highlighted slider

I was determined to immerse myself in Japanese modernity.
I didn’t sadly get to visit the gadgets and gimmicks of Akihabara, famous for its many electronics shops but I went instead to Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Here young girls, dressed up as rebel schoolgirls with their ties at half-mast, dream of being snapped up as models. Both kitsch and cute as they acted out their fantasy of perfection for the Instagram age.

Back in late 2018 when I took a plane to Italy’s fashion capital, Milan, little did I realise that an event I attended among a host of top listed on the Borsa Italiana and some unquoted companies would prove key to a story I penned on an advertising debacle that one major Italian fashion house had unwittingly caused in China.

In 2009 PSA the parent company of Peugeot Citroen and now Vauxhall resurrected the DS name. They used it to denote certain models in the range as premium: for example the Citroen DS3 Citroen DS4 Crossback. It was always part of the Citroen range, then in 2015 PSA decided that they would make the DS a stand-alone luxury brand, a halo brand if you will.
On face value, the DS7 Crossback is just a large SUV. There are a lot of them about, 5 seats, nice interior, nothing particularly unusual or special.

Lexus is not the first brand that pops up in car debates, but that may be changing. People are slow to catch on to good things, but Lexus has enjoyed a record sales year, 70% of which are hybrid SUV’s.
The new Lexus UX F Sport Hybrid is a great introduction to great value luxury SUV’s. First off, it has a 2l 4 cylinder inline petrol engine with a combined 181bhp. The petrol engine pumps out 150bhp and the electric motor over the front axle gives out 107bhp. It does 0-62 in 8.5 secs, with a combined 49mpg, though with careful driving you can probably top that.

Christmas and New  Year are all about tradition from the religious aspects leading through to two occasions when memorable dinners are de rigueur.  For these festivities, you can justify exploring beyond the normal choices. For me, the best wines are those fresh discoveries; they add new, pleasurable and exciting experiences to the dinners.

I recently stumbled across Brugal 1888 Rum.
Brugal 1888 is a genuinely impressive rum. It is produced in the Dominican Republic and combines the rich flavours of bourbon and sherry casks through a double-aging process.
This double aging process means that 1888 is first matured in hand-picked ex-bourbon American oak casks, then in European oak, first-fill sherry casks. The bourbon is certainly recognisable, and in Brugals’ own words; “This blend of two worlds gives 1888 a complex yet balanced spirit that stimulates the senses and evolves in the glass.”

Sony WF-1000XM3 Headphones
There is a huge choice of wireless headphones out there these days. Sony's WF-1000XM3 is at the premium end of this spectrum of choice and from the moment you unbox these headphones, you can feel the exceptional quality.
Sound quality is excellent. It's a quality sound with very good noise cancelling.
The bass is solid and the mid range equally strong. There is a depth and separation to the sound that means you can clearly identify individual instruments.

Ahh, the ubiquitous Range Rover, loved for decades by so many for its off-road mastery and palpable history of adventure, yet so derided for being ill-used as a town car.

Interview With Jeff Hadeed Managing Partner South Point Hotel Antigua.
South Point is a privately owned all suite boutique hotel that enjoys an exclusive waterfront location next to Antigua Yacht Club in the heart of English Harbour in Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

The world's your oyster. Now perhaps the next best thing to a taste of Somerset in the West Country itself but without the hassle of a 120-mile drive down the road from London, could well prove to be a trip to Yeo Valley’s café in Queensway in west London. And, so with this in mind I trotted off to what was touted as the "first-ever" Somerset and Exmoor food and drink experience in the capital last week. Producers from the county were there aplenty.