You have to concede a sort of grudging respect for Sir VS Naipaul. His willingness to give offence is almost disarming; he makes Martin Amis look like an amateur... more
A network of streets between Russell Square and Holborn is attracting quirky, entrepreneurial small businesses to an unspoilt corner of London. Liz Hoggard explores this creative — not literary — hub.... more
Among the delights of the London Transport Museum's forthcoming Suburbia exhibition is a 1930s poster suggesting a journey to the northern reaches of the Piccadilly line. Why?
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Emma Watson has been unveiled as the new face of Burberry, joining a roster of past stars that includes Kate Moss, Rachel Weisz, Agyness Deyn and Stella Tennant... more
"Look," the novelist standing next to the buffet said, pointing down the room at the new winner of the 2008 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. "He's on his third helping." He sniggered. "That's poets for you."... more
THERE are some pertinent questions to be asked about energy prices and it is to the benefit of consumers that the Prime Minister is asking them. Gordon Brown has pointed out that while gas and electricity prices rose to take account of the increased price of oil, there have been no corresponding cuts in fuel bills as the price of oil comes down. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has met the six big energy retailers to tell them that the Government wants prices to fall. Meanwhile, the former head of Energywatch, Allan Asher, has said that consumers' annual bills of £1,200 could be reduced by up to a third if there were reforms to the wholesale market and greater competition between suppliers. He has a point: at a time when official inflation figures are just over five per cent, some suppliers have increased gas prices by a third.... more
If ever there was a work suited to the theatre director Katie Mitchell's distinctive style of radical reinterpretation it is Virginia Woolf's The Waves, starting its second National Theatre run.... more
Prominent authors have complained that two the British Library's Reading Room has been overtaken by frappuccino drinking students giggling with their friends, playing on laptops and texting their mates.... more
Edward Albee, the US playwright who specialises in exploring the human condition, talks to Arwa Haider ahead of the premiere of his latest show.... more
The riveting Frost/Nixon continues to enthrall, as do a new adaptation of one of Virginia Woolf's most "difficult" works and a classic by Euripedes.... more
The Waves, Virginia Woolf's beautiful, modernist prose-poem of a novel, has been adapted for the stage and the result is compelling, says Nicholas de Jongh.... more
Jeremy Irons, Kathy Burke and Alan Cumming are among the stars who will take leading roles at the 52nd Evening Standard Theatre Awards at The Savoy next Monday.... more
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