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LA Stories: By George! America bans Boy George

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:17:43 GMT

Five Luxury Beds On Rails

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:22:32 GMT

Holiday in style with these green alternatives to air travel

Virginia Ironside's Dilemmas: Should I give up my stressful job for IVF treatment?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:00:46 GMT

Dear Virginia,I've had four tries at IVF. I became pregnant with one, but soon miscarried. The other attempts didn't work. Each time, I stopped working, relaxed - and each time it failed. Now I am having my last try, but I'm starting a stressful job, one that I know I'd enjoy and be good at. Should I ask them if I can start a month later, giving myself a chance to relax (at the risk of getting off to a bad start), or should I just go ahead and hope for the best? Yours sincerely, Miriam

Second helpings: More kudos to Koffmann

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:00:12 GMT

Rowing: Wind keeps Henley races on the edge

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:33:35 GMT

A blustery wind kept umpires and steersmen of coxless boats busy at Henley yesterday. Before the wind got up, Leander's B crew were disqualified from the Visitors' when they were hit by Martyrs and Christ Church while Leander were being warned for being off their station. The same two crews were involved in a similar incident at Marlow Regatta two weeks ago, with the opposite outcome.

The 50 Best Garden Accessories - Decorations

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:51 GMT

The 50 Best Garden Accessories - Lighting

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:46 GMT

The 50 Best Garden Accessories - Potting Shed

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:39 GMT

The 50 Best Garden Accessories - Tables and Chairs

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:33 GMT

Sunday's Wimbledon final will offer a rivalry to savour

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:29 GMT

Sporting rivalries are not supposed to be like this. Mike Tyson may have gone to extremes when he bit off Evander Holyfield's ear, but in the world's great sporting arenas you always expect an edge to confrontations between the best of the best. You could never picture Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett sharing a joke before or after an Olympic final or Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost leaving a grand prix to go for a drive together in the country.

The 50 Best Garden Accessories - Pots and Planters

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:28 GMT

Quantum takes further lead in Cagliari

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:27 GMT

A mistral blowing from the north-west sent the TP52 fleet, TP stand for Trans-Pacific, scurrying for cover on the less than oceanic Bay of Cagliari yesterday, reducing the tally of races in the Audi Medcup grand prix to just one and increasing the lead held by the American yacht Quantum to four points.

Stan Hey: 6-5 against

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The only people who will not mind this weekend's soggy weather are the 100,000 petrol-heads camped out around Silverstone for tomorrow's British Grand Prix. They love the plumes of spray and 360 degree spins. And while race-goers at Sandown for today's Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes will grin and bear it, they will be reviewing the form if softer ground prevails.

Roger or Rafa: Clash of the Wimbledon sex symbols

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Howard Jacobson: Stop running. Slow down. And take a good long look – you'll get far more out of art

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Today I write in praise of slowness, longevity of attention, what used to be called - when we had schools - concentration. This in response to an article my fellow Independent columnist John Walsh wrote last week about that artist of the now-you-see-it, now-you-don't, Martin Creed. I won't be discussing Creed's work itself. It passes me by - which is perhaps, given Creed's commitment to evanescence, the highest compliment I can pay it. "Why do we have to look at paintings for a long time?" he asks. "Why not just look for a second?" So that's his second. What interests me more is John Walsh's high-spirited gloss on Creed's philosophy of instantaneousness. "Our response to the spectacle," he writes, meaning the spectacle of athletes dashing through the Duveen Galleries at Creed's artistic behest, "is a joyful blink, rather than a solemn, chin-stroking inspection of brushwork."

Down and out in Las Vegas

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Since the day Las Vegas was created in the shimmering Nevada desert, visitors have been drawn by one simple promise: "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". The motto adorns the city's road signs, and has inspired everything from its souvenir T-shirts to the local tourist board's seductive advertising campaigns.

Sir Simon Jenkins: History man

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Sir Simon Jenkins is so grand that he really should be bought and preserved by the National Trust, so that successive generations can admire the wondrous architecture and exquisite furniture of his mind. Instead, the trust has chosen him to be its next chairman.

Zacinto joins Guineas favourites after dazzling debut

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Zacinto swept into the group of favourites for next year's 2,000 Guineas with a dazzling eight-length win at Sandown yesterday. Newmarket work-watchers have been impressed by the Sir Michael Stoute-trained juvenile's performance on the gallops and he transferred his ability to the course with a fine debut success under Ryan Moore.

Chris McGrath on Racing: Compelling narrative of the Turf needs no help from trite marketing to spin its tale

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Oh, gosh, this panacea, this Sovereign remedy - what kind of culture plate can its creators have used? It is smeared with glibness, with the vain, trite stains of marketing. A Champions League for racing! A Formula One series! What overweening nonsense.

Brian Viner: Racket of today drowns out slow brilliance of Borg

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

It is 28 years to the day since Bjorn Borg beat John McEnroe in what is surely still the most thrilling of all Wimbledon men's singles finals. Roger Federer's defeat of Rafael Nadal last year was a doozy, and the first time Federer had been taken to a fifth set in a Grand Slam final, but he completed that set in relative comfort, 6-2.

Sport on TV: King John takes Castle in battle of the bons mots

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

An email this week from my reader - sorry, a reader - suggested that the BBC's show-court tennis commentator Andrew Castle might possibly be "unctuous", maybe "toe-curling", hell, might even be a "thump-the-mute-button cringe-maker".

Stan hey: 6-5 against

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Market Report: Sainsbury's stake-building fails to lift FTSE 100

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

It was Independence Day in the US, which always translates into quieter markets in London, and beyond Bradford & Bingley, the City was pretty independent of decent stories or bid chat. There was some interest in J Sainsbury, as the Qatari sovereign wealth fund that failed in its bid to buy it last year upped its stake to 26 per cent. The move brought some vague chat of a renewed bid, but nobody's heart was really in it.

Sir Charles Wheeler: Distinguished foreign correspondent who exemplified the best in BBC reporting for more than 60 years

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

In the comparatively brief history of broadcasting, only a handful of news correspondents have become household names. Charles Wheeler, knighted in 2006, was incontestably one of them. In a career with the BBC that lasted more than 60 years, he reported from the most troubled and significant parts of the world with measured judgement and sometimes laconic aplomb that listeners and viewers found reassuring, however dire the story he was obliged to tell.

Clive Hornby: Jack Sugden in 'Emmerdale'

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:00:01 GMT

For almost 30 years, Clive Hornby played Emmerdale's longest-running character, Jack Sugden, the flat cap-wearing elder son of the matriarchal Annie Sugden, who was facing widowhood after the death of her farmer husband Jacob when the serial began - as Emmerdale Farm - in 1972.