Remembering Lenkiewicz

Plymouth, a port city in the southwest of England, is not particularly known for being a cultural hotspot. Yet for many years it was home to one of the country’s most celebrated artists, whose paintings are now lavishly compared to Rembrandt in style and Hogarth in subject matter. Robert Lenkiewicz settled there after leaving London … Continue reading →

From ‘Hell Hole’ to Home

It had a terrible reputation but I was homeless and a temporary flat on a run down estate in central London looked too good an opportunity to pass by. My stay turned out to be a little longer than expected IT WAS LIKE walking into the pages of a magazine spread on modern-day slums. Rubbish bins … Continue reading →

Bean around a long time

It stands like an outpost amidst a sea of change, a small wooden shack serving teas for 45p in a street where designer handbags sell for hundreds of pounds. For Jane Tothill, whose family has run Syd’s Coffee Stall in Calvert Avenue, Shoreditch, for almost 100 years it is becoming to a struggle to survive in … Continue reading →

‘WE’VE FAILED OUR KIDS’: Fast Girls writer compares last year’s riots to the unrest of ’81

Billed as this summer’s ultimate feel good movie, Brit sports flick Fast Girls is a complete departure for dramatist Roy Williams, who co-wrote the screenplay. Williams, one of the country’s finest playwrights and certainly its most prolific, is best known for gritty urban dramas like Fallout, which was inspired by the Damilola Taylor murder. Others … Continue reading →