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird the stage minefield as a celebration. The #Metoo cinema legend Agnes Varda who’s been Meryl Streep, The Post as Hollywood reckons and #Timesup scandals have dominated active since the days of the French New the news cycle as much as the films Wave and who has never been nominated Best Actor with its past nominated, with several male attendees for an Oscar before, also made history as Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your By Max Feldman of the recent Golden Globes such as James the oldest person ever nominated at 89 Name Franco and Aziz Ansari who expressed years old. (The previous record was set Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread solidarity with the movement by dressing by then-87-year-old Gloria Stuart for Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out in black, soon found themselves on the Titanic.) Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour tabloid firing line with accusations of In terms of sheer numbers, Guillermo Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, prior sexual impropriety coming back Del Toro’s The Shape Of Water leads with Esq. to haunt to them. However the films 13 nominations, followed by Golden themselves are a particularly diverse and Globes favourite Three Billboards Outside Best Supporting Actress worthy selection with the upcoming Ebbing, Missouri with nine. The 90th Mary J. Blige, Mudbound March 4th Oscars proving hard to Annual Academy Awards will air live on Allison Janney, I, Tonya predict. Sunday, March 4, 2018 on ABC with Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread Perhaps reflective of Hollywood’s host Jimmy Kimmel. A list of nominees Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird newfound discomfort with the topic announced at this year’s livestream Octavia Spencer, The Shape Of Water of sexism in the film industry and the ceremony is below. Academy’s drive to recruit a younger, Best Supporting Actor more diverse membership after 2016’s Best Picture Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project #OscarsSoWhite controversy, this year’s Call Me By Your Name Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards nominees include a historic nomination Darkest Hour Outside Ebbing, Missouri for Rachel Morrison for Mudbound, Dunkirk Richard Jenkins, The Shape Of Water the first time a woman has ever been Get Out Christopher Plummer, All The Money In nominated for Best Cinematography. Lady Bird The World Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele’s Best Phantom Thread Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Director nominations for Lady Bird The Post Ebbing, Missouri and Get Out are also significant, not The Shape Of Water only because they’re both debut films, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Best Director but because this marks only the fifth Missouri Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk time a (white) woman and a black man Jordan Peele, Get Out have been nominated for the award, Best Actress Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird respectively. A woman of colour has Sally Hawkins, The Shape Of Water Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread never been nominated for Best Director, Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Guillermo del Toro, The Shape Of Water 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 49 Arts & Culture online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

was not synthesised until over a hundred in the dark.’ Central to Traces of Vermeer years later. The references to pigments the book is the question By Jane Jelley are some of the more interesting parts as to whether Vermeer of the book, with a dizzying array of just used lenses and a camera Oxford University Press blacks: earth black; sea coal black; lamp obscura. Did he? Didn’t he? 339pp £25 black; cherry stone black; vine black; Well, she concludes that he charcoal black; peach, date or almond could have, but there is no ISBN 978-0-19-878972-7 stone black; walnut shell black; bone evidence either way. She black; ivory black; even ‘burnt toast’, cites results of spectroscopy, described as ‘bread black.’ Lead white autoradiography, infrared was made by stacking coils of lead in a reflectography, with many his book is trumpeted as ‘an shed, covering them with a three foot ‘experts’ making various artist’s detective story,’ but it high pile of animal manure, and allowing claims about the layers of could have been subtitled ‘the it to corrode. Pigments come from three paint he applied and in big book of maybe,’ as, although the main sources, namely mineral, vegetable which order. There are only T and animal. The earth pigments include thirty-six authenticated author asks numerous questions about the modus operandi of the great Flemish umbers, ochres, azurite, massicot and Vermeers left to us, and painter, she fails to answer many of them. lapis; plants, including madder, brazil each one is a veritable There are many ‘coulds, ‘might haves’ wood, buckthorn berries, indigo, from masterpiece of subtlety, and ‘possiblies’, as in ‘there is a suspicion woad, weld from the plant dyers rocket, serenity and composure. that the View of Delft was a commission, lakes and rose madder, very similar to We had to wait over 250 possibly offered by his wealthy client, alizarin crimson; animal sources include years until the Danish artist Pieter van Ruijven, who is thought cochineal beetles, which produces Vilhelm Hammershøi possibly to have owned about twenty of carmine, and Tyrian purple, also known painted such subdued, Vermeer’s works.’ as Phoenician, royal or imperial purple, poetic and understated During the Second World War, used for painting the robes of cardinals, portraits and interiors. the Dutch faker Hans van Meegeren, extracted from sea snails. Indian yellow Vermeer did paint a couple initially hoodwinked the connoisseurs, is reputed to have come from the dried of exteriors, notably the including selling a ‘Vermeer’ to urine of cattle fed purely on mango landscape View of Delft and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring leaves in India. The Little Street, originally during the Nazi Occupation of the In her role as Miss Marple, Miss thought to be his own Netherlands. He was exposed as a forger Jelley does get a bit carried away with oil. It springs from his hand, taut and house, but now thought to be imaginary. by dint of the blue paint he had used, her obsessive investigations, turning silk-smooth, as it glimmers palely on the Our sleuth ask why his output was so namely ultramarine, made from lapis her treatise into Traces of Chevalier with easel. He takes up his brush; he loads it small, compared, say, to Rembrandt, WWAd01-086lazuli, mined Chelsea in Afghanistan, Paper 260x160mm.qxp_Layout which he some 1 08/12/2017 fanciful descriptions. 11:13 Page 1 ‘Before him with paint; but, at the very moment he is but, once again, there is no definitive took great pains to obtain, but was found is his new, dry, perfectly prepared canvas, about to start work, the door slams shut. conclusion. to contain cobalt blue, a pigment that smelling sweetly of new linen and linseed Winded by the gust, we are left abruptly Don Grant

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chaotic White House, It is Bannon, the Administration’s Fire and Fury run by its ‘child-cum- hard-line ideologue and arguably the by Michael Wolff emperor’ Donald Trump. book’s central character, who provides Questioning his mental Wolff with his juiciest soundbites. ISBN: 978-1-4087-1140-8 capabilities, Wolff deems Labelling Don Jr.’s surreptitious meeting Publisher: Little, Brown Trump a semi-literate; with Russian ‘Jumos’ in Trump Tower his apparent propensity as “treasonous” and warning that the Available in all major book to half-read short policy Mueller probe was “all about money stores. £17 briefs is second only to laundering”, Bannon faced a tidal wave his flagrant disinterest in of backlash for these comments. After Reviewed by James Billot domestic issues such as a begrudging apology to the President, the opioid crisis, which Bannon has since been dismissed as Trump finds tedious. Head of Breitbart News by its wealthy Trump’s cabinet conservative backer, Rebekah Mercer. ccess journalism comes at a do not escape Wolff ’s Wolff lists the support of three fact- price. If a subject seeks palace pen either. Riven by checkers in the Acknowledgements, but privileges, (s)he must act in a factionalism and political there are many examples of sloppiness. mannerA befitting to the King or risk in-fighting, Wolff For one, Wolff confuses Washington Post expulsion from his court. Dissent in any describes a whipsawing reporter Mark Berman with Washington capacity, at least in Tudor times, would power struggle between lobbyist Mike Berman. Wolff also claims be met with a rolling head (arrivederci, the Bannonites and that Trump had ‘never heard’ of former Cromwell). ‘Jarvanka’ (Bannon’s crude House Speaker John Boehner before he If only the President had it so easy. amalgamation of the took office. The pair have golfed together Michael Wolff ’s scathing account of names of the President’s on at least one occasion. Donald Trump’s chaotic nine months daughter and son-in- Beyond rudimentary fact-checking, a in office has sent White House PR into law). Ultimately, Jarvanka more insidious consequence of Fire and a tailspin. Granted a de facto fly-on- and the ‘Goldman Sachs Fury is the fraying of an already-fraught the-wall status by Trump functionaries, Democrats’ (Cohn, relationship between the executive and Wolff promised a counter-narrative to the Trump Administration in almost Mnuchin & Co.) succeed in ousting media. Entertaining as it may be, Wolff ’s the plethora of negative stories directed every conceivable area. Bannon, where the narrative ends. Amid bestseller is basically a confirmation of towards the President. After all, it was Do the ends justify the Machiavellian this vitriolic power-struggle, there is one pre-existing public suspicions concerning Wolff ’s contrarian reputation and his means? While journalists remain deeply figure that remains largely out of shot: the chaos in the Trump White brandished disdain for mainstream divided over this question, there is no Vice President Pence. Less than half a House. But now, the level of trust and media outlets like The New York Times denying Wolff ’s ability as a storyteller. page of the two-hundred-page book is importantly, access, between the White that made him a ripe pick for the Playing with what Stephen Colbert dedicated to the potential President, who House and the mainstream media is now Administration. But instead, Wolff opted once called ‘truthiness’, Fire and Fury is made out to be little more than a vapid at an all-time low. That, as President for the reverse, vehemently castigating portrays a deeply dysfunctional and non-entity in White House affairs. Trump would tweet, is SAD!

Foreign Currency. Greg also owns the Industrial Revolution; I can’t believe M: What do you want people to take Capital Index, a new city brokerage firm this happened. I think we will look back away from this article? An Interview and he launched Fast Charts. on today, a hundred years from now, G: I want people to understand that we and wonder why businesses were able are trying to encourage entrepreneurs ‘to with Greg Secker ‘ By Marian Maitland However, Greg felt he wanted to to run without giving back. We ran a give back’ in their area of expertise. The give back’. Having supported several study to gauge peoples’ feelings and 54% best process of ‘giving back’ is to tie the charities, he founded his own, the GSF. think businesses should be made to do values of your business with the value of It is running many projects among them more for Charity. We now have a lot of charitable organisations. reg Secker is a true 'The Build a House, Build a Home’ in the team at Learn To Trade and GSF Philanthropist who translates Lemery in the Philippines. Following the involved in Philanthropy. The feedback The Launch of the GSF Village took his thoughts into action and Typhoon Disaster, he aims to restore the we get is that our team feels that they place on 5th January when keys of Ginto bricks and mortar. He is building community and has already provided 100 are working for an organisation that new homes were handed to the People. a village in Lemery in the Philippines homes and other facilities are in progress. cares about people, not just profit. We Government Officials were present. The to help those who suffered unbelievable It was a pleasure to discuss Greg's have 23 companies in our group and put project is run with the full support of the loss in the Typhoon, Haiyan in 2013. views and have the following answers to the Foundation at the centre. Whether Provincial Government Office in IIoilo, This splendid work is being organised my questions: they make a profit or not, they have an who have provided many materials and by the Greg Secker Foundation, which obligation to give to the GSF. have now promised they will restore the he founded and owns. (GSF) It is a non M: Did you get involved in charity work road to Lemery. The GSF Village has the profit making company and a registered at University? M: Why did you start this project in the full support of the local Government of Charity committed to positively G: Yes, in Rag Week activities for three Philippines? Lemery. The Project continues. improving the quality of life for people years. I was publicity Officer for the G: My housekeeper is from the and communities around the world. Students’ Union organising Philippines and her family and brothers Greg Secker, through his own Greg has been very successful due fund- raising events for Charity." lost their homes. We went there and built Foundation, has made a difference to to his business acumen and hard work. two houses for her brothers. When we the quality of life for many people. He Born in Norfolk, educated at Town Close M: Can people ‘learn to trade in a short got there we looked around and realised realises the importance of community Preparatory School and Nottingham time in a seminar? we needed to do more, that’s when we spirit. University, he started work in Thomas G: Different Seminars give different decided to build the GSF Village. Cook Financial Services and soon moved levels of understanding Trading, into the Foreign Exchange Market, to dependent on their needs. Seminars can M: How is progress going on the project? The Greg Secker Foundation run a new Company; Virtual Trading run for two or three days or for a year. G: On January 5 this year we handed 18 Quayside Lodge., Desk. This was followed by employment over 100 homes to local people. We William Morris Way, with Mellon Financial Corporation M: What made you want to give back are now starting phase 2, developing a London. SW6 2UZ and Fortune 500 Investment Bank in and help people? Trade Centre and then an Academy for T: 020 3889 1759 USA where he enjoyed living. He then G: I believe we all have a responsibility Business Studies. Our aim is not just to www.gregseckerfoundation.com started up Learn to Trade which organises to give back to the world we take rebuild, but to create a sustainable self- seminars internationally to teach about from. In the same way we used to have sufficient community that will thrive for Registered with the Charity Commission: the Stock Exchange and trading in children working in workhouses during years to come. Number: 1140395 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 51 Arts & Culture online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

MAX object. Anderson’s supreme formal relationships, from the complex guru/ control (his carefully lit and framed disciple bond at the center of The Feldman images, the wealth of precisely presented Master, to the unspoken frenemy pact REVIEWS period detail) mirrors the obsessive care between fascist cop and counterculture of his main character: one Reynolds dick in Inherent Vice and There Will Be

Woodcock (seriously), dressmaker to Blood’s twisted webs of family, both Pictures © Focus Photograph the stars. Played (embodied may be the real and created. In Phantom Thread, more appropriate word) by the reigning part of the fun is watching Alma, an X Phantom Thread Method stalwart Daniel Day-Lewis factor in Reynolds’ highly controlled Running Time: 130 minutes in what he has claimed is his final life, upset the balance of power. She performance (and who also won an shares his attraction, but is drawn to his Director: Paul Thomas Oscar for his performance in Anderson’s vulnerability, not just his confidence; “I Anderson epochal masterpiece There Will Be think you are only playing strong,” she Blood) Reynolds is a workaholic, a man tells him on their first date. And she n intimate love story set against of distinguished taste, and a creature often refuses to indulge his quirks and the London fashion scene of of routine. He is also contentedly demands, like the need for total silence the 1950s, Phantom Thread is as unmarried in middle age. at the breakfast table. A duet of affection tastefully crafted as the haute couture its Apparently loosely modeled on the and irritation, Phantom Thread teeters, A British fashion designer Charles James, Reynolds, as it turns out, is looking too, on the edge of romantic comedy. characters design and wear. But don’t be thrown by the immaculate embroidery; Reynolds lives and works in a multi-story for more than a partner. He wants a There’s a lot of humour in its passive- Paul Thomas Anderson, the justly London flat with his sister, Cyril (Lesley model and maybe a muse, too, which aggressive tug-of-war. revered American master who wrote Manville), with whom he shares an Alma discovers when her first date with This isn’t the only film this year and directed, is too obsessed with misfit unusual, co-dependent relationship; his the confident, well-dressed stranger about how damn hard it is to live with psychologies to make a fusty costume “old so-and-so,” as he affectionately calls transforms almost imperceptibly into a an artist, especially one that sees you as drama. Compared to his enigmatic her, dutifully handles most of his affairs, dress fitting. (“You have no breasts,” he an inspiration one minute, a distraction human puzzle The Master and his almost including, it would seem, the indelicate tells her, not exactly channeling Prince the next. Mother!, by fellow one-time impossibly convoluted Thomas Pynchon business of dumping the women whom Charming, though sadly he means ’90s hotshot Darren Aronofsky, got there detective yarn Inherent Vice, this new he welcomes briefly into his life, before it as a compliment.) Phantom Thread first. But Phantom Thread isn’t quite so period piece looks straightforward and growing inevitably impatient with often resembles a kind of relocated omnicidally misanthropic as Aronofsky’s even restrained. (No one bellows “pig them. One gets the sense of a cycle, and Gothic romance (there are faint shades fever dream; Reynolds thinks he fuck!” or devours a bowl of marijuana.) Phantom Thread begins at what appears of Jane Eyre), with Alma moving into wants an obedient mannequin, to be But the mannered elegance of the to be the latest turning point that starts it the film’s equivalent of a grand manor, dressed and controlled and fit into the filmmaking masks a perverse and finally anew. Cyril has only just removed the last subjecting herself to the strict rules and immaculate tapestry of his life. But it’s rather moving relationship study. It’s hints of her brother’s latest dead romance eccentricities of a life within The House notable that when he first spots Alma, almost a joke, or perhaps a game, one when Reynolds, sitting down for lunch of Woodcock. She has her own room, attraction sparking instantly, it’s during whose rules correspond to the meaning during a weekend in the country, is which is just one way the line between a moment of spontaneous disorder of of the title: a famed fashion maestro’s instantly drawn to the woman waiting lover and employee blurs; since Reynolds minor chaos, even. Perhaps he doesn’t habit of stitching secret messages into on him, an immigrant named Alma scarcely separates his work and his know what he wants or needs, but maybe the linings of his garments. (Luxembourgian actor Vicky Krieps). private life, Alma is swept into both at Alma does. The same is true for P.T. Right from the title card, written in Their unusual meet-cute takes the form once. Anderson fanboys who were thrown letters whose tails extend and loop to of an almost seductively excessive food On paper, it’s a dynamic familiar by the seemingly more prosaic subject suggest folding fabric, Phantom Thread order; Anderson maintains his gift for enough to be called archetypal. But matter of Phantom Thread; trust him, he’s announces itself as an exquisite artisanal magnetically off-kilter one-on-ones. Anderson specialises in complicating got it all stitched up.

flowers turn out to be magic, the broom springs to life (in a less threatening way Mary And The than Mickey Mouse had to cope with), and Mary soon finds herself at the Endor Witch’s Flower School for witches and warlocks, where

Running Time: 103 minutes the headmistress (Kate Winslet) and a © Studio Ponoc Photograph Director: Hiromasa mad scientist ( Jim Broadbent) mistake her for their newest pupil. “Trespassers Yonebayashi will be transformed,” a sign at the entrance warns. “Say, have you ever perhaps seen Island Of Lost Souls?” it might well have added. Anime aficionados mourned when Actually, many elements of Mary And Studio Ghibli (of Spirited Away fame) The Witch’s Flower feel slightly second- closed up shop a few years ago, following hand, though the most prominent the retirement of founder/legend Hayao (Endor’s similarity to Hogwarts) is Miyazaki. As it turned out, Miyazaki purely coincidental. (Either that or it left the game for about as long as Steven works the other way, with Stewart’s book Soderbergh did; his next feature is Their first effort, Mary And The Witch’s novel The Little Broomstick, Mary And having influenced Rowling.) Not every already in production (though probably Flower, is all but indistinguishable from The Witch’s Flower takes place in some film needs to be groundbreaking, though, at least two years away from release; the films that its director, Hiromasa unspecified rural area on the outskirts and serving up the cinematic equivalent animation moves slowly). Even had Yonebayashi, made at Ghibli: The Secret of a forest, where Mary (voiced by Ruby of comfort food is probably sound he stayed dormant, though, there was World Of Arrietty and When Marnie Was Barnhill in the English dubbed version) strategy for a new studio positioning little cause for concern. Several Ghibli There. In other words, it’s sort of Ghibli whiles away one boring day after another itself as Ghibli’s heir. Mary squarely animators immediately formed another Lite: not as transporting as the best with her great-aunt Charlotte (Lynda hits all of its marks, fashioning a spunky company, Studio Ponoc (named after work of Miyazaki or his co-founder, Baron) waiting for school to start and young hero and alternately surrounding the Serbo-Croatian word for “midnight” Isao Takahata, but a gently refreshing her parents to arrive. Mary’s adventure her with gorgeous watercolor landscapes a new day begins, metaphorically change from the hectic plasticity that begins when she follows a neighbour’s and eye-popping grotesques. It’s a movie speaking), and clearly intend to carry on now dominates Hollywood computer cat into the forest and finds a miniature with no greater ambition than to charm their former employers’ traditions to an animation. broom hidden amongst the trees, along and occasionally delight. almost slavish degree. Adapted from Mary Stewart’s 1971 with some unusual coloured flowers. The Mission accomplished. 52 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Arts & Culture

the audience would love it if it took its extended beyond desire with wrapping rightful place to end an evening of dance. fetish effect. A perfect Paris Match! BALLET At 65 minutes even an ardent ballet goer Vasiliev’s double assemblé landings like a BY ANDREW WARD who is new to the piece might start to panther and his corkscrew turns reached fidget towards the end of the song cycle. cosmic heights. Like many ballets he Tamara Rojo, as ENB’s director once had to die for his efforts. Dressed in again takes the limelight with the lead black gloves and an electric yellow role. Rojo still has the technique and the body-hugging dress, Rojo directed his artistry at 43. As Artistic Director and every move in an ice cool predatory boss to everyone both on stage and back fashion which was mesmerising for all stage Rojo looks, at times, an isolated and concerned and led to the young man lonely figure amongst her fellow dancers hanging himself to fulfil Rojo's fetish on stage. In truth she was a cut above desires. Begona Cao gave a commanding

Photographs © Laurent Liotardo © Laurent Photographs the other principals in terms of artistry, performance on the second night as the emotional maturity and understanding femme fatale matching Rojo, but her man, of MacMillan’s choreographic palette. Isaac Hernández, was not a patch on Joseph Caley is a welcome addition to Vasiliev and looked at odds and at times ENB’s principal ranks and will soon off the music in this demanding role. bring gravitas to the role as The Man Both programmes ended with with further performances. Fernando the 19th Century romantic classic Carratalá Coloma was a late cast change La Sylphide created by Danish and has to be congratulated on his choreographer August Bournonville performance as the Messenger of Death. which for many years has been part of Performing a principal role as a corps de ENB repertoire. This production is ballet member is some feat especially set in the Scottish Highlands and was with the heights achieved in his jetés. created in 1836 in the Bournonville With time ENB will fully encompass style that the Danish Ballet have been and perform MacMillan’s choreography; dancing for nearly two hundred of years. after all, it’s only their second run of this The company danced with assurance monumental masterpiece. and joy in this stylised romantic story Le Jeune Homme et La Mort was a ballet. The opening night had Isaac far better opener to this programme, Hernández dance the lead role, James, even though it looks at the dark side with breath-taking beats and balon. His of life with psychological torment and partnering and portrayal of the role was perverse sexual gratification very much exemplary. Jurgita Dronina danced the on the menu for this sex-in-the-attic lead ballerina, the Sylph, with sensitivity. romp. Created by Roland Petit in 1946, Her artistry and flittering petite batterie the work is set in post-war Paris in an movements around the stage were artist’s garret. It is the ultimate showcase believable and engaging. However, her for the alpha male ballet star who has balances in Act 1 were not good and virtuosity and the desire to bare all her lighting fast cabrioles derrière did not beat as they should. Despite this Dronina gave a very good account of this demanding role in the Bournonville style. Performances to note on the Tamara Rojo’s opening night were Daniel Kraus’ Gurn, and Jane Haworth’s stirring account of English National Madge. The corps de ballet were in good form in both the Scottish dances in act Ballet is in good 1 and as the Sylphs in act 2. Joseph Caley was a superb James at a later shape performance of La Sylphide and is one to watch in the future. He left Birmingham Royal Ballet last year to join ENB; definitely a good transfer for both Caley and Rojo’s Company. fter a long festive season of The ENB are in good shape under Nutcracker at the Coliseum, ENB Rojo’s directorship, but the sooner she dancers and audiences alike must retires from the stage the sooner she have looked forward to the new double can concentrate on promoting the next A generation of ballerinas 24/7. Football programme of Song of the Earth and La Sylphide, with Le Jeune Homme et la Mort Managers in the Premiership have to being performed as the opener in the work 24/7 to promote and manage their second week of the Coliseum season. new stars as well as coordinate their Song of the Earth, choreographed by team tactics to ensure performances are Kenneth MacMillan in 1965, is without at their best at all times. Only 3rd tier doubt one of his early masterpieces. its English title just six months later… both emotionally and physically with football clubs have to have the manager Originally MacMillan wanted to create the rest is history. MacMillan spoke an audience. Ivan Vasiliev returned as on the pitch too. ENB is in, or very close the piece on The Royal Ballet, but the of the work as simply: “A man and a a guest with ENB to take his place as to, the Premiere League with The Royal management refused, stating that the woman; death takes the man; they both one of today’s best exponents of this Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet. music of Mahler was too well known to return to her, and at the end of the ballet fiendishly difficult role. He soared with Rojo should hang up her boots and retire accompany ballet. After a huge success we find that in death there is the promise world beating leaps and turns including from performing on stage, so all of her with audiences and critics in Stuttgart, of renewal.” the iconic leap to face the floor in talent can head in the direction of her The Royal Ballet took a rare bite of The piece is like Marmite. You either parallel. Tamara Rojo was the ideal company and ensuring her dancers are humble pie and premiered the work with love it or hate it, but more people in match as the femme fatale whose limbs doing their best on the world stage. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 53 Arts & Culture online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

venerable Westminster church. Five recitals, including a brace at 4pm at the MUSIC weekend, will run from February 16 to 18. The pick of the bunch is Saturday’s afternoon concert (February 17) which ROUND UP pairs violinist Aisha Orazbayeva BY GEOFF COWART with pianist Mark Knoop to perform Schubert’s Impromptu in C Minor (Op 90 No 1 D899), Feldman’s Palais de Mari and Bryn Harrison’s Receiving the Approaching Memory. Would a weekday sandwich If you work near Parliament, the Thursday lunchtime concerts are ideal. from Pret taste better served Hear the excellent pipe organ on to the sounds of a string February 22 when Alexander Mason performs works by modern organ legends quartet? Ever wish Wasabi Pierre Cochereau, William Bolcom and was revamped into a Japanese Jehan Alain. Lunchtime concerts begin at 1.05pm. Aisha Orazbayeva whisky-soaked jazz and sushi Tickets £10. www.sjss.org.uk bar? St Martin-in-the-Fields Let’s face it, worktime Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon, while on and Angharad Thomas (bassoon), The greatest collection of free lunchtime February 26, Serbian pianist Aleksandar lunches can’t always be this tackling a piece by 17th composer concerts in London is staged at the Madžar tackles Beethoven’s mighty Orlando Gibbons, as well as works by Trafalgar Square church, usually four fun. But there are plenty of Hammerklavier sonata. 20th century masters Richard Rodney times a week. The eclectic range of music But don’t miss the arrival of acclaimed places where you can catch Bennett, Harrison Birtwistle, Oliver spans a recital of Valentine’s Day songs British pianist Leon McCawley on Knussen and Malcolm Arnold. from Britten, Grieg and Sibelius on some good tunes and escape March 5. He’ll be showcasing an Concerts begin at 1.05pm sharp. February 13 by Royal Welsh College eclectic set of pieces by Haydn, Gál and the glaring eye of the boss, www.ram.ac.uk of Music and Drama tenor Tom Smith Beethoven, along with two Nocturnes to the Lithuanian accordion player often for free. from Chopin that will make you think Royal Opera House Martynas Levickis playing folk tunes your job is just a bad dream. Our daytime tips for A short walk from the acclaimed Covent from his native country. Concerts start at 1pm. Tickets £15. Garden opera house lies the St Clement 1pm-1.45pm. www.st-martin-in-the- February include: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk Danes church. The Christopher Wren- fields.org designed venue in The Strand hosts free Wigmore Hall Royal Academy of Music lunchtime concerts every fortnight. Don’t Victoria & Albert Museum Chamber music fans will need no The Marylebone Road conservatoire is miss baritone Zheng Zhong Zhou and Spring arrives early at the V&A on introduction to the world-renowned the UK’s oldest. But it also boasts some pianist Gary Matthewman for their Sunday February 25 as it welcomes concerts at the Wigmore Street venue. of the freshest new talent on the classical recital on February 19. members of the Bhavan Centre in West But less well known are the excellent scene. Its free lunchtime concerts are Concerts begin at 1pm. www.roh.org.uk Kensington. It promises to deliver a free one-hour midday recitals. This month held in the David Josefowitz Recital all-day festival of Indian music, dance promises four superb lunchtime gigs Hall, with the Talisman Trio arriving on St John’s Smith Square and colour, featuring stories told by Peter as young guitarist Sean Shibe arrives Tuesday (February 6). Featuring Andrei Following a fantastic celebration of the Chand and creative activities celebrating on Tuesday (February 6). He’s set to Iliushkin (piano), André Pereira (violin) music of composer Morton Feldman the beginning of spring and the colourful perform Lute Suite No 2 by Bach and and Charlotte Kaslin (cello), the group in 2016, the Principal Sound festival festival of Holi. a selection of preludes and études by will perform Mozart’s Piano Trio in E (K returns for three days of concerts at the 11am-5pm. www.vam.ac.uk Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. 542) and Brahms’ Piano Trio in C (Op On Monday (February 12), the 87). Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind The Moriarty Winds arrive a week Soloists take the stage to perform later on February 13 with Amy Yule works by Beethoven and Poulenc, (flute), Amy Roberts (oboe), Matthew Gig Of The Month including the Frenchman’s majestic Wilsher (clarinet), Joel Roberts (horn) ook your tickets to a rib-splitting night of Bmusic and comedy at the 100 Club on February 16. The legendary Oxford Street venue continues its fine tradition of irreverence as comedian Phill Jupitus (aka Porky the Poet) supports Northern psychedelic punks The Lovely Eggs. With a fantastic new album due out later this month titled This is Eggland, the married couple of Holly Ross (guitar/vocals) and David Blackwell (drums) are truly a force of nature. They recorded it with Dave Fridmann, of Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips fame, who adds the finishing touches to their flipped-out punk power pop. Expect fireworks. Tickets £10. www.the100club.co.uk Sean Schibe 54 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Health

the body. to become an expert surgeon. Robot- Operating in partnership with BUPA assisted surgery enables the surgeon Cromwell Hospital, the Fortis team to operate with enhanced precision,

have been trailblazing with the NAVIO dexterity and control even during the © NHS Photograph surgical system; a robotic system that most complex procedure. It ensures lesser allows the surgeon to repair and replace bone removal, preserves natural anatomy only the damaged part of the knee and facilitates better post-operative with the kind of pinpoint accuracy that outcomes for the patient; even complex would be nearly impossible by human manoeuvres such as sitting cross-legged judgement alone. However rather than or squatting. Knee replacement has marginalising the human element, the long been a surgery of the last resort, NAVIO simply gives a surgeon the where the focus has been forced to lie kind of holistic view of an individual with managing expectations rather than knee and its problems, and shows which a full range of mobility, but with the skills are required by a trained medical mechanical breakthroughs and human professional, avoiding any fears of ingenuity of Fortis, who knows what the ‘dumbing down’ the standards required future may hold?

up new horizons for surgery hitherto unimaginable. On 17th January The Joint Fortis Clinic, the UK’s leading private orthopaedic and sports injury group, Replacement: held a series of talks (delivered by Robotics and the future. Jonathan Lavelle, Jonathan Webb and By Max Feldman Andy Williams, all medically trained professionals) dedicated to both exploring the history of orthopaedic surgery and how the new horizons which robotics have opened up will ost people, when they think dictate its future. Fittingly the event was about it at all, don’t associate held in the Natural History Museum’s knee replacements with Darwin Centre, a gleaming cutting edge Mscience fiction. However technological cathedral dedicated to the development developments have been quietly of our understanding of biology and, revolutionising the complicated surrounded by the natural history of the procedures and access to factory fresh planet, the speakers showed how soon state of the art robots have opened machines will enhance the capabilities of

has now swapped all confectionery for healthier options and the only drinks available for staff and visitors are tea, coffee, milk and water. London weight Vending machines will switch soon to selling only healthier options. Slimpod founder Sandra Roycroft-Davis, who devised her system

loss Expert leads while practising in Harley Street, said: “I’m really proud and excited to © Slimpod Photograph be working with Tameside Hospital on such an important project. For nationwide NHS years people have been calling for the food environment in hospitals to be transformed and I applaud Tameside for leading the way. Working fight against together with the hospital we have achieved this and as a member obesity of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Obesity I will be lobbying First NHS hospital ditches Ministers to campaign for the rest of the NHS to follow suit.” One hundred staff at the Manchester hospital started a 12-week sugar from its Restaurant Slimpod weight loss programme in the summer and to support them, sugar-packed desserts were taken off the menu for a trial period, after the success they have been removed permanently. Ninety per cent of the consultants, midwives, community nurses A London-based behavioural change and medical support secretaries who took part in the project reported specialist is helping to reverse the obesity their biggest problem at work was snacking. By following the clinically crisis among staff in hospitals throughout proven Slimpod programme, they said they had naturally reduced their the UK. portion sizes, chosen to eat healthier foods and lost weight. Sandra Roycroft-Davis and her Amanda Bromley, the hospital director responsible for staff clinically-proven Slimpod system wellbeing at Tameside, said: “A recent report revealed one in four NHS had such great results with a weight nurses is obese and this could be contributing to high staff sickness loss project at Tameside Hospital in levels and heaping more pressure on the health service. Manchester that the chief executive of “Obesity related illness is taking an increasing toll on the NHS, the hospital, Karen James, decided to as almost half of nurses are over the age of 45. The figures are deeply remove sugar from the restaurant to worrying and long, stressful shifts often made it hard for staff to make support the staff and their health. healthy choices.” Tameside Hospital is the first in the UK to do this. The weight loss For more information: www.ThinkingSlimmer.com. project has been so successful that two other hospitals in Manchester are now following Karen’s lead and others in the south of England are expected to follow suit. The restaurant at Tameside Hospital 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 55 Advertisement online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

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Medicine, said: “These figures show Government A&E Review interventions to try to

By James Billot © NHS Photograph avert the winter crisis have been too little too late. We know winter is coming every year. The whole system is gridlocked. We n January 3rd, Secretary of are portrayed as a group Health Jeremy Hunt was of spendthrift doctors forced to apologise to patients calling for more resources Oin England who had their operations all the time, but we don’t postponed over the Winter break. To need many more resources. exacerbate the issue further, the 2017/18 The first thing we need is Winter period has seen an eighteen- enough beds.” fold increase in the number of A&E Dr Moulton raises a patients waiting for more than 12 hours legitimate concern; over in emergency departments since 2015/16. the past seven years, a For Hunt, who stated that the Secretary total of 12,000 acute of Health’s position is likely to be his hospital beds have been “last major job in politics,” is now left lost and compared to other with his legacy at stake. European countries, the UK The Winter season is always the most has far fewer hospital beds taxing period of the year for hospitals. It as spending has decreased is during this period that flu is at its most from last year. In Western prevalent and demand for care is at a European countries, there is peak. Last year’s Christmas period proved While Scotland’s A&E units performed proportion of the UK’s communities has an average of four bed per thousand, but to be no different; understaffed and marginally better at 82.3% both countries been suffering from flu-like symptoms in the UK, there is only 2.6. overworked, the NHS struggled to cope fell short of the desired target of 95% for over the Winter period. Flu outbreak in Prime Minister Theresa has flatly with the huge influx of patients across the patients to be admitted, transferred or 2017/18 has already forced an additional denied claims that the NHS is in a UK. discharged within four hours. £1 million per day of spending on agency state of crisis, but the deteriorating NHS December figures show that The outbreak of the H3N2 strain, or or non-permanent staff and based on a conditions and growing dependence on only 77.1% of ‘type 1’ attendances the ‘Aussie flu’, has contributed to the report by NHS Improvement, a total of external agency support seem to suggest (consultant led 24-hour service with full huge spike in NHS patient admissions. £2.9 billion was spent on temporary staff otherwise. 2018 will be a critical year for resuscitation facilities and designated According to Flusurvey; an online last year. both Theresa May and her government to accommodation) in England’s A&E units survey that monitors trends of flu-like Dr Chris Moulton, Vice President provide fast-acting solutions to a health were handled within the four-hour target. symptoms in communities, the vast of the Royal College of Emergency service that is on the brink of disarray.

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pulling him back foot by foot, then letting him go From the when he pulled too hard, letting the bend of the

Riverbank Illustration © Autocar By Don Grant rod and the clutch on the reel do most of the work. After fifteen minutes, the fish began to tire, and I was was able to coax it towards the bank and into my net, followed by hree of my most treasured joys a graceful scoop onto the all came together one glorious grass. I explained that this summer’s day in June, with two-and-a half-pound theT sun splattering through the beech brownie would make an trees and dancing on the bonnet of the excellent supper, but I little Morris convertible as we drove had to dispatch it first, from the cottage in Sussex down to a by giving it last rites with riverbank, some 40 miles away. With my ‘priest’. The children the three girls in the back, wearing shuddered as much as the boaters, Lizzie in the passenger seat fish, as I whacked him a and a hamper groaning with goodies couple of times quickly and lashings of pop in the boot; it must over the back of the have looked like a outing of the Enid head. They all scampered Blyton Five Go Fishing Society. The car back to the hut for more purred along the dappled back-lanes of scoff, while I did a quick Sussex and Hampshire, with the girls watercolour, using water playing a game involving the number from the stream. When I of legs on pub signs, called ‘pub cricket.’ wandered back, Florence After just under an hour, we turned was already swimming in into the village of Sherfield on Loddon, one of the deeper pools where we parked outside the only shop, downstream from the hut. called, imaginatively, The Shop, where It was a glorious English the girls were allowed to ransack the summer’s afternoon, hot, place for sweets and crisps to eat after but not too hot in the lunch and on the way home. Next what I was doing and why. How all fish were hiding. There is a perfume called sun, with not a cloud in the sky. I went door to The Shop, was a Hair Salon, face upstream, so one is able to stealthily L’Ombre Dans L’Eau by Diptyque, down from the hut with Georgia and called The Salon, and next to that was creep up behind them without ‘spooking’ whose name exactly describes the Florence and, to get them more involved, a garage, called The Garage. Somewhat them with heavy footsteps or casting a moment one sees a fish; the shadow asked them to spot any movement, surprisingly, the pub was not called shadow. The expression ‘going with the in the water. Brown trout tend to hold ripples or a splash on the surface that I The Pub, but The Four Horseshoes, but flow’ means accepting the prevailing in dark, secluded spots, inconveniently might have missed. After a few minutes, there were no points for that. ‘Are we trend, but it should be pointed out that inaccessible to the angler’s line, close to Georgia said ‘there’s one’, pointing there yet?’came the all-too-familiar cry only dead fish go with the flow. The fish the far bank, and rarely move off their across the river at a spot right under as they piled into the back and we were we were after would be generally holding patch, except to slurp a delicious insect a willow. Sure enough, a few minutes off with a promise of ‘no more than 5 their position, forever swimming against off the surface, if it looks juicy enough. later, there was a swell, then a big fish minutes’. We turned off the main road the stream. I had the advantage of Then back down he goes to wait for slurped a fat May-fly right off the water. again, and down a brambling lane to a polarised sunglasses, and was able to spot the next morsel to float by. If there is a Casting was extremely tricky, but I had little car-park, next to a field shooting fish lying over a bed of gravel or within pattern in his feeding habits, then one is an audience now, and did not want to up with young green wheat, with a mass the swaying streamers of ranunculus, or in with a chance. Back in those days, I make a fool of myself in front of my of unripe blackberries in the hedgerows water crowfoot, which is a species of used to cast my fly almost at random in children by tangling with the overhead and an apple-tree that produced enough buttercup. Ahead of us, reed bunting and a speculative way, but now I only cast a branches or even on the back-cast, and cookers for a thousand blackberry and wheatears would dart from one bank to dry fly to a rising fish upstream, which trying to say that was all part of the cast. apple crumbles later in the year. A short the other catching mayfly on the wing, is a little old-fashioned, I confess, but it It took one marker to get the distance, walk down a leafy path brought us to the while overhead house-martins and is one of the objectives of the Piscatorial and then a second to drop the fly a few river and a few hundred yards along it to swifts spiralled, swooped and squaked. Society, formed in 1837. Some days, if feet upstream, then Wallop! A truly big a weatherbeaten wooden hut, smelling The wheatear has a white rump, which there were few or no rises, I would go rainbow took my fly and decided that faintly of varnish, creosote and sun-dried is a clue to its nomenclature; it has home empty-handed. was not for him, trying in vain to to get clumps of grass. This was our home for nothing to do with wheat or ears, but is There was a rise a few yards upstream, rid of my ersatz fly or break my line. the next few hours. Everyone helped by a corruption of ‘white arse.’ Suddenly, and then another, so I explained what I When we finally bagged it with Georgia’s laying the table-cloth, spreading tartan there was flash of electric blue and rusty- was going to do. Being an opsimath, I help with the landing net, we saw that it travelling rugs in the shade of a cherry orange, and a kingfisher, a few inches had not been fishing that long myself, really was a monster, at least six pounds tree outside, and unloading the hamper. from the water, whizzed past. By the but still knew a few rudimentary rules and certainly the biggest trout I have ever I indulged in a cold beer, with some nuts time one has said ‘Look, a kingf . . . ‘, it about how to land a fish. I cast a few landed, before or since. It was not exactly and olives, while the girls preferred their was long gone. Seeing a kingfisher on yards above where the fish had been pretty, being a bit ‘blousy’, and if a fish crisps and fizzy drinks. the riverbank is, to me, more important, feeding, to give him a chance to clock my were to wear clothes, this one would have The picnic proper was an open-air than catching a fish myself, and seeing tempting fly. I saw him turn and look at been in a shell-suit. No matter, another open-ended affair with the children a kingfisher actually dive in and take a it, but he didn’t take it. I waited, and tried one for the pot, or, at least, the smoker. grazing all afternoon, dipping in and out fish himself is as close as one can get to again. Again, he had a look, but was not Afternoon was drifting into evening of the spread. Meanwhile, I assembled ornithological ecstasy fooled. As soon as the third cast hit the when we packed up and headed back my Hardy Smuggler and ‘strung up’, The river was sparkling in a shell- water, he struck, took the fly and was off to the car. It was still just about warm as they say in the US, and wandered burst of colour and sunlight in the open into the depths, pulling the line out in enough to drive back with the roof down, upstream with Lizzie, Georgia and stream, dark-green and slow-moving a high-pitched shriek, which made the with the girls fighting over the travelling Florence, while Poppy sat on the bench, under the cool trees on the opposite girls jump. He was in danger of taking rugs, just as my brother, sister and I used reading a book. Without being too bank, trailing their long fingers in the all my line, so I gently lured him back to do in the back seat of dad’s car all schoolmasterly, I talked them through water. This was usually where the fish to where we were standing on the bank, those years before. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 59 Motoring online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

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Across This is the sixty 1 Conflict over the sea in France creates a risen temperature. (6) third Wolfe Cryptic 5 Type of cry that enables head jewellery (8) Crossword 9 Take away to be eaten after dinner out. (5,3) 10 Wood seal would without right “Wolfe snarled as his fangs disappear. (6) cracked open the setters bones 11 Guitar grip surrounds endless Italian composer making coffee. (10) before sucking out the marrow. 12 The core of the problem before unknown precious stone. (4) Never again will the grid from 13 Phone programme before fish get closer. crossword 62 be posted with (8) 16 Cubit reversed into sun looked the clues for crossword 63.” miserable. (6) 17 Circulating north again it’s a pain in the So toCLASSIFIED set things right crossword ADS No. chest (6) 63 is now repeated with the right grid 19 Hospital so dirty confused endocrine ! Remember if you haven’t glands. (8) totally finished the whole 21 At first steps lessen on walking crossword still send it in as the first pace. (4) 22 Maybe a girl ruins a try to make bucolic. correct or substantially correct answer (10) picked at random will win a prize of a 25 Casual restaurant I mix with robots bottle of Champagne kindly donated losing nothing . (6) by Lea and Sandeman send your grids 26 Crazy evil Louis having lost love is either by post to Wolfe, at KCW Today deceptive. (8) 80-100 Gwynne Road London SW11 27 Top of the bill angle for sea dweller. (8) 3UW or scan it in and send by email to 28 Sly rig could cause horror and disgust [email protected]. (6) 5 Badly behaved in the trough. (7) heavens. (9) 6 Having lost right souvenir becomes 18 Before in Artificial Intelligence it may www.leaandsandeman.co.uk/Fine- Down covetous. (7) be derived by reason. (1,6) Wine. 2 Note in car organisation for pacific island 7 Against left to sing at her lowest. (9) 19 Nectar N.I. should contain smear. (7) welcome. (5) 8 See blonde confused by septum leak. (9) 20 Sounds as if you will record a cake at 106 Kensington Church St, London, 3 Revise for inverted gum. (3,2) 14 Sheet of material lean on game Christmas. (4,3) W8 4BH. T: 020 7221 1982. 4 Tossed caber with Church of England contender. (9) 23 His US made eastern food. (5) Contact Sandor. Du Maurier character. (7) 15 A rare twin maybe falls from the 24 Orange hole in your stomach. (5)

Monthly Bridge Tip for Intermediates Strenuous efforts are made by KCW Today newspaper with Andrew Robson When you need to guess which opponent holds a critical missing honour, you should to ensure that the content and information is correct. apply such maxims as “the high card lies with the opponent who opened the bidding”, and “the high card lies with the length”. Sometimes these clues point in the same direction; sometimes not. Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today newspaper Cover up the East-West cards. See if you can avoid losing to ♣Q, and so make this reserves the right to report unsolicited material being sent month’s contract. Dealer West. East West Vulnerable "&' $%'# !&' $('# ♠ through to the publication. ♠ ($"  "#$$ "#$$ ♣ ♥ ! ♥ ♣ "#$$ "#$$ ♦ *+  ♥ "#$$ ♠ !♣ ♣ '% "#$$ "#$$ "#$$ ♠ *+)'% ♠ & Personal views expressed in this newspaper are solely those N ♥ (*+%# ♥ &" WE ♦ &! ♦ )%$#" S of the respective contributors and do not reflect those of ♣ # ♣ +$" (1) Dubious. There is little to suggest West ♠ #! will make his Three Spades (his partner’s only contribution being a reluctant the publishers or its agents. All materials sent to KCWToday ♥ )'$ preference). Further, without a singleton in ♦ (' your hand, there is little to suggest you will ♣ (*)&! are at the suppliers’ risk. Reproduction in whole or in part of make Four Clubs. this publication is strictly prohibited without prior consent. West cashed ♥AKQ, East discarding ♦2 on the third heart, and West then switched to ♠K. Declarer won dummy’s ♠A, and crossed to ♣K, in case ♣Q was singleton. No ♣Q appeared. Declarer reflected that West’s bidding indicated five-five in the majors, therefore just three minor-suit cards. He probably held two in one minor, and one in the other. But which? The appearance of advertising in this newspaper, including Holding nine clubs and five diamonds between his hand and dummy’s, the odds were heavily that West’s singleton was in clubs. A finesse against East’s guarded ♣Q was inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by necessary. Declarer therefore cashed ♦A (necessary to avoid a blockage), led ♦9 to ♦Q, then ran ♣10 (key play). At the next trick he remembered to cash ♦K discarding ♠5, KCW Today of the products or services advertised. before next leading ♣9 to ♣Q and ♣A. Ten tricks and part-score made. Note that declarer had played the non-bidder for the missing trump honour, and was right. ANDREW’S TIP: The key to Bridge is Shape. Normally play the missing high card to be with the opponent holding greater length. 020 7738 2348 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today 61 Chess online: www.KCWToday.co.uk

forthcoming! CHESS In late November and a few days before the opening of the London By Barry Martin Classic, George Osborne, our beloved late Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now the Editor of the Evening Standard, was shipped up from his offices in High Gens una sumus Street Kensington to the Kensington Roof Gardens to announce the next World Chess Championship was to take place in London from the 9th-28th he 80th Tata Masters’ and November 2018. Introduced by Georgios Challengers’ Tournament began Makropoulos, FIDE Deputy President, in Holland on 13th January Osborne was described as,“ ..an avid runningT through to the 28th; opening chess fan”. He went on to say, “ FIDE in Wijk aan Zee for the first eleven is very pleased to bring the match to rounds and then ‘on tour’ in Hilversum London. We know that this city loves Jan 17th and culminating in Groningen chess, most major newspapers run regular for the final 13th round on Jan 24th. chess columns,..” , and continued , “.... by Six of the World’s top players form part having a FIDE President, which under of the 14 players contesting this very U.S sanctions they (FIDE) cannot get strong Masters’ competition and the sponsorship from the West”. Several first two rounds have already shown ironies stand out; the first being that it why this tournament may be considered was the Evening Standard that a number Lastly, Eugene Kaspersky, chairman 512 players saw Marksim Vavulin the ‘ ’ at the top of the league for chess play of years ago infamously scrapped what and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, with its 68th seed win with an astounding 10/11 in international chess events since we was one of the world’s leading chess headquarters in Moscow, is a cyber games over a very strong gathering, already have decisive games from the columns written by Leonard Barden, (not security company, who stated bluntly, including Navara, Ponomariov, very start. After two rounds Giri leads under Osborne’s editorship) and never “It’s an amazing game, where creative Kovalenko, Zhigalko and our Luke with 2/2. Carlsen, Anand, Mamedyarov replaced it. The Evening Standard under thinking meets deep logic and analytical McShane. Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2nd, 1.5/2, So, Svidler, Kramnik, Karjakin and Osborne’s control still does not have a skill: just like in the world of cyber- Pavel Ponkratov 3rd and the top seed our Gawain Jones who has been included chess column; perhaps Makropoulos was security! And, that’s why we’ll continue Sergei Zhigalko finishing 22nd. Peter in his first elite international tournament unaware of this situation when making protecting FIDE, the players, and the Svidler Russian GM. who is also with 1/2 points. his comment above. tournament’s infrastructure in the competing in the Tata Tournament This dynamic opening contrasts Secondly, FIDE has been under future”. The latter ‘family of Russia’ mentioned at the beginning of this with the third and last leg of the Grand the hegemony of Russia for far too introductions cleared by Merenzon’s article, has also created a record by Chess Tour, The London Classic, held in many years, and that is the reason why excuse that FIDE’s President under US winning the recent Russian Chess London from the 1st-11th Dec 2017 at sponsorship from the West for major sanctions couldn't get sponsorship in the Championship Superfinal after a play- the Olympia Conference Centre. This world tournaments such as the WCC West ? off for the 8th time. A game from the well funded competition where Magnus is absent and isn’t just a recent passing The FIDE motto in the title, We 11th round of the European Rapid Carlsen took home $245,417 as overall phase. It is interesting to note that are all one people was used to accuse Championship, Poland, forms the winner of the three legs, and Fabiano the London Evening Standard is also FIDE of reneging on its principles basis of this month’s puzzle. Marksim Caruana received $62,500 for winning owned along with The Independent by the when Saudi Arabia refused to give Vavulin the 19 year-old winner of the ’ the London leg, had 10 of the world s Russian Alexander Lebedev, a Russian visas to Israeli chess players due to take tournament is White against the runner- top players competing. But in London’s businessman and former KGB agent, and part in the Saudi Arabia World Rapid up, Krzysztof Duda, Black. The game is leg there were only 10 decisive games his son Evgeny Lebedev. The Russian Championships in Riyadh Dec 26th- poised after White has played 42. a5...., from four and a half times that amount! connectivity is alluded to because 30th. Dec. Good then for our head of with Black still in contention with his The first three rounds were all draws. Makropoulos went on to introduce the ECF to communicate with FIDE pawn swarm descending on his King's Many comments about this followed two further members of the team: Ilya demanding that Saudi Arabia be stripped side. Vavulin at 2575 Elo rating was just on the theme of anodyne chess, and Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, the of the World Speed Championships. under 150 points below his adversary caused disquiet that chess at the top commercial rights holder of the FIDE The Ukrainian Muzychuk sisters, Anna Duda with 2717. However, although ’ ’ with the world s best players wasn t Chess Championship cycle, and Andrey and Mariya, who refused to play partly Duda's next move seemed on the face of being played with the competitive Guryev, CEO of Phos Agro and a because of the dress code as women they it positive, it weakened his attack and led spirit expected of it. John Saunders, trustee of the Russian Chess Federation would be forced to comply with; Anna to an overwhelming commanding end commenting on round 7 said, “It featured Board. Merenzon welcomed Phos Agro’s forfeiting her two world titles in the game in White’s favour. What was it, as many decisive games as rounds one sponsorship which sponsored both the process. Both competed in the IMSA and how might Black have improved on to six put together-3- as some players WCC tournament in Sochi 2014, and Speed tournament in Huai'an China and his position by playing another move? stirred themselves from their earlier the New York tournament in 2016, and finished in the top five. Best wishes to Answer upside below.

torpor, while others started to tire as a which as a leading chemical company has them!

result of the relentless attrition typical signed a long term contract of support The European Rapid Championships, 1-0. resigns, 55.Kc5.... Bxf1.

of elite chess”. He continued, “...worried for World Chess. Katowice, Poland 15-17th Dec. with chance!).54.... last Black's off (killing

that the London Classic might be 54.Rxf1,... 53.Rf4,f1=R. 52.Bxd8,f2.

about to break a record that nobody 51.d8=Q,Rxd8. 50.Rh4,Ke6. 49.fxe3,f3.

wants; the fewest decisive games in a 48.d7,e3. 47.Rxh7,e4. penetration)

ten player international tournament”. It Rook White's against defend to late

turns out that couldn’t be achieved as too move a Kf6( 46.Rg7, 45.....Ke6.

a tournament in Moscow in 1999 had in) operate to column g- clear a Rook only 3 decisive games from a total of 45! White's giving seen be now can 42...f4

Photograph Photograph © WikiCommons

Raymond Keene writing in The Times of result 45.Rg1,...(.the 44.Rd1,Be2.

added, “Alert readers will have observed 43....h4.) by, followed 42....Bh3, or, h4,

a predominance of somewhat anodyne 42.... be would Better un-protected.

draws in this otherwise prestigious and isolated h-pawn Black's (leaving

competition. Adumbration of the 43gxf4,gxf4, isolated.) and unlinked

problem combined with a disquisition become to pawns Kingside his allowing on possible cures for excessive services blunder (a f4? a5, 42. played Black Eugene Kaspersky to chess board pacifism.. ”, needs to be 62 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Advertisement, Public Notices

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SIX NATIONS SCHEDULE The Six Nations tournament which starts in early February, has never been so open. By Derek Wyatt ROUND ONE Wales v Scotland. Principality Stadium (Cardiff) ake England, the current champions, Saturday, February 3, 2.15pm GMT BBC they have had so many injuries that they are not in a France v Ireland. Stade de France (Paris) positionT to give debuts to new Saturday, February 3, 4.45pm GMT BBC exciting talent. This means that the core of the team will Italy v England. Stadio Olimpico (Rome) be as last year. Eddie Jones, now enjoying his £1m a year Sunday, February 4, 3.00pm GMT ITV (including bonuses) new contract, has to finish top before questions are raised ROUND TWO about whether he can fulfil Ireland v Italy. Aviva Stadium (Dublin) the his wish and the England team’s wish to win the Rugby Saturday, February 10, 2.15pm GMT. ITV World Cup next October, 2019 in Tokyo. England v Wales.Twickenham (London) The Rugby World Cup Saturday, February 10, 4.45pm GMT. ITV is on the minds of every coach. The Six Nations have a Scotland v France. Murrayfield (Edinburgh) dreadful record stretching back to the opening tournament in Sunday, February 11, 3.00pm GMT. BBC 1987. Only England has won it (2003) and reached another final (2007) whilst France in ROUND THREE 1991 and 2010 have reached two finals and lost both. All France v Italy. Orange Velodrome (Marseille) that promise which Ireland Friday, February 23, 8.00pm GMT. BBC and Wales have shown has never really come to fruition in a World Cup. Scotland were minutes away in 2015 against Australia to making the semi-finals otherwise they Ireland v Wales. Aviva Stadium (Dublin) have disappointed. Italy no longer warrant being part of the Six Nations (they should Saturday, February 24, 2.15pm GMT. ITV be replaced by Georgia) and they have had an inglorious record at world cups. The real problem is that the Six Nations though hugely popular by television Scotland v England. Murrayfield (Edinburgh). owners, sponsors and spectators is not competitive enough and is in the wrong part of the calendar. This reflects on the weakness of World Rugby, the global organisation, Saturday, February 24, 4.45pm GMT. BBC which controls the game. We need one global season in the northern and southern hemispheres. This means moving the international season from February to April in the north for the next three years (It will not happen) to May and June and then in ROUND FOUR three years time introducing a global calendar. I am afraid the rugby jury is out. So, if we look at the world rankings, New Zealand’s first team is ranked one and Ireland v Scotland. Aviva Stadium (Dublin). its second team, two. Then there is a clamour for who deserves the third birth and it Saturday, March 10, 2.15pm GMT. ITV could be England’s ,it might be France, if South Africa is in the mood, it might be them. It probably will not be anyone else. There is a wafer thin difference between France v England. Stade de France (Paris). Australia, going through harder times, Ireland and Wales. There are though some new kids on the block: Japan who nearly beat France late last year in Paris, Fiji, Georgia Saturday, March 10, 4.45pm GMT. BBC plus our old friends from Argentina. Wales v Italy. Principality Stadium (Cardiff). This year’s Six Nations is really only preparation for 2019 and before that tournament there will be yet another Six Nations! As such it is the only time a coach Sunday, March 11, 3pm GMT. BBC could risk new players and try new formats. One player by common consent England supporters would like to see is Danny Cipriani at fly half. Jones is not taken by his defensive play as if it is worse than the current incumbent, George Ford. Cipriani at his best can rip sides apart as he has shown this year at Wasps. Ask any back row forward and they will tell you they do not like playing against him. Once again he has been left on the side lines. Pity. Then there is the form and fitness of Dylan Hartley, the captain. Jones likes and respects him enormously but he is not he best hooker in England. I would have preferred to have had a Squad captain and a captain on the day. Instead Jones has Hartley and when he is subbed after 50 minutes, Owen Farrell takes over. It seems to me as if Farrell should be the captain, per se. Of the other six nation countries the two I fancy are Ireland and France. I wish I could add Scotland in there as they are truly back from the dead. Yet, it would still not surprise me if they took the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield. Ireland have fewer resources but they have shown an increasing capacity to win what I would call the quarter and semi final type matches in a World Cup. Witness their brilliant victory 40-29 against New Zealand in Chicago in November, 2016 (the All Blacks have a tendency to stiffen up away from home) and the last fixture in Dublin of the Six Nations last year when they raised their game again to beat hot favourites England 13-9. You generally win a grand slam in the Six Nations when you have three of the five games at home. This year that applies to France, Wales and Ireland. Yet the latter two have England away. If you fancied £10 here and there I would place it on France and England!

(Derek last played for England in the Calcutta Cup in 1976) 64 February 2018 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk Advertisement January Sale 1.5% sales fees • 7% let fees 1.5%

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