Morning:
9°c
NEW: GPs urged to stop prescribing antibiotics for coughs and colds as overuse is increasing resistance to them, making it more difficult to tackle serious infections like hospital bugs
More...
With a single dessert and just two glasses of wine our bill was kept in check - but the effort of doing so was not much fun
Babbo
Film
This is a film with beautiful performances and a visual style that urges you towards reflection
Bright Star
Theatre
Although the first half of Kwei-Armah’s production is pacy, funny and intelligent, the energy level then drops off
Seize The Day
I loved this film from start to finish. Take the girlfriend, tell your mum - I'd see it again tomorrow and will buy the dvd.
I saw this last night and can't remember the last time I was so moved in the theatre.
I have been to many of London's so-called best Japanese restaurants and none have been as good as the food that I've had at Aqua Kyoto
London,
Sue Steward's rating
Reader rating
Description: Work by prisoners and people confined in other institutions, featuring paintings, ceramics, textiles, drawing and other media.
Phone: 0207930 3647
Website: www.ica.org.uk
Trains: Tube: Charing Cross 
Papier-mache justice: Puppetmaster detail
Walking through this collection of the shortlisted entries from the annual Koestler Awards scheme offers privileged access to the invisible subconscious life of more than 200 depersonalised residents of prisons, young-offender centres, psychiatric hospitals and immigration removal centres.
The works - many of them anonymous - are inspiring, amusing, skilful, mournful, profound and often breathtakingly ingenious, constructed with limited materials, including paper and card, clay, matches (an unimaginably fiddly crane and containers), carved soap, false nails (gorgeous miniature paintings), and a meticulous origami samurai killing dragons. Most commercially brilliant is the Monopoly game set in Lewes Prison.
Everyday reality is understandably less popular than escapism; an exquisite drawing of Dartmoor's exercise yard bursting with tension contrasts with C Dyer & D Mewell's inmate watching TV on his bed. The anonymous Futility and Depression, a self-portrait from Dartmoor, is an important reality check. Home, an iconic sleeping figure wrapped in blankets on a pavement, constructed from recycled card, makes a link with institutional life. Fleeing reality leads to beautifully executed cartoon stills, holiday memories, and zany, fantasy animals (Demented Pheasant).
A bowl inspired by Grayson Perry is an incongruously lyrical tribute among the many crafted works (a postage-stamp collage of Bob Marley, two Daleks, a papier-m‚ché dog from Holloway, painted and embroidered hangings, which include "Black History") reflecting the insider populations.
This annual event is always a unique opportunity to experience the creative energy exploding behind bars. Unmissable.
Until 9 September. Information: www.ica.org.uk, www.koestlertrust.org.uk; 020 7766 1404.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
[ 1 ] [ 2 ]
