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B&B and Beyond: By the Lemon Tree, Amman

Sat, 25 May 2013 17:00:00 GMT

B&Bs are a Middle Eastern rarity. In a region that favours five-star glitz – and where complex guest/host dynamics can foster a confusing kind of arm's-length hospitality – chances to stay in local homes are few and far between. The Jordanian capital Amman, though, is starting to break the mould. By The Lemon Tree stands hidden among the old villas of Jabal Webdeh, a mostly Christian district on a hill above Amman's downtown bustle. It's a perfect way to duck out of Jordan's standard offering of a big hotel in some bland tourist zone. Webdeh forms one of the capital's loveliest residential quarters – arty, tasteful, and walkable. You live among the comings-and-goings of an Ammani family. The streets smell of pine and sun-warmed limestone. Birdsong prevails.

Turkey's finest: Istanbul is the most popular kid on the 21st-century global block

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

If you want a metaphor for modern Istanbul, look no further than the Marmaray tunnel. It's currently being dug under the Bosphorus to link Sirkeci Station, near the Grand Bazaar, with the ferry port of Uskudar on the Asian shore. The work will take three years to finish; maybe more because workmen keep discovering ancient objects that have to be removed and lovingly catalogued.

Rediscovering Turkey's finest: Istanbul is the most popular kid on the 21st-century global block

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Oman: On the balcony of an ancient land

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

As we were weaving through Oman's rugged Jebel Hajar, there came a point when our eight-year-old stopped counting the relentless hairpin bends and focused instead on our car's dashboard altimeter. Soon 1,500m gave way to 1,600m, then 1,700m. We began guessing the height of the col ahead and whether we'd break through 2,000m. At 2,020m we turned a bend at the pass, the so-called Sharaf al Alamayn – or "balcony of the two worlds" – and pulled into a lay-by. It's a great view encompassing both sides of the Hajar: east into the tortuous folds of Wadi Bani Awf, and west to elevated desert plains stretching into Saudi Arabia.

Jubilation in Jordan: The top of the peak felt like the end-of-the-world - but what a view

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:00:00 GMT

The sign said, 'The end of the world'; as did the look on my three-year-old's face. Below us, the dusky pink desert canyons and dimpled, rocky mountains of the Jordan Valley stretched west towards Jerusalem. And somewhere, far, far below the precipice we'd scaled to 'Sacrifice View', a bright blue cap was now swirling away, whisked off my son's head by the sharp wind that greeted us at the summit.

An ill-timed tour of Syria: Amid the ancient sites, an uprising takes root

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:00:00 GMT

It was the morning after the UN voted to bomb Colonel Gaddafi out of Libya that I made my way to Gatwick Airport. Hosni Mubarak had fallen as Egypt's leader just a month before. Tunisia had been swept up in revolution, Yemen's Day of Rage was turning into weeks of bloodshed, and even little Bahrain was stirring with protest.

Tell-all interview? Lance Armstrong agrees to Oprah interview

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:16:28 GMT

Lance Armstrong has agreed to a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey where he will address allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career.

The protests sparked by gang-rape in India aren't the beginning and they won't be the end

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:00:40 GMT

After weeks of marches in India sparked by the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman, hundreds of protesters in Nepal rose up and demonstrated, showing their solidarity with a 21-year-old woman allegedly robbed and raped by a policeman in Kathmandu.

The News Matrix: Wednesday 9 January 2013

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:46 GMT

Starved girl's siblings sue city's council

The Business Matrix: Wednesday 9 January 2013

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:43 GMT

Samsung rings up more huge profits

The Sports Matrix: Wednesday 9 January 2013

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:41 GMT

Bantams in sight of Wembley final after stunning Villa

i Editor's Letter: Finishing on a cliché

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:39 GMT

Simon Calder's Holiday Helpdesk: Advice please on visas for out Moscow trip

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:13 GMT

Q On a bit of a whim I booked two cheap flights to Moscow in June for myself and my 11-year-old daughter. We have both always wanted to visit Moscow to see its fabulous buildings and experience the rich culture, so it seemed like a good idea at the time! Since booking I have looked into obtaining visas and it seems like a minefield of red tape. Do you happen to know the process?

Matt Denby, West Yorkshire

Why is British jazz always the Cinderella when it comes to tales of ‘Swinging London’?

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:07 GMT

As Grace Slick once remarked, ‘If you remember the sixties, you weren’t there!”

The Daily Cartoon

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:04 GMT

Today's news cartoon.

Ricky Tomlinson's Great Night Out: 'I sit in front of the TV all the time shouting'

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Wherever he goes, Ricky Tomlinson is chased by his catchphrase. The 73-year-old actor, best known as Jim, the crotchety dad from The Royle Family, takes up the story: "The other day, I did a charity Can't Cook, Won't Cook at a local golf club. On the way out, a posh woman came up to me in a mink stole, pink-rinsed hair and the obligatory string of pearls round her neck.

Why clapping ruins concerts

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Rest Is Noise festival starting at the Southbank next week promises to be the most original and challenging classical musical event of the year. And not the least interesting aspect of this celebration of exclusively 20th-century work will be to see how audiences respond to music that has a tendency to be much more cerebral than what went before.

Hospital inspection results 'fail to reflect patients' assessments'

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A worrying "disconnect" between official inspection results and the real standards experienced by patients has undermined public confidence in hospitals and care homes, according to a scathing report by MPs.

The 10 Best mountain bikes

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

1. Adventure Trail

£259.99, johnlewis.com

This well thought-out bike will give you that extra grip on rugged terrain, while the 21 gears will help you climb hills. The frame comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Last Night's Viewing - The Undateables, Channel 4; All You Can Eat, ITV1

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

I tied myself in liberal knots of anxiety the last time I reviewed The Undateables, in which Channel 4 paired up the dating show with the disability documentary in the hope that they'd get on famously. I take it everything went well after that first date because here we are nine months on for another series, just as I'm ironing the final kinks out of my ethical consciousness. And within minutes, all the patient work of untangling has gone for nothing.

Tea at the Midland, By David Constantine. Comma Press, £9.99

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The title story of Tea at the Midland is very short but gives us all we need to know about an adulterous couple in the process of breaking up. They sit beside a plate-glass window in the restaurant of the Midland Hotel. Isolated from the ferociously windy day outside, the sky "torn and holed by the wind", their urgent and bitter talk contrasts with the sheer physical joy and freedom of the wind surfers on the sea. In miniature, the story encapsulates the themes that distinguish David Constantine's fourth collection of stories.

Harry Randall: Photographer who served in the Spanish Civil War

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A headless corpse of an enemy soldier slumped forward in a captured trench; a shallow frontline grave of piled-up stones with two unevenly shaped planks of wood as a makeshift cross; a serious-looking bespectacled young soldier pounding away on a typewriter in the middle of an orange grove: these were just some of the hundreds of images that Harry Randall, official photographer for the XV International Brigade of anti-fascist volunteers, captured during Spain's Civil War.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed: Politician who opposed US policy in Afghanistan

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The politician and religious leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who died in Islamabad on 6 January at the age of 74 following a heart attack, was an advocate of Islamic democracy who transformed the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party into a populist outfit. He was a strong critic of the US's counter-terrorism policies, and was widely known for his opposition to the involvement of the US and its allies in Afghanistan.

Sir Robert Clark: Decorated war hero who went on to build a glittering career in the City

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Bob Clark was a man who believed his life to be guided by serendipity. Luck may have been a factor, but the war hero who went on to forge a glittering career in the City came from a generation of men who refused to talk up their own hard-won achievements and the personal qualities that got them there. The man who was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for fighting behind enemy lines in Italy became a respected senior corporate lawyer, merchant banker and the director of numerous international companies.

Get me out of here: Plas Cwta, Las Vegas, Tanzania

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Now... Sheepskin has added a new Welsh cottage to its books. Plas Cwta has two bedrooms, a wood-burning stove, board games, books and scenic views of Snowdonia national park – perfect for a cosy winter break. It costs £465 for a three-night stay, excluding peak periods. Sheepskinlife.com