CityAM The Magazine Number 81 Winter 2023

No. 81

THE MAGAZINE

T R AV E L L I N G

GIFTING

Take a pilgrimage through the

9 pages of must-have presents that

rock ‘n’ roll history of LA

will keep you in the good books

WINTER 23

E AT I N G The ‘ world’s best barman’ R yan Chetiyawardana

THOMASIN MCKENZIE: INTERVIEW

tells us what he’d have

The Jojo Rabbit and Last Night in Soho star on her new film Eileen,

for his final

the pressures of acting, and what she learned from Anne Hathaway

meal on ear th

TA K I N G T H E C R OW N : V I O L A P R E T T E J O H N EXCLUSIVE: The rising British star on the role of a lifetime playing the Queen in the new season of the Netflix show

S ECT I O N H E R E

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S ECT I O N H E R E

SUPERMARINE GMT

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EDITOR’S LETTER

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f you’re reading this magazine for the first time – and I suspect many of you are – then allow me to congratulate you on your impeccable taste.

I have written more of these editor’s letters than I care to remember but they count for little today: magazines are much like politicians and football players, only as good as their last game.

So it is with great excitement that I introduce our 81st issue, one of the finest we’ve ever made. The following pages run the gamut from the hottest rising stars to grizzled stalwarts of their industries. On P40 we speak to the inimitable Viola Prettejohn, who plays the young Queen in the latest season of The Crown. On P44 we chat with Hollywood starlet Thomasin McKenzie about her meteoric rise in films including Jojo Rabbit and Last Night in Soho.

Redressing the age balance are interviews with seasoned crime writer Ian Rankin and former US presidential candidate Ralph Nader, both of whom share their decades’ of wisdom with charisma and class.

Elsewhere we take a rock ‘n’ roll tour of LA, bottle of Jack in hand, to retrace the steps of bands including Motley Crue, the Chili Peppers and Deftones. Then we whisk you away to the forgotten land of the Wakhan Corridor, a place all but lost to everyone but the local camels. There is something here for everyone and I’m thrilled to have you along for the ride.

IN SIDE T HIS ISSU E

44 Above: Eileen star Thomasin McKenzie with Anne Hathaway; Below from left: The Aston Martin DB12, which is about more than James Bond; The new Christopher Ward Moonphase; Cover photograph: David Reiss, full credits on P40

FEATURES

REGULARS

46: GEORGE JAQUES

14: CHEF’S TABLE

The hot young writer/director of Black Dog and A Town Called Malice on the joy of making movies

Restaurateur Martin Williams chats to former England rugby star Simon Shaw about class and injury

48: IAN RANKIN

28: WATCHES

The king of crime writing talks about his new novella and the problem with writing about the police

Whether you’re in the market for a new objet d’ art or a pre-owned investment, we have you covered

50: RALPH NADER

62: MOTORS

The perennial US Presidential candidate talks Joe Biden, Donald Trump and his issue with CEOs

Adam Hay-Nicholls drives the new Aston Martin DB12 through the everchanging streets of Austin, Texas

58: THE WAKHAN CORRIDOR

66: THE LAST WORD

Why this forgotten strip of land between Afghanistan and Pakistan is known as ‘the end of the world’

Joel Golby rates the hours in Christmas Day, from initial giftopening to closing time at the pub

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– STEVE DINNEEN 4

S ECT I O N H E R E

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CONTRIBUTORS

HOLLY BROOKS is an influencer and fitness expert. On P37 she talks us through her experience running the New York City Marathon, from the cheering crowds to the panic of hitting the dreaded wall

SAMI TAMIMI is a Palestinian chef, restaurateur and food writer with 35 years’ experience in the industry, based between London and Umbria.

On P17 he writes about why it’s time to ditch the Christmas turkey

ADAM BLOODWORTH is City A.M. The Magazine’s deputy editor. On P40 he interviews rising star Viola Prettejohn, who plays the young Queen in the latest season of Netflix blockbuster series The Crown

JOEL GOLBY is a staff writer for Vice and author of the book Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, a self-described “modern masterpiece”. On P66 he reviews every hour of Christmas day from first drink to last

LAURA MCCREDDIE DOAK edits our watch supplement, bringing news of all the latest openings and releases in the world of fine Swiss timepieces, including an amazing new creation by Christopher Ward – P28

ADAM HAY-NICHOLLS is our jetsetting motoring correspondent. On P62 he drives the new Aston Martin DB12 through Austin, Texas to find out if the brand has finally left James Bond in the rear-view mirror

EDITORIAL TEAM:

Steve Dinneen Editor-in-chief Adam Bloodworth Deputy Editor Billy Breton Creative Director Chris Stopien Deputy Creative Director Andy Blackmore Picture Editor Alex Doak Watch Editor Adam Hay-Nicholls Motoring Editor Tom Matuszewski Illustrator

COMMERCIAL TEAM:

Harry Owen Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Slattery Commercial Director Sophie Pearce Head of Campaign Delivery For sales enquiries contact commercial@cityam.com. City A.M. The Magazine is published by City A.M., St Magnus House, 3 Lower Thames St, EC3R 6HD. Some products and websites promoted in this magazine are owned and distributed by City A.M.’s parent company The Hut Group

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

This year’s Booker Prize winner was Paul Lynch with his dystopian fiction Prophet Song

SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT THE BOOKER? Every year we complain about the Booker Prize but the world is a better place with it, says ANNA MOLONEY

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very year the Booker Prize rolls around and with it a number of think pieces on how the prize is irrelevant, elitist, tedious, unpredictable – take your pick. Many of these stances are justified: certainly the average person cares little about the Booker; nominated books may well prove tedious; and it is without a doubt elitist – only a real literary snob would choose their reading material based on these credentials alone. In other words: you won

the Booker Prize. So what?

The notion that every year the best book is determined by a set group of people with a set group of interests within a set frame of time is absurd. What makes a good novel is impossible to define, debated since the form’s inception and a crucial part of the first week of lectures for any English literature degree. Every year the winner of such a title will be the subject of criticism: either that it was too literary, too populist, that it wasn’t as good as x, that it is too similar to every other Booker nominee, that

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Stories from the worlds of culture, technololgy, design and luxury goods ultimately the victor is chosen due to a good bit of luck.

The thing is, the Booker Prize does not pick the best book every year. But that does not make its choices arbitrary. The process itself – in which five judges, chosen by the Booker Foundation, embark on a mammoth task to read around 150 books in seven months (yes, that’s around a book a day), followed by a rereading of 12/13 of those books, followed by a re-rereading of six of those books – may not be infallible, but it is certainly quite rigorous.

How those books are chosen is also not as whimsical or unreasonable as some may suggest. Around 10 per cent of the books considered are called in by judges, while the rest are put forward by publishers. Now, while publishing houses no doubt have a vested interest (yes, a nomination will significantly drive up sales), their specialism – publishing books – makes them well-suited to the task.

How the judges are chosen is a better question to pose, and the answer is less clearcut. “Essentially what you’re looking for are people that are going to read on behalf of the general public, but not second guess them,” is how Booker Prize Foundation director Gaby Wood described her criteria. Wood said the panel, which changes every year, is chosen to encompass judges with different tastes, with “diversity in the broadest sense” in mind.

Writers, publishers, professors, actors, comedians, scientists, Nigella Lawson and a former Archbishop of Canterbury have featured among previous panels. Wood has said it is the combination of judges, rather than the individuals themselves, that proves the most important. And Wood herself is only one of 14 on the advisory committee, made up of writers, publishers, journalists and the likes, who hand select the judges.

The criteria for being selected as a judge is so vague it makes the ultimate mission – choosing the best novel of the year – seem well-defined. But it is not surprising the criteria is so loose; this is a subjective process, its determination can never be a perfect science.

While we can proceed to ask who chooses the Booker, and who chooses who chooses the Booker, and who chooses who chooses who chooses the Booker, neither you nor I want to. And if you do, bon voyage, my friend. There will always be ways the process could be made fairer and more rigorous but we should accept it for what it is: a niche literary prize that takes considerable care over its task.

The prize is not without legitimate criticism. The Booker has its own wellpublicised history with controversy: its colonial roots for one, while accusations of being ‘pale, male and stale’ are not unfounded (this year’s shortlist contained more Pauls than women). But that it is elitist in a literary sense – well, of course! Prizes are by nature elitist. And, unless we wish to celebrate bad writers, we should keep them that way.

F I R ST I M P R E S S I O N S

Three Spirit is one of a growing number of no-alcohol drinks promising a legal high – but does it work? Three Spirit is available from masterofmalt.com

SOBER HIGHS: WASTED, OR A WASTE OF TIME? Can no-alcohol drinks really make you feel more relaxed or super-sociable?

ADAM BLOODWORTH goes in search of the hangover-free holy grail

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his one’s got CBD in it,” says Laura Willoughby with a wry smile. “This has valerian which can help with sleep, and this has Gaba enhancers.”

Willoughby, who runs London’s only non-alcoholic bar, is reeling off ingredients in their low-and-no range.

The drinks may not contain the distilled stuff that typically gets us going, but could Willoughby and her non-boozing cohort be getting kicks in other ways? A new wave of low-and-no drinks containing ‘moodenhancing’ ingredients suggests so.

The sight of a zero percent beer on the table at the pub is no longer a giveaway that someone is pregnant: UK alcohol sales fell nine percent year-on-year in 2022, and noand-low sales rose by three percent. Between 2002 and 2019 the amount of 16-24 year olds drinking monthly fell from 67 to 41 per cent.

“Mood Enhancing, alcohol-free drinks are growing in popularity,” says Willoughby.

“It’s not a surprise that drinks offering a natural lift in your mood are a good replacement for alcohol.” In her bar Club Soda, mixologists serve an espresso martini

with Three Spirit Social, a dark and herbal liqueur, something called Koffee Saffron Gold, and a dollop of milk stout. “It has lion’s mane mushroom, yerba mate and damiana to help you feel more convivial,” says Willoughby.

Proponents of the low-and-no craze claim there are three types of drink that can give you a buzz without alcohol (and without breaking the law). ‘Enhancers’ like Three Spirit Social; ‘gaba activators’ like the ones made by Sentia Spirits, which contain botanical aromas said to alert your neurotransmitters; and drinks with cannabidiol (CBD), a natural component in cannabis plants.

According to the marketing material, gaba activators are designed “to elevate your mood and promote relaxation while keeping you clear-headed and in control” and “ensure you can fully embrace the moment while maintaining your well-being.”

Members of the CBD cult, meanwhile, believe it has therapeutic qualities despite containing none of the psychoactive qualities usually associated with cannabis.

Dissenting voices think getting kicks without paying the price might be as far-

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fetched as those boozed up business ideas hatched with a pal in the early hours.

“There will always be a market for legal substances that are perceived to be prosocial in some way. But evidence for these to achieve the implied effects is limited,” says Professor Adam Winstock, director of the Global Drug Survey, which tracks the behaviours of British drinkers. “Placebo and novelty will get a product just so far. In reality if they exert too much of an effect then legislation and regulation are likely to come knocking.”

Doctor Sadie Boniface, head of research at the Institute of Alcohol Studies, goes one step further, saying there is “no evidence” the products are helping people reduce their alcohol consumption. “Some people argue these products – and other no and low alcohol drinks – do lead people to reduce their drinking, but there isn’t strong research showing that people substitute these products for alcohol on a wide scale.”

Why not pop into the Club Soda bar in Covent Garden and try it for yourself. You might not feel absolutely trashed, but after a stressful day in the office we certainly like the sound of feeling more relaxed.

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FO O D & B O OZ E

Ryan Chetiyawardana runs Lyaness, ‘the world’s top bar’ on the Southbank

THE LAST SUPPER We ask the world’s best barman RYAN CHETIYAWARDANA what he’d eat for his last meal on Earth – and it’s a big one...

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he kick off to my last supper has to be martinis. There’s something about a martini: I always think of it as a perfect moment, you pause when you drink a martini and that centres you. To be able to share that with a loved one ahead of dinner is one of life’s perfect moments. I may as well go excessive in the final days so make it a martini and caviar.

I’m quite happy with being absolutely stuffed by the time I go out so even though this is not a starter, I’m going to start with dim sum. This dish was crucial to my life growing up. My oldest friend is half Chinese so we used to go and play rugby together and have dim sum with his family after. It feels like togetherness and comfort. I also think it’s probably the most technically driven and delicious thing in the world.

Usually I just have tea with dim sum but I’m also a fan of having a trifecta of liquids: tea, sparkling water and usually wine, so I’d have some excellent champagne. I’ll lean into some single estate Krug ‘cause why not? It’d be excessive but wonderful.

I’d throw in some Omakase style, very fancy sushi alongside as a second starter. That would be great alongside some sake: you really taste the refinement and the expertise when you try superlative renditions of both sushi and sake.

Next I’m going to go for some real indulgence. As much as I like fancy things, I really just want fried

chicken. There are a couple of places that do it very well. I once ended up in some late night place in Seoul run by this little old lady just by herself doing fried chicken and I would travel to Korea just to eat that dish.

To have that fried chicken alongside some really baller burgundy would be a wonderful outro for me.

I’m going to double up my dessert because I might as well! I’m definitely going to have ice cream alongside a manhattan because there’s something wonderful about the way they intertwine. They’re both rich and indulgent but there is nuance to both of them.

And I’ll also have a crème brûlée, which to me is the perfect dessert. It can go so wrong so often but we’ll have it nailed.

And then I’ll have a tiny little plate of cheese with a dram of Bowmore 1964 fino cask. I’ve often tried to find ways to emulate that but it’s just a snapshot of time. It’s from a different era and has been given time to breathe, taking on this set of flavours that I’ve never encountered anywhere else. It’s a terrifyingly expensive bottle to get hold of, but it’s still the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It baffles me how barley, water and wood with the help of some microbes tastes more tropical than tropical fruit ever could.

There are certain products that make you feel reflective of the world, they’re so condensed and so complex, like a great piece of music. A glass of that with some cheese would be a lovely way to go. l Ryan Chetiyawardana, aka Mr Lyan, runs ‘the world’s best bar’, Lyaness, on the Southbank. For more go to mrlyan.com

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FO O D & B O OZ E

Clockwise from main: Former England star Simon Shaw with restaurateur Martin Williams; The chic interior of Gaucho City; Gaucho’s excellent and sustainable steaks. Portrait by Gretel Ensignia

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CHEF’S TABLE

This month MARTIN WILLIAMS, founder of M Restaurant and owner of Gaucho, invites SIMON SHAW, former England rugby player, for lunch at his newly refurbished Gaucho City MARTIN WILLIAMS: Thanks for joining me, Simon. I’m looking forward to that prime rib platter we’ve ordered with four cuts of beef…

smaller portions and higher quality.

SIMON SHAW: I’ve always loved meat! But I’ve become a fish convert since I moved to France. I’m sure this will offend the French population but I’ve been sorely disappointed with French meat compared to what I’ve eaten in the UK. I just don’t enjoy it. When I’m in France I predominantly eat fish which means I’m absolutely crying out for meat when I come to the UK.

MW: I go to Moen’s on Wandsworth Common, one of the best butchers in London. I don’t really buy steak, I buy things like short rib and pork and lamb shoulder. I’ve got a Green Egg at home so I love cooking in that.

SS: Any tips for where to buy the best meat?

MW: Like everyone I’m eating less meat, but eating better. We calculate the carbon footprint of our meat at Gaucho and M to offset it through reforestation projects in the Amazon. All of our beef at Gaucho is carbon neutral. The meat we serve is regeneratively farmed, animal welfare is phenomenal and you can taste the difference. I would never buy meat in a supermarket, I would only eat it in a restaurant. I do end up eating steak three or four times a week but it tends to be

SS: I’m incredibly fortunate that my wife is slightly obsessive about her cooking. She became increasingly so during Covid, always experimenting and exploring new cuisines. Every evening we had a three-course gourmet meal of whatever we chose. She’ll ask us to pick a country, style, cuisine and she goes away and makes the most incredible meals. It’s lots of different dishes from Mexico, India or Thailand.

MW: That sounds like a dream. How do you manage to stay fit?

SS: As you know Martin, I don’t really do any fitness anymore but during my career my issues with weight were a challenge I had to overcome.

I had a tendency to gorge myself. If you weren’t here I’d happily finish the rest of this off. When you’re playing you can’t afford to be under or overweight. I had to understand my own body.

It’s now become second nature. If I eat copious amounts one day I back off for a couple of days.

MW: Because of the amount of food tastings and entertaining I have to do I have a personal trainer twice a week and I also love cycling and running.

I exercise four times a week, which keeps me at an acceptable weight.

SS: It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to post pictures of yourself half naked sweating over a bike, Martin…

MW: Ha, no! But I’m sure my audience wants to see that! How was the World Cup? SS: Exciting at times, painful at other times.

MW: We were pretty close this year...

SS: You could argue that England could have won the World Cup if that one point had gone either way, having been absolutely nowhere at the start

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FO O D & B O OZ E

of the tournament. It was frustrating but ultimately a pretty good showing.

MW: Do you think South Africa winning was a positive thing for the game?

SS: Not necessarily. They won in a fashion that didn’t entertain or necessarily inspire new generations. It hardly got you out of your seat thinking, ‘This is a sport I want to follow!’ They didn’t score a try, instead they kicked penalties. That suggests you don’t need to have the skill sets to win by scoring amazing tries. It’s the same with England – they got so far by playing the percentages.

That’s not a great spectacle.

MW: You helped get new guidelines in place in April this year to help research and ultimately prohibit head injuries in sport.

Did you see any improvement at the World Cup?

SW: I’m a president of a campaign charity called Love of the Game. Our aim is to understand concussion so we can better identify and ultimately treat it so it doesn’t become the major talking point in sport and doesn’t deter people from playing. A major problem for me from this World Cup was you’ve almost got this brushing under the carpet of what’s happening on the pitch. After an injury the decision is made about whether the player comes back on or not, not whether they’ve got concussion, which is so ridiculous because the whole conversation started around preventable concussion and treatment.

MW: At the moment it’s more about the punishment and not about helping the victim.

SS: Yeah. It was a bit shambolic if I’m honest. Massively inconsistent. There are technologies that can quickly assess your

Top: Simon in his England heyday playing alongside Jonny Wilkinson – he won 71 caps for the national side; Right: And don’t think it’s just steak on the menu – the desserts are to die for

cognitive function post concussion. They weren’t used, there are therapies out there, technological therapies that were available to all. There were three teams of doctors when it should have been made available to all teams at all stadiums regardless.

They’re proven technologies, not in the trial phase. We were instrumental in bringing all the experts in concussion together: neuroscientists, neurosurgeons.

They’d never spoken before – they were all working in silos and we got them to convene regularly. Unfortunately it’s a fairly slow-moving machine. And the slow progress is up at the top. It’s about the elite making the changes so the rest of us can benefit and enjoy sport.

MW: Have you managed to get away on holiday anywhere before Christmas?

SS: I’ve got a family of six so I’m conscious that whatever we do it inevitably comes to a hefty amount, so I’m always penny pinching. At the same time you want them to have a fabulous experience. With the kids, finding things that are free means it’s a throwback to what I experienced growing up. Buckets and spades, whatever it is. I think they need to be grounded in that respect rather than me throwing money at every situation.

MW: But you’re part of the elite, Simon! I come from a working class background in the north east of England where everyone watches football. You’re an over-privileged public school boy who has lived his life with royalty! In fairness I throw money at holidays. My wife and I both love food and wine so we tend to go to places where we can enjoy great food, great vineyards, great hotels. We just relax a lot – lie by the pool reading. Anything to prepare ourselves for the onslaught of Christmas!

To book a table at Gaucho City go to gauchorestaurants. com

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CHRISTMAS COOKING SAMI TAMIMI

WHY IT’S TIME TO DITCH THE TOUGH OLD BIRD Forget turkey – the best-selling author and top chef on what you should actually be laying on the table on Christmas Day

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ntil I came to the UK in the late nineties, I had never had the pleasure of meeting a bird called ‘turkey’. You see, in the Middle East where I’m from, as in many other parts of the world, other meats are preferred on the Christmas table.

It was Christmas 1997, when I was working at Baker and Spice, a deli and a bakery in Knightsbridge, that I had my first turkey experience. I had to prepare a vast number of them that our customers had requested as part of their festive orders. I remember thinking to myself, ‘What an enormous, ugly thing to have on your Christmas table…’ Later on, after tasting the meat, I discovered another thing: turkey is not just ugly but also dry and tasteless. They are also a real challenge to cook properly, with over-cooking or under-cooking being perennial problems.

So, this year, I’d like to suggest a few alternatives that will give the old turkey a run for its money, and will transform your Christmas lunch into an impressive culinary celebration.

From roast duck or goose to cockerel or even a flavourful stuffed quail, there are plenty of ways to ensure a unique and festive Christmas meal.

Duck is a rich, succulent meat with a wonderful crispy skin. Its rich, distinctive flavour adds a luxurious touch to a holiday menu, and it takes a quarter of the cooking time of turkey. I like to add a few layers of flavours to mine, like orange peel, star anise and pomegranate to compliment the deep, rich meat. It’s utterly delicious when served with whole roasted apples.

Roasting a goose for Christmas lunch is a delightful choice.

Again, goose meat is rich and flavourful, with a succulent texture and skin that crisps well. Just ensure proper cooking to achieve a truly juicy result. I

would recommend cooking it with plenty of shallots or small onions, cranberries and cinnamon.

With cockerel, the smaller the bird you can get, the better. Cockerels cook faster than larger birds, making them convenient on a day like Christmas, plus they easily absorb the flavour of marinades, herbs and spices. Overall, the flavour of a cockerel is wonderfully balanced, with a slightly sweeter taste compared to a regular chicken, and is exceptionally good when paired with lemon, garlic and hard herbs, such as thyme, sage or rosemary.

Choosing partridge for the festive meal offers an exciting alternative to the usual. Partridge has a distinct, rich flavour that is often described as slightly gamey, but milder than some other game birds. It pairs well with cider, chestnuts, bacon and a variety of herbs and fruits. Partridges are small birds, so great for smaller gatherings, or for those who prefer individual servings. Serve one partridge per person.

Quail is a real delicacy with a delicate, slightly gamey taste. When stuffed with flavourful ingredients, it provides an elegant dining experience. Stuffing for quail can vary, but a mixture of ingredients such as freekeh, breadcrumbs or couscous, herbs, spices, dried fruits, and nuts would be a great choice. Stuffed quails are best roasted or grilled, allowing the stuffing to infuse the meat and impart its aromatic savoury and sweet notes. The result is a dish that is not only visually appealing but also rich in taste, making it a great option for the Christmas table. I would recommend serving one quail person (with an extra for possible seconds). They’re small birds, but there is always so much other food to eat.

I wish you all a joyous Christmas, filled with love, happiness and lots of delicious food. l Sami is author of Falastin: A Cookbook

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GIFTS

Some products and websites promoted in this guide are owned and distributed by City A.M.’s parent company The Hut Group

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TECHNOLOGY | P24

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BENEFIT HOLIDAY PORE SCORE £34

ELEMIS THE GIFT OF PRO-COLLAGEN ICONS, £95

Another must-buy this year is the Holiday Pore Score Gift Set, which includes a full-size primer, a mini foaming cleanser and toning foam, and a clay mask sample. The ideal gift for someone who wants to stay looking effortlessly glam throughout Christmas.

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This super set will be well received by anyone who values that much-coveted natural glow. The set includes Charlotte’s Magic Cream to boost luminosity and Charlotte’s Magic Body Cream to hydrate and revive.

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HOURGLASS AMBIENT LIGHTING EDIT PALETTE, £86

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ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS FALL ROMANCE EYESHADOW PALETTE, £55

This ultra-luxe eyeshadow palette contains a range of sexy metallic shades to take you through all the Christmas and New Year soirées looking like an absolute icon. The highly pigmented, easy-to-blend formula allows you to create a versatile range of looks, from subtle blends to dramatic glow-ups.

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GIFTING: FITNESS

MYPRO X PULSEROLL VIBRATING FOAM ROLLER, £120 AND MYPRO X SHAKESPHERE METAL SHAKER, £55, BOTH FROM MYPROTEIN.COM

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NOHRD WATERROWER IN WALNUT, £1,349, NOHRD.COM

As much a status symbol as it is a fitness device, this beautiful walnut-finish rowing machine comes with the pedigree of Nohrd, who have been manufacturing resistance training kit for a quarter of a century. Gazing at the churning water as you work out will surely push you to beat your personal bests. And when you’re not using it, it stacks neatly against a wall.

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LOTUS TYPE 136 E-BIKE, £16,999, LOTUSCARS.COM

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BEATS FIT PRO £220, BEATSBYDRE.COM

MOTUS STRENGTH £170, VIVOBAREFOOT.COM

There are few things more frustrating when you’re out for a run than losing one of your ear buds. These chic noise cancelling ones from Beats are designed to stay put – and they sound great, too.

You’ve heard of barefoot running shoes – these zerodrop trainers take that concept and apply it to gym shoes, allowing your feet to naturally adapt to your movements during weight and resistance training.

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G I F T I N G : T EC H

LEICA Q3 £5,300, LEICA-CAMERA.COM

This is probably the best travel camera ever made. The Q series is the German camera-maker’s take on a compact camera, coming complete with autofocus and a chassis that’s so perfectly weighted it feels like an extension of your shooting hand. Its indulgent luxury invokes a certain je ne sais quoi that emanates within, rather like a wellfitted bespoke suit that can make you seem ten feet taller. And whilst that may not make you a better photographer, it will make you want to be one. A brilliant coming together of artistry and engineering.

APPLE WATCH ULTRA 2 £799, APPLE.COM

ANALOGUE POCKET GLOW £200, ANALOGUE.CO

Apple already had the smart watch category pretty well sewn up even before it released the rugged Ultra.

Featuring a brighter display and improved performance, in the Ultra 2 the best just got even better.

When Pocket brought out the adorably retro Pocket handheld games console, it sent the internet into raptures.

Well made and able to play Gameboy games, this version even glows in the dark. What’s not to love?

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GIFTING: HAMPERS

HARRODS THE ST JAMES CHRISTMAS HAMPER, £365, HARRODS.COM

PANZER’S ANGEL’S DELIGHT HAMPER, £250, PANZERS.CO.UK

When it comes to hampers, few people do it as well as Harrods.

From handmade condiments and chocolates to specially selected wines, these are the crème de la crème of festive treats. Even better, if you’re gifting through your company, Harrods Corporate Service will take care of all the details for you. We recommend the superb St James Christmas Hamper, which comes with warming drinks and sweet festive treats, created in honour of one of London’s most historic areas.

The much-loved St John’s Wood deli and grocery, which celebrates its 80th birthday next year, features a range of products hand-selected by owner David Josephs and his team, including treats such as Nana Lilly’s homemade puddings, cakes and condiments, and The Skailes family’s Cropwell Bishop Blue Stilton. Expect award-winning delicacies like smoked salmon, mince pies and panettone, and the very best Christmas essentials, including cheese, wine and cakes.

FORTNUM & MASON THE ST NICHOLAS HAMPER, £360, FORTNUMANDMASON.COM Toast the big man himself with this fabulous set from a company that has been mastering the art of the Christmas hamper for longer than almost anyone. Father Christmas would approve of the fine booze to be found within, including Brut Réserve NV Champagne, Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc, Argentinian Malbec and Sauternes. There’s also an irresistible St James christmas pudding, chocolate truffles, ground coffee, spiced black tea and more delicious sweets than we have space to list. The perfect offering to bring home for Christmas day.

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G I F T I N G : F R AG R A N C E

THE NUE CO. WATER THERAPY 50ML, £98

AESOP GLOAM EAU DE PARFUM 50ML, £140

Perfumes are no longer just aesthetic, they’re becoming items that help us live better lives. This scent has stress relieving qualities to help the wearer’s nervous system work more efficiently and aid relaxation. Notes include black pepper, seaweed and bergamot.

A boisterous, memorable scent, Gloam is richly floral and spicy, made by combining the finest botanical ingredients with modern scientific discoveries to also be gentle on your skin. Notes include pepper, cardamon, orange flower, sandalwood and rose – perfect for travelling.

KILIAN LOVE. DON’T BY SHY EAU DE PARFUM 100ML, £350

LE LABO THÉ MATCHA 26 100ML, £220

You don’t expect your cognac distiller to produce excellent aromas too, but Kilian Hennessy is no typical brand. The eponymous founder built his scent upon the smell of woody cognac maturing in cellars. It promises to be “like the exhilarating innocence of your first love.”

This scent takes inspiration from matcha tea culture in Japan. With notes of matcha, this soft scent also features creamy fig tones, as well as citrus, and a soft woody note.

Gentle and sophisticated, for wearers who want to keep people guessing.

ALL AVAILABLE FROM CULTBEAUTY.CO.UK 26

MALIN + GOETZ CANNABIS SCENTED CANDLE 260G, £55

ESCENTRIC MOLECULES M+ MOLECULE 01 + PATCHOULI, £115

Created by perfume wonderkind Geza Schoen, one of the industry’s leading talents, this fragrance is bold and innovative. Earthy, spicy patchouli oil takes wearers “back to the halcyon days of the sixties and seventies, evoking the sexy, bohemian spirit of Woodstock and Bob Dylan”.

Not everyone wants a candle with a “long-lasting” cannabis arona - but for those that do, this Malin + Goetz Cannabis Candle is surely the most luxurious (and legal) way to consume it. There’s no actual cannabis here, just a curation of scents that match up to the real thing.

MOLTON BROWN RE-CHARGE BLACK PEPPER EAU DE PARFUM, £120

OVEROSE HOLO ANAMORPHINE CANDLE, £52

In an era of genderfluid scents, it’s refreshing to see a fragrance market itself in such a boldly masculine way.

Molton Brown’s black pepper eau de parfum is made for strong fragrance fans, with notes of black pepper, ginger and vetiver making something deliciously potent.

This spectacular-looking candle has a holographic design that precedes its smell, but the scent is equally beguiling.

Once you’ve finished staring at the design on the pot, take in notes of peonies flowers, raspberries, rosewater and kaffir lemon leaf.

ALL AVAILABLE FROM CULTBEAUTY.CO.UK 27

S ECT I O N H E R E

WATCHES

SHEER

LUNACY

You’ll be howling at the moon if you can’t get your hands on this amazing timepiece from Christopher Ward, says LAURA MCCREDDIE DOAK

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he moonphase function on a watch can seem an afterthought, an essentially unnecessary complication sitting at six o’clock and largely ignored. Christopher Ward has turned that thinking on its head by launching a watch that is all moonphase. This is the third time the brand has played with this notion, following on from 2015’s C9, a more classic interpretation, and 2019’s C1 Moonglow – a green SuperLuminova delight with a 3D moon and sporty vibe. Now there’s the C1 Moonphase.

Christopher Ward has stripped the aventurine dial of all detail, even the logo and because each piece of aventurine is different, every dial is unique. However,

the real “star” is the moonphase. It is 25 per cent bigger than its predecessor and made from Globolight – a SuperLuminova and ceramic mix that glows white rather than green, which, when combined with its 3-dimensionality and photorealistic moon surface, gives it an eerily realistic appearance.

Christopher Ward has connected the moonphase module to the hour hands of its in-house JJ04 movement to ensure that, if the watch is kept wound it will be accurate for 128 years. It does come on a bracelet, but it is the midnight-blue strap that really emphasises the after-dark elegance of the design. If you’re in the market for a dress watch that’s a little out of this world, look no further. l Go to christopherward.com

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Advert ID:Manual Advert 210 mm by297 mm Booking Code: Customer ID: Colour: First Appearance: Last Appearance:

WATC H E S

WHAT’S TICKING? The latest goings on in the world of haute horologie, from new store openings to the latest motoring collaboration

Above: Watch boutique Kettle Kids on Maddox Street; Below from top: Subdial founders Christy Davis and Ross Crane; Girard-Perregaux’s Aston Martin collaboration

BRILLIANT BOUTIQUES

Bricks and mortar are back – and it’s not all about Bond Street anymore. GirardPerregaux has opened its first monobrand boutique, in partnership with Bucherer, in the capital on east Piazza on the Royal Opera House Arcade. This sleek minimalist spot will showcase the brand’s collections as well as its collaboration with Aston Martin.

Slightly closer to watch mecca but very much not your average watch boutique is Kettle Kids on Maddox Street. Kettle Kids, aka Harvey and Jacob Hutson, started their business online with “one thousand pounds from our nan” in 2017 selling high-end watches and jewellery.

This is their first physical space and it’s as original as they are. The shop front is mint acrylic, obscuring what’s inside. A few select watches are displayed like works of art and camel-wool curtains break up the hard surfaces. It’s a delight for the senses as well as being an unconventional space to make your next watch purchase. Also opting for the unconventional is ROX. This Scottish luxury powerhouse has finally ventured south and has opened its first boutique in London in Battersea Power Station. Like everything ROX does it exudes glamour, from the well-stocked champagne bar to the blush, plush furnishings.

SUBDIAL BULLISH ON THE WATCH MARKET

You may not have heard of Subdial yet, the

selling regularly to ensure you capitalise on your wrist-worn investments. Subdial isn’t just about data analysis, it’s a marketplace too. New watches drop every Thursday and Subdial takes care of everything from authentication to servicing and shipping.

There’s even an incentive scheme for those who like to chop and change on the regular, with membership tiers and reduced fees the higher up you move. It’s not for those who think of watches as sentimental objects but if you don’t have that attachment, it’s an exciting way to build a collection. l subdial.com

GREEN MACHINE

new-ish kid on the pre-owned block, but you soon will. It’s notable for its Market Index – a chart, in association with Bloomberg, that tracks the prices of the 50 most bankable watches, like a stock market. Subdial’s founders, Christy Davis and Ross Crane, want you to treat your watch collection like an investment portfolio, buying and

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Girard-Perregaux could quite happily have rested on its laurels after the launch of its gorgeous green ceramic Aston-Martin edition Laureato. But no. It has decided what the world needs is another Aston Martin collaboration, this time taking on the iconic Three (well, in this case two) Bridges design.

This is the fifth co-branded watch but it is the first time that it has been in Aston Martin’s signature green. The 45mm case is in DLC coated titanium, the inscribed micro rotor and barrel are inspired by the visible brakes that can be seen through the spoked wheels of a DB12, the hands are filled with green lume and the sapphire caseback is emblazoned with the car brand’s logo. It’s a mash-up of tradition and technology and a sign of a partnership that still has wings. l £32,100, girard-perregaux.com

Advert ID:Manual Advert 210 mm by297 mm Booking Code: Customer ID: Colour: First Appearance: Last Appearance:

WATC H E S

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EXPRESS

YOURSELF Watchmakers are wearing their art on your sleeve, says ALEX DOAK, with a new wave of kinetic grandstanding

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f Richard Rogers invented ‘techno’ architecture in the seventies, turning buildings like Lloyd’s of London inside-out, then around the same time you can credit Audemars Piguet for inventing ‘techno’ watchmaking. The Swiss marque pioneered the concept of bringing a mechanical timepiece’s inner anatomy dial-side, rendering its ticking works as miniature architecture.

It started with AP’s wafer-thin ‘2870’ tourbillon of 1986, which brought the tumbling, merry-go-round carriage into plain sight, daring to expose the pulsing, pendulous ‘balance’. Running with the fairground analogy, Audemars Piguet’s next adventure in Techno was a teacup ride: the Starwheel of 1991, which was dramatically rebooted earlier this year.

Richard Mille ran with the baton: in 1999 his revolutionary, stripped-back ‘racing machines for the wrist’ showcased all the springs, gears, levers and pinions in glorious 3D, rather than simply ‘skeletonising’ the usual sandwich of bridges that connect them, or cutting a hole in the dial.

It’s an approach that’s become a horological ‘complication’ in its own right. But now Switzerland’s next generation of boffins have been inspired to think *outside* the case…

SATELLITES AND STARS

In Audemars Piguet’s suitably futureforward ’11.59’ construct – a controversial launch back in 2019, with its mesmeric dance of octagons, circles and bizarre ‘floating’ strap attachments – three spinning hour discs whirr on the tips of spinning spokes. Each ‘satellite’ is marked with four hour numerals, taking it in turns to track across a 120º minutes calibration. When it’s time for a disc to begin another arc at ‘0’, as

the other reaches ‘60’, a co-axial, four-pronged ‘starwheel’ nudges it round to align the next hour numeral accordingly (you really need to see it in action).

‘Wandering hours’ are by no means new, nor indeed exclusive to AP. The idea was invented in 1656, for the holiest of holy insomniacs, Pope Alexander VII. It was an internally oil-lit clock readable without the hassle of holding a candle over the dial. In AP’s new limited edition this is reimagined as a shimmering blue aventurine dial. With its three slightly domed discs finished in sandblasted opaline, reading them really is like stargazing into a crisp, miniature night sky.

WRIST ROCKET

Unbelievably, Ulysse Nardin’s Freak continues to spring surprises a full 22 years after its devastating launch. The niche chronometer label’s ‘flying carousel’ sees the entire movement rotate 360 degrees on the face of the dial every 12 hours. It doesn’t stop there: the Freak was a crucible for even wilder innovation, featuring antimagnetic, lubricant-free components laseretched from silicon wafers.

This year the new Freak S pushes the envelope by including a dual ‘oscillator’ (the circular pendulum whose frantic tick regulates the speed of the gear wheels). It’s UN’s first doubled-up oscillator connected by a differential to average-out and effectively ‘regulate’ the rate of tick, improving both precision and resistance to knocks and wobbles. The silicon has even been coated with a layer of artificial diamond to ease friction. If you’re talking ‘sci-fi’ watchmaking, you won’t find anything like it on the planet, let alone Switzerland.

Montblanc’s Monopusher Chronograph, meanwhile, offers an uninterrupted peep

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WATC H E S

Patek Philippe has produced a chiming, musical ‘minute repeater’ where others have tried and failed

into watchmaking’s most beautiful manually-wound chronographs. Since the historic German penmaker-turnedSwiss watchmaker acquired the historic Minerva factory in 2006, its catalogue of complications has been sympathetically revived.

Mineva’s iconic MB M16.29 calibre has been spun to reveal the lithe curves of its bridges, sinuous stopwatch levers and flawlessly polished bevelled edges – all skeletonised with the delicacy of lacework.

Turning a movement over sounds simple, but it is a technical feat given the direction of the hands also needs to be reversed. This limited edition of 88 pieces comes in a 43mm ‘distressed’ stainless steel case with a white gold fluted bezel and features a black nubuck leather strap with ‘distressed’ steel triple-folding clasp.

FF’S ESCAPE

Research’ division took the existing inhouse R27PS minute repeater movement from 1989 and added a module that they call the ‘ff’ (or ‘fortissimo’ if you know your sheet-music notation). Essentially, ff acts like a mechanical loudspeaker: extending out from in between the gongs to the centre of the movement is what Patek refers to as a ‘sound lever’, attached to a wafer of synthetic sapphire crystal just 0.2mm thick.

This tuning-fork-like set-up transmits the sound waves straight through the openings in a titanium movement ring, then through a single minuscule opening between the caseback and band.

But what about dust and splashes? Believe it or not, ingress is prevented by an antidust filter; an idea Patek Philippe borrowed from the mobile phone sector. It seems the ff is a particularly smart watch.

For a grand maison of Patek Philippe’s calibre, producing a chiming, musical ‘minute repeater’ that improved on sound amplification and transmission where most others fail simply goes to show why Geneva’s favourite son continues to sit at the top of tree.

PP is a marque that makes the minute repeater a house speciality, with full mastery of the impossibly tricky task in annealing two circular wire gongs with closely-guarded secret alloy, then ‘tuning’ them to perfect ‘ding’ and ‘dong’ pitch. Plus there’s the constellation of racks, snail cams and star wheels mechanically programmed to translate the current time (down to the second) to the ’strike’ of two tiny hammers upon the gongs.

For its next trick, its crack ‘Advanced

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WOMAN’S HOUR LAURA MCCREDDIE-DOAK

FELLAS, HANDS OFF MY TAG! Once, women helped themselves to their partners’ wristwear – now men are raiding the watch boxes of their wives and girlfriends

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o announce the new coloured dials of Gucci’s 25H, the brand snapped a picture of Idris Elba in a Pepto-Bismol pink suit complete with complementary corsage, sporting a 25H with a similarly hued dial. It’s a watch he would later be papped wearing, suggesting this was a man very comfortable with his dial shade choices.

Then, Ryan Gosling takes to the Barbie pink carpet matching his baby blue suit with a TAG Heuer Carrera in a very hot fuschia.

Omega also brought out its Aqua Terra Shades in cases sized 38mm or 34mm with an ad campaign that featured Eddie Redmayne and Zoe Kravitz with no marked delineation as to who was wearing what colour. Add to that the trend for gender-fluid collections and case sizes that tend towards the sub-40mm and you find yourself asking the question – is it time for women to start sharing their watch collections with men?

A decade ago, this is not a question I thought I’d be asking. Women borrowed men’s watches, wore them dangling from dainty wrists; their oversizedness leant an insouciance to an outfit, like wearing your other half’s shirt. It was also born out of necessity. Switzerland hadn’t yet learnt to respect the female dollar, choosing instead to put their R&D budget into men’s watches, thinking that they could

accommodate women simply by shrinking the case size and prettifying the dial colour.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things started to change. The taste for retro reissues was a factor in reducing case sizes. Dials in colours other than black, white, or blue may have contributed, with the likes of Nomos using its Club Campus and Tetra collections to expand watch lovers’ palettes.

But probably the most seismic shift was Oris’s Diver 65 Cotton Candy collection.

Launched in 2021, these were 38mm bronze-cased diving watches with dials in a trio of tasty pastels, including an eye-catching Lipstick pink. Suddenly you had serious watch blogs debating whether men could wear a pink watch, with most answering, “yes”.

This shift opens up some interesting possibilities. Shared watch wardrobes, pooled resources for new purchases. But are women going to be happy sharing that space with men?

I have two watches my husband regularly borrows – my Bremont Solo and my S.U.F Helsinki 180C with a fireengine red dial – but I’m not sure how I’d feel if he took my Oris Cotton Candy off me. Maybe it’s a case of pooling some of our collection but keeping others to ourselves. Try as I might, I can’t wear his Tissot Heritage 1973 chronograph as it is just too big and there’s no way he’s going to wear my Zenith with diamonds around the dial. At least I don’t think he will. Given the new watchworld order, there’s no guarantee.

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WELLNESS

MEDITATIVE

MALDIVES T

here are few more relaxing places in the world than the tropical haven of the Maldives. But even against this blissful backdrop, Joali Being stands apart.

This is an entire island dedicated to wellness, its every design decision taken with the intention of making you feel as relaxed and pampered as is humanly possible.

There are salt chambers to purify your airways, a Turkish hamam to wash away your worries, art and pottery classes to clear your mind, and more yoga and meditation sessions than you could hope to attend.

It also features the most indulgent, intimate treatment we have ever experienced in its purpose-built watsu pool.

Watsu – a portmanteau of water and shiatsu – is a therapy where you are gently swooshed through water, at Joali heated to exactly

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body temperature, in a way that stretches your joints without applying pressure on your body, relying only upon your own momentum. Being waltzed through this womb-like shine to relaxation by a strong Ukrainian man is equal parts wonderful and peculiar. When you’re finished consider a sound bath, where a Thai lady will play 15 instruments around your prone body in your own personalised concert. Magical. l To book go to joali.com

WELLNESS

RUNNING & ME HOLLY BROOKS

NOW I KNOW WHAT ‘HITTING THE WALL’ MEANS The influencer and Myprotein activewear ambassador talks about her experience running the New York City Marathon

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he New York City Marathon is such an amazing experience. Before the race, people had told me to take my headphones out and just listen to the crowd and they weren’t wrong – it’s like nothing else. Going in I didn’t put too much pressure on myself.

I don’t usually run for times because I just genuinely love running. But in the back of my head I’m quite competitive so I knew I wanted to match the time I got in Paris earlier this year – I ended up shaving a minute off my PB so I was really proud of myself.

The race went the opposite way to what I’d expected.

I enjoyed every second of training, even my really long runs which are often the hard part because you’re out there by yourself. But the race itself was a lot more challenging – I hit ‘the wall’, which I’d never experienced before. And trust me, you know when you’ve hit it! It was about mile 16 when suddenly everything in my brain was telling me to stop, to the point where I started to panic. The next three miles I went into a spiral and I had to dig deep to calm myself down and focus on my breathing. It was definitely not something I wanted to experience on race day but now I know how to deal with it.

In the end the training paid off – you have tough moments that you have to push through and they help you build up the resilience to keep going. You learn that your brain has the power to transmit positive energy all throughout your body. In that moment I just needed to focus on positive affirmations, reinforcing to myself that I was capable, and taking lots of deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth. I always do hand movements with my breath as well, which probably looks strange!

Your body is screaming at points. Around the 20 mile mark, I was definitely in the pain cave. But you learn to use your

mentality to keep you going.

In terms of training, for me the best split is three days of running and two days of weight training with a full body focus just to keep your muscles ticking along. As the weeks go on, the distances go up. Foodwise, it’s just a case of eating as much as possible to keep your body fuelled. You need to eat a big increase in carbs, always making sure you’re well fed. New York City was perfect for carb-loading before the race – they make the best pizza there. Me and the other girls I was running with all went out and ate a lot of pizza the night before.

The main thing I learned from the race was that it’s a marathon not a sprint. On race days it’s easy to get excited, with the crowds cheering you on, and that can encourage you to go out quickly from the start.

But you really have to check yourself.

I never started running with the intention of doing a marathon. I didn’t even dream of it. My dad was a big runner but I just never got into it. Then one day I decided to run the 5k home from the gym – it was the hardest run I’ve ever done! It humbled me but it also lit a fire. I decided that I was gonna keep going until I didn’t find it so hard. Once I hit that 5k I wanted to see what else I could do. So I tried a 10k, then a half marathon… After my first half, I swore I would never do it again. A day later, I signed up for the Paris marathon.

The key is to be as comfortable as possible so all you’re focusing on is the running.

That includes having a comfortable running outfit, the right sports bra, the right socks, a running vest, all those kinds of things. I always bring a supply of Myprotein energy gels – they are my absolute favourite.

It’s great to be able to share all of this with the Strong Girl Society, which is a community I started for women to support each other through their fitness journeys. I know they were all following my run and that was really inspiring. l Follow Holly on Instagram @hollyb_fitness or go to stronggirlsociety.co.uk

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WELLNESS

HEALTHY COOKING MADE EASY This amazing new recipe book makes preparing delicious, protein rich meals simple. STEVE IRISH speaks to the team behind it.

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s someone who has supplemented a fitness regime with a diet consisting largely of chicken breasts and cashew nuts, I know firsthand how dispiriting it can be to maintain a highprotein diet. When your primary culinary choice each morning is whether to add sriracha or mustard to your scrambled eggs, you can soon lose the motivation to eat healthily.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way.

“We wanted to make sure our recipes were indulgent, decadent — food you really want to eat — while still being healthy and hitting macro- and micronutrients that are super important for your everyday wellbeing,” says Myprotein CEO Neil Mistry about Protein Plates, a new book that makes eating healthily something to relish.

Myprotein Kitchen Protein Plates is all about educating and inspiring readers to enjoy the food that’s going to make them feel good, bringing together 60 recipes spanning breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as pre- and post-workout fuel.

“We’re concentrating on protein — because that’s what’s at our core — but ultimately, this book has been

invented to inspire a change in lifestyle. And to make it simple, easy and delicious,” says Mistry.

Protein Plates brings together recipes for dishes including a peanut smoothie and a halloumi wrap with nutritional information that can be applied to any diet, working with a team of nutritionists and PTs to pinpoint ideal macronutrient and micronutrient splits, as well including information on how to time nutrients around exercise. Each recipe includes a macro breakdown for every dish, with ingredient substitution suggestions that allow you to hit different nutrition goals, plus breakdowns on the ins and outs of macronutrient timing.

Thankfully, this isn’t an exercise in banning the foods you enjoy and replacing them with ones you probably don’t, rather it explains how you can incorporate the things you like into a diet that will help you hit your health goals, whether that’s gaining muscle, slimming down or improving your athletic performance.

“My favourite recipe has got to be the peanut butter smoothie,” says Mistry. “It’s quick and easy and hits all the macros with protein, carbs, and healthy fats, helping me recover after a heavy session.” l To get a copy of the limited edition book go to myprotein.com/cook-books.list

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PROTEIN POCKET ONIGIRI

Makes: 6; Prep: 30 mins; Cook: 30 mins Macros: Protein: 9g; Fat: 7g; Carbs: 35g; Kcal: 239 Ingredients: • 250g sushi rice • 30ml seasoned rice vinegar • Nori sheets, cut in wide strips • Toasted black and white sesame seeds For the filling: • 3 free-range eggs • 100g of tuna chunks • 2 spring onions, trimmed, washed and finely sliced • 2 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise (or regular mayonnaise) • 1 tbsp sriracha • Salt and pepper Method: 1) Prepare the rice according to the packet instructions. Gently transfer to a flat surface and spread flat to cool off.

Sprinkle the rice vinegar evenly over the rice and then leave to cool.

BREAKFAST TACOS

Prep: 20 mins; Cook: 30 mins; Makes: 4 tacos Macros per taco (with sauce): Protein: 19g; Fat: 14g; Carbs: 23g; Kcal: 294 Ingredients: • 4 reduced fat pork sausages • 4 mini wholemeal tortilla wraps • 4 slices reduced fat cheddar or 60g grated cheddar • ¼ head iceberg lettuce, shredded • Slices of tomato, cucumber, avocado to garnish (optional) Sauce: • 2 tbsp ketchup • 2 tbsp light mayonnaise • 1 tbsp dijon mustard • 2 tbsp sriracha Method: 1) Squeeze the sausage meat from the skins and then spread onto each tortilla using a fork to flatten into a burger shape. Make sure the meat is spread evenly and covers the entire surface of the tortilla.

2) Heat a pan over a medium heat and start cooking the tortillas. Place meat side down first, fry for 2-3 minutes, then flip.

3) To make the sauce, stir the ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and sriracha in a bowl until well combined.

4) Place a slice of cheddar in the centre of each tortilla and allow to melt. Slide the tortillas out of the pan and garnish with fresh ingredients to your liking — shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber and avocado slices.

5) Drizzle over a spoon of the sauce and serve immediately to enjoy a delightful breakfast.

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2) Next, boil the eggs. Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the eggs and simmer for 8 minutes. Drain and submerge in ice water to stop the cooking process. Peel the eggs and set aside.

3) Drain the tuna and add it to a mediumsized bowl. Add the eggs and mash together with a fork. Add the condiments, seasonings, and spring onions and stir well, leaving a bit of texture.

4) Divide the rice into 6 equal parts.

Spread one part rice with slightly wet hands and flatten to 0.5cm in thickness.

You can use cling film as a base as it allows you to create the shape of the onigiri more easily.

5) Place a spoonful of tuna filling in the centre and wrap the rice around it, forming a triangle. Smooth any edges by pressing down the rice triangle, using the cling film to help it keep its shape.

6) To serve, press one or two of the sides on to the sesame seeds and wrap a nori line around the bottom part of the onigiri.

7) Wrap each onigiri individually in cling film. They will keep in a fridge for up to two days.

I N T E RV I E W Photography credits: Photographer: David Reiss Styling: Sarah Rose Harrison HMU: Alexis Day

I’VE NEVER BEEN A ROYALIST

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The Crown’s new Queen Elizabeth II VIOLA PRETTEJOHN talks about playing the role of a lifetime. Words: ADAM BLOODWORTH

rowing up, Viola Prettejohn’s grandparents had the same old royal calendar pinned to their kitchen wall year after year. In 2013, when she was ten, her parents took her to see Kate Middleton leave The Goring hotel in her wedding dress. But she admits: “I’ve never been a royalist – I like watching the big events on TV but I’ve never had any strong opinions about the royals.

When people hear you’re doing the crown, they expect you to feel really strongly.”

Prettejohn is stirring an americano with hot oak milk in a popular vegetarian restaurant she recommended in Kensington, a ten minute walk from where she lives at home with her parents, TSB chairman Nick and mother Claire, a lawyer.

She will be the final actor to play the Queen in a forthcoming episode of The Crown, joining a fine pedigree: Imelda Staunton with her pursed lips, Olivia Colman with her darting eyes, and Claire Foy with her youthful assertiveness. Prettejohn’s Elizabeth will be, for the first time, shoulders-back, portraying Her Majesty’s (allegedly) carefree teenage years.

For 20-year-old Prettejohn, the limelight awaits, but she creases her face at the thought of stardom. “I never intended to be an actor,” she says. “It kind of happened accidentally.” Aged 14 and attending the fee-paying St Paul’s Girls’ School, her drama teacher put her up for an audition as part of an open casting call for Tim Burton’s Dumbo. She didn’t get the role, but they suggested she should think about getting an

agent. “My drama teacher knew an agency and asked them if they would meet with me. They sent me on an audition as a sort of ‘let’s see how they do.’ I was in Berlin filming two days later, which was crazy.”

Auditioning for the Queen was the fourth time Prettejohn had gone for the royal drama after talent agents came into her school to look for young versions of Princess Anne and Diana. “When this came around it kind of felt like, ‘Okaaay,’’ Prettejohn laughs: “This is the last one. If I don’t get it this time…”

She had tried for Diana, which went to Emma Corrin. “I was obviously far too young,” she says. “When the Diana audition came about I was so excited but I also very much knew that it was the longest shot ever – they were very clear they needed her to be

Everyone behind the show really loves these characters.

They realise we’re dealing with real people, whose families are still alive 40

from seventeen to when they’re getting a divorce and she’s had children. I was 16 and I wasn’t an old-looking teenager. I basically knew I wasn’t going to get it.”

Prettejohn says that “weirdly” playing the young Queen “didn’t feel very pressurising, like at all,” thanks to all the time spent in The Crown’s audition rooms. It also helped that her scenes are “just fun, nothing too emotionally challenging,” a world away from her lived experience of the late Queen in the 21st century. “I grew up with the old Queen, with the white hair and the same colour outfits and everything – it just felt very separate. You don’t really think of her as a 19-year-old. I didn’t have a pre-conceived notion of what that looked like. It was nice.”

She says director Alex Gabassi “allows for so much creativity and experimenting,” which was a nice surprise. “I thought dealing with real people and such important figures might be a bit more restrictive but it wasn’t at all. It’s lucky because I was playing her at nineteen and on this specific night that no one has any documentation of.

There’s very little footage of her at that age, so I had a bit more licence.”

It’s fair to say her teenage years have been unusual. Her career so far includes a leading role on two seasons of The Nevers and a small part in Netflix drama The Witcher.

Next year she’s a lead in an eccentricsounding satire called Generation Z for Channel 4, and she’s excited about other projects she can’t talk about yet.

Filming Generation Z for four months in Cardiff recently, Prettejohn felt she had her slice of student life. She describes a

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Above: Viola Prettejohn on the set of the latest season of The Crown; Opposite: Picture by David Reiss

night out along the city’s main drag of St Mary’s Street. “It’s a really good, trashy night out, which I love. I like starting with nice cocktails and then slowly going more divey until I’m really at a trash place.” lll Prettejohn seems fun. She describes a rather loose night before a Crown costume fitting when, after a flight delay, she invited an American stranger back to her house who had been stranded at Gatwick with her. “We got to Blackfriars and decided, ‘you’re not going to a hotel, I’ve got a house, so we went back to my house and I made coffee for us and we sat in my kitchen and watched the sunrise. I arrived at my costume fitting wired on coffee and adrenaline.”

She hopes to move out next year to somewhere in east London. “It’s very niiiiice in this area,” she says of Kensington, slowing her voice. “I just want to experience a bit of a different vibe. Just something else, and separation from my parents. Much as I love them.” She also seems mature beyond her years. She counts the 61-yearold journalist Anthony Lane as a personal friend, and says filming makes her miss the simple things; walking the one-hour-twentyminutes from her house to the Curzon cinema in Bloomsbury, listening to podcasts on the way and drinking coffee afterwards: “I love that ritual”.

Prettejohn’s storyline in The Crown is a flashback to V.E. Day in London, retelling the ‘true’ story of the night the Queen and Princess Margaret snuck out of Buckingham Palace to celebrate the end of the war. They partied with ordinary civilians on a night that is thought to have been formative for the Queen. Records say she was watching couples kissing in the parks and doing conga lines at The Ritz. It’s clearly ripe for

fictionalisation. No spoilers, but the displays of hedonism are going to shock, showing the Queen in a light we haven’t seen before.

They’re also probably more hedonistic than the actual reality of that night.

Prettejohn is well-rehearsed when I ask how she feels about the show portraying accurate representations of the royals.

As ever, new episodes have been called sensational for their portrayals of the royal family, and in particular, Diana and her relationship with Dodi. “People have in the past made statements before they even see the show, which is unfortunate – maybe watch the show before you make a comment,” she says.

“There’s obviously going to be a bit of licence because we don’t know exactly what happened with these private conversations, we weren’t there, so Peter [Morgan, the lead writer] had to create a drama with an entertaining narrative. But there’s always a respect for the real people – I don’t think there’s ever been an intention of malice or

Our first day on set was at The Savoy, which is very close to where people were laying flowers for the Queen – it was a bit solumn 42

of painting these people in a bad light, particularly with this storyline – it’s such a fun episode. Well, apart from Margaret dying, that’s not so fun, but our parts are really uplifting and joyful. Of course we don’t know exactly what happened but ultimately it’s a fictional show, it’s a drama.

“Everyone behind the show really loves these characters. They realise we’re dealing with real people, whose families are still alive, and that’s obviously sensitive. These are some of the most famous people in the world, of course people are going to have opinions.”

Prettejohn has another hope: that the young Queen provides the public with a new image of the monarch they haven’t seen before. For one, Her Maj gets more than a little lusty. Chaotic party scenes contrast with atmospheric shots of the future monarch strolling along a wide open, deserted Mall early in the morning.

“It was very freeing and fun,” she says.

Her scenes were shot in Victoria Park weeks after the real Queen’s funeral.

“Yeah,” she says, slowly. The real funeral was a few days prior to the starting of filming. “I got some messages from friends who knew I was doing it. It’s weird, people were messaging ‘Are you okay?’ People thought I would be particularly sad about it. ‘I’m fine’, she says, laughing. ‘I’m not the Queen!’”

It was an odd way to begin filming, she says. “Our first day on set was at The Savoy hotel, which is very close to Hyde Park where people were laying flowers, so we were near to where everything was going on. I think it must have felt strange for Imelda in the get-up of the Queen as we know her now. I had some separation ‘cause I was had dark hair and a military uniform, which didn’t feel like the Queen as I think of her.”

Much of The Crown’s crew have been on the show since the beginning. On set, “it was a bit solemn,” she says. “There was a weird atmosphere where people were quite upset. They’ve in some ways spent a lot of time with this person.” She also says the death had implications for the direction of the show, especially for the writers who were thinking: “Now she’s gone, we should probably think about ending the whole thing, how to end it with that in mind.”

As she did in life, the young Queen spends much of her time in the episode with Princess Margaret, who – much as she was in life – seems more forthcoming with the fun than the first-in-line. Would playing Princess Margaret have been a better role? Prettejohn thinks for a while.

“On the surface she’s more fun. At the beginning of the episode Elizabeth is uptight and doesn’t want to do anything but by the end of the episode she’s really enjoying herself. I think that’s a nice little journey.”

So what’s next? “I just want to keep working, keep the momentum going,” she says. “Generation Z has been so amazing for me in that it’s so different to anything I’ve done, so completely bonkers. I just want to keep doing projects like that where you feel constantly excited and inspired to really give it everything.”

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COME ON, EILEEN! Star of new thriller Eileen THOMASIN MCKENZIE on grinding with Anne Hathaway, checking your emotional baggage at the door and why she loves Soho.

Words: ADAM BLOODWORTH

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homasin McKenzie’s performances have, until now, preceded her name.

The New Zealander had memorable supporting turns in Jojo Rabbit, The Power of the Dog and Last Night in Soho, but this week the release of Eileen, a taut psychological thriller starring McKenzie marks her first leading role in a feature film, opposite Anne Hathaway.

Eileen is a murky, memorable drama, an investigation of trauma told through the lens of two strongly contrasting women. It’s about obsession, sexuality, loneliness and what drives us.

Anne Hathaway gives a confident turn as psychiatrist Rebecca, but Eileen, a young secretary at a prison in 1960s Massachusetts, is the tougher, deeper role to play.

You find yourself asking more questions about Eileen with every scene that passes, with McKenzie laying clues about a woman who appears timid but is capable of darkness.

“It was a challenging headspace to get into because Eileen is a character who’s been deeply hurt,” McKenzie says. “She doesn’t think very positively of herself. It’s easy to fall into the trap of leaning too much into that kind of negativity and headspace. I had to do a lot of self care and to make sure that I was keeping myself and my own thoughts in check and just being kind to myself.”

McKenzie’s Instagram is perhaps another clue at self-care: it features a catalogue of funny cat pictures.

During our chat the 23-year-old cradles a fluffy little dog called Tilly. Not just cats, then? “She’s about the size of a cat,” McKenzie laughs. “I’m dog sitting!”

If Eileen sounds bleak, that’s because it is. Shot at the outbreak of the Omnicron variant in 2021, quarantine and isolation protocols in New Jersey, where it was shot, were “particularly intense”, as was trying to get the film wrapped on a tight budget.

“I tend to do roles that are quite intense, so I’ve just learned that I have to take care of myself so as not to take on those characters’ emotions or thought patterns or behaviours,” says McKenzie. “I often find that can happen even though I definitely wouldn’t consider myself a method actor. I don’t need to completely inhabit the character in order to do a good performance – that can lead to unhealthy behaviour.

Why does she gravitate to such intense roles? “I don’t

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It was a challenging headspace to get into because Eileen is a character who’s been deeply hurt. It’s easy to fall into the trap of leaning too much into that negativity and headspace

intend to,” she laughs. “It just seems to happen. Usually those roles are the most complex ones and I like the opportunity to dive deep into a character’s mindset and figure out what’s going on.”

Physical training for a film that was shelved around the time of the Eileen shoot gave McKenzie “a really great escape” from the mental gymnastics of playing Eileen. “It forced me to take care of my body,” she says, alongside meditating and reading.

Scenes in which she and Hathaway grind sensually on the dancefloor will draw tabloid attention, as will the couple’s intimate scenes as they draw closer together.

Oscar winner Hathaway, 20 years McKenzie’s senior, led the way on the dancefloor.

“Luckily Eileen wasn’t a very good dancer so I didn’t feel any pressure to be a good dancer and I was able to just follow Anne’s lead. I always get nervous when it comes to dance scenes and I seem to dance in every film I do. On my last shoot there was a scene where I was dancing by myself and I was pleading with the crew, ‘Guys, please, can you dance with me behind cameras so I don’t feel so alone?’ But none of them did and I was so betrayed!”

The key, she says, is to “just push through”. “Part of acting is being put in awkward situations. You have to come to terms with the fact that you’re going to embarrass yourself a lot and that’s fine. For Eileen, for that dance scene, it was great that Anne is a great dancer already. It was on her to sell what she was doing and it was on me just to follow along.”

Hathaway would suggest ideas to director William Oldroyd to make scenes look or feel better, a confidence and assertiveness McKenzie feels she has learned from the Devil Wears Prada actor. “I tend to take a step back and be more quiet when the scene is being choreographed.

I’ll do my job with the acting but when it comes to the blocking [how actors stand in scenes] I just leave that to the director or the other actors.

“But I really admired Anne – she’s very proactive and she’s not afraid to say, ‘I think this would be a good idea...’ I felt empowered watching her and learning from her to speak up when I’ve got an idea.”

McKenzie is currently filming Joy opposite Bill Nighy and James Norton, a film about three trailblazers of IVF pregnancies. And she’s in production on fantasy series Gossamer opposite Forest Whitaker and Richard E Grant. Approaching the top of her game, she’s planning on sticking around in London for the foreseeable.

“I love being here,” McKenzie says. “I’ve felt very drawn to London ever since I did Last Night in Soho. I got to know Soho quite intimately on that shoot. We spent so much time running around the little alleyways and hanging around on Soho corners and seeing the darker side of the city, but also the excitement and the thrill of it. I’m really happy here, it’s a very exciting place to be.”

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I feel like young people have a different mindset towards sexuality. It’s a personal thing.

Incredibly personal. It’s no one’s business.

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BOY GEORGE

F

Hot young actor/writer/director GEORGE JAQUES talks about masculinity, sexuality and why he loves telling stories. Words: ADAM BLOODWORTH

ilmmakers talk about ‘authenticity’, but the word is often thrown around too lightly. Not so with Black Dog, a new feature film by 23-year-old Londoner George Jaques, which finds something thrillingly fresh to say about masculinity.

Feature film directors in their early twenties are vanishingly rare, for obvious reasons: barriers to entry in the film industry, competition, and frankly not being good enough to make anything worthwhile. But Jaques bucked that trend, impressing audiences and critics at the London Film Festival premiere earlier this year.

“I look back at what was happening for me at that time: my mum had cancer, and my best mate, a friend of ours, had overdosed. When I started the production company it was a bit of escapism. It was almost therapy in some ways. It felt super exciting that I had this group of young actors who were like family.”

To be fair, he did begin early: after attending the fee-paying Whitgift school in Croydon, he directed his first play, Dilate, in an abandoned London tunnel in 2017 aged 16. He has since written more plays and short films; one industry voice calls him a “true prodigy.” As an actor, he starred in recent ITV comedy A Town Called Malice, as well as a leading role opposite Jude Law in HBO’s The Third Autumn.

Black Dog has a simple premise: two teenage guys take a road trip from London to Scotland. Jaques finds grit in their relationship that deconstructs ideas about men by platforming the type of male relationship we really don’t often see.

Jamie Flattery, star of Avatar 2, is Jaques’ lifelong friend and one of the two leads in Black Dog. “There’s bits of me and bits of Jamie in both characters,” says Jaques. “I grew up in a diverse London, which informs my work. Top Boy is a great show but it shows a real violent London. I wanted to show the energy of London: the fun of it but also the intensity.”

It’s about “two boys being so open and vulnerable,” he adds. “I feel like it’s a sensual love story rather than a sexual one.”

Jaques and Flattery began writing Black Dog when they were 18 and he says the script has barely changed in the years since. “I want you to like him, then not like him, and be always conflicted.”

No spoilers, but Black Dog has incredibly subtle and contemporary examinations of male relationships.

Some communities think gay roles should be played by gay actors, but for Jaques it was integral that neither of his leads be labelled by sexualities. It’s a hot topic of conversation.

“Truthfully I feel like young people have a different mindset towards sexuality,” says Jaques, who doesn’t identify as queer. “What was important as a director was going, right here’s my view on it: you fall in love with a person rather than a gender. So let’s make sure that

comes across. That feels quite freeing and important.”

It’s pertinent stuff for Jaques. He went to school with Heartstopper star Kit Connor, who was bullied out of the closet in 2022 after speculation around his sexuality.

On Heartstopper Connor plays a bisexual lead. “I’m bi,” he tweeted, before deleting his social media profile.

“Congrats on forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show.”

“I’m heartbroken that that happened to him because no young person should be forced out,” says Jaques, sounding charged for the first time. “And you know, sexuality is a personal thing. It’s incredibly personal. It’s no one’s business ultimately.”

Back in the day, the duo performed together in school plays, including a version of Macbeth. “I had like two lines and I think Kit did too. Now we speak once a week.

I’m so proud of everything he’s achieved and I think the feeling’s mutual.”

Connor posted the Black Dog trailer on social media and his six million followers got it two million views overnight. “I didn’t ask him to, I never would. They’re all so supportive,” says Jaques. “Like you said, it’s quite a weird thing to direct your first feature film at 22. Some people are just like, ‘I’ve got to support him.’”

Jaques hopes to continue working on both sides of the camera, telling stories that resonate with young people, “about grief and love,” he says. “And friendships.

I’m excited to keep creating characters that make you question something in yourself.”

Above: George Jaques filming on the set of Black Dog

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THE

CRIME LORD IAN RANKIN, the author behind the Rebus series, talks to STEVE DINNEEN about the

trouble with writing about cops, Nicola Sturgeon, and his new novella The Rise

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S

Younger crime writers aren’t attracted to writing about police officers, because they don’t see them as good guys

ome people in my local pub have started asking ‘Where’s your horse? Where’s your suit of armour?’ – other than that, it hasn’t made a blind bit of difference.”

Sir Ian Rankin is talking about his recent knighthood, an accolade about which he seems equal parts proud and embarrassed.

“The only other Scottish author who’s got one is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. So I thought, yeah, I fancy that. My mum and dad would have been chuffed to bits if they’d still been alive. My wife was more conflicted about it than I was.”

He’s speaking to me over Zoom, not from his adopted home of Edinburgh, where his Rebus novels are set, but his “bolthole” in Cromarty, north of Inverness. Now aged 63, he looks almost exactly the same as when he burst onto the literary scene nearly 40 years ago, more indie band frontman than international best seller, with his lived-in jumper and modish haircut, now flecked with grey.

Over that time he’s become one of the most successful and prolific writers of his generation, with 24 Rebus novels to his name, making him the ninth highest earning British crime writer of all time (Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie and Jeffrey Archer make up the top three).

His latest novella, The Rise, transports his whodunnit crime thriller format from the streets of Edinburgh to high society London.

“I’m fascinated by what London is and what it seems to be turning into,” he says in his east coast accent. “A lot of people who work in central London can’t afford to live there, so the centre is being hollowed out. I remember wandering past these big steel and glass structures where the lights are on but nobody’s home, huge buildings that have been put up for billionaires to tuck their money away safely, and the only people in them are the security.”

The Rise is set in a block overlooking Hyde Park, where those in residence include a Russian oligarch, a Saudi princess and the wife of a crime lord. It’s a great set-up, as self-contained as a game of Cluedo, where the murderer might be the tech billionaire in the lobby with the priceless work of art.

It feels a long way from the mean streets and smoky pubs of Scotland where Rebus solved his crimes. But then crime has changed since Rankin started writing, becoming more international, more digital, more remote. Does this change the way he approaches a detective story?

“Crime writers have always looked at the kind of crimes that are being committed around them. Today a lot of that focuses on identity theft and people not being who they seem online, which plays into a general sense of paranoia around the internet. People worry that their phone or their home security is spying on them: we live in a world where anybody can be spying on you at any moment. We give away tonnes of information about ourselves online every day – a lot of recent crime fiction is starting to deal with those ideas.

“But we tend to come back to the same basic reasons people commit

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crime, the seven deadly sins type stuff: greed, anger, envy. The DNA of crime remains much the same. Today we have people dealing with asylum seekers, the rise of the far right in various quarters, racism poking its ugly head above the parapet again, sex workers and their rights. You’ve got a lot of angry people and crime fiction digs down into what makes them angry and what makes them commit crimes.”

In recent years there has been a marked shift in the way the people think about the police, and the wider institution of law enforcement. The murder of Sarah Everard, the killing of George Floyd, the seemingly endless string of Met officers being banged up for heinous crimes… Does this play on his mind when he’s writing?

“Yeah, definitely. If you look at the bestseller lists, there are fewer cops in there. It used to be PD James’s Adam Dalgliesh and Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford.

Now you tend to get more standalone psychological thrillers. Younger crime writers aren’t attracted to writing about police officers, because they don’t necessarily see them as good guys. My last Rebus novel, A Heart Full of Headstones, is about a cop who’s a spousal abuser: he’s going to be prosecuted for it and he starts to tell tales about his fellow cops.”

Rankin caused a stir a few years ago when he said Rebus would have voted ‘no’ to Scottish independence, much to the chagrin of Nicola Sturgeon, a big fan of the detective series. Since then there’s been plenty of political intrigue in his home country for a crime writer to tap into – I wonder what he makes of the scandals that have engulfed the SNP? “It’s the old curse: ‘May you live in interesting times’.

Politically, these have been very interesting times in Scotland, not very settled times. I don’t know if the SNP are unravelling or not. It could be a temporary blip. I don’t know whether there’ll be more changes to come, more twists and turns, or if the police will find anything from their various investigations into SNP finances. I thought the tent in Nicola Sturgeon’s garden was a bit OTT, that’s the sort of thing you’d expect when there’s bodies in the garden.

“As a writer trying to chronicle contemporary times it’s hard, though – if you write something today it could be completely overwritten by events.”

As Zoom threatens to end our interview, I squeeze in an admission: I find interviewing authors quite stressful, imagining they are quietly judging my unimaginative questions. What should I be asking?

“Not enough people ask me ‘what was the last LP you bought’ and ‘what was the last gig you went to’ – that kind of stuff.”

So what were they?

“The last album was Broken Records, an Edinburgh band who are terrific.

And the last gig was Lloyd Cole in Edinburgh with two of his Commotions.

Great songwriter, underrated. All crime writers are frustrated rock stars. Some of us tried it and failed miserably.”

Personally, I’m glad Rankin stuck to writing. And if you’ve somehow managed to avoid his work thus far, The Rise is an excellent jumping on point.

The Rise is out now

•

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THE WORLD ACCORDING TO

RALPH NADER

The 1960s social justice warrior became an enemy of both the Democrats and Republicans after his 2000 presidential bid. He talks to STEVE DINNEEN about his new business book, and why ‘you just have to keep going’

T

om Robbins’ best selling 1980 novel, Still Life with Woodpecker, features a princess, and that princess is in love with Ralph Nader. She pins posters of him to her bedroom wall and fantasises about “driving off together into the Haleakala sunset with their seatbelts fastened”. Robbins’ novel is obsessed with the “last quarter of the 20th century” and Nader is, in the eyes of the Princess at least, the posterboy for that

heyday of post-modernity.

A firebrand activist, environmentalist and consumer rights advocate, Nader, now aged 89, built a reputation as that rare American politician: someone who could get things done. Through letter writing, tireless campaigning and sheer bloody-mindedness, he is credited with forcing through bills including the Freedom of Information Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Clean Water Act, Consumer Product Safety Act, and Whistleblower Protection Act. Today, of course, he is most remembered as a

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Above: Nader’s bestselling 1965 expose on the American car industry; Above right: His new book on top business leaders; Below: Nader as a young firebrand activist

perennial Presidential candidate, running in the 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections.

More specifically, he is remembered as the man who cost Al Gore the 2000 election, his Green Party blamed for spoiling the Democrat vote, especially in Florida where Bush triumphed by just 537 votes.

This earned him the distinction of being one of the few politicians to unite both sides of the American divide: Democrats and Republicans despise him equally.

This unfortunate legacy overlooks the achievements of a genuine political maverick, a man who hosted the first political ‘super rally’ when Donald Trump still worked in real estate, put slogans on buses when Boris Johnson was wearing short trousers, and mobilised students in a way that puts Jeremy Corbyn to shame.

•••

“Ralph doesn’t use technology,” sighs a publicist in a tone that suggests he’s had this conversation many times before. I’m supposed to be speaking to Nader via Zoom about his new book, The Rebellious CEO, but that’s proving… tricky. In the end I’m connected to his landline in Washington DC, where the combination of a poor connection, my British accent, and his hearing not being what it once was, leads to a strange, disjointed conversation, veering from fascinating insights into US politics to dense monologues about corporate lobbying, often in the same sentence.

The Rebellious CEO, one of more than two dozen books written by Nader, is a collection of essays about company heads he has met and respects, most of them now deceased.

It’s made up of anecdotes and memories,

Donald Trump is the most repulsive, ignorant, bigoted, narcissistic, lying president in history 51

as well as musings on how today’s leaders could stand to learn a thing or two.

“It’s about the way business should operate,” he says. “The strategies they should use to make a good profit… by first treating workers right and consumers right and the environment respectfully. The overall thrust of the book is to answer the question ‘How do we judge the behaviour of giant CEOs running multinationals?’ What’s the standard? If you don’t know about CEOs who did it right, you don’t have a standard of comparison.”

This is an area in which Nader has some expertise. He rose to fame off the back of his 1965 book Unsafe At Any Speed, which uncovered the “designed-in dangers of the American automobile” (a kind of heresy during that golden age of American manufacturing), exposing corporate leaders for not only selling cars with glaring safety flaws, but doing so knowingly. Have you ever wondered why cars today look so dull compared to those louche, shapely things of the fifties and sixties? That’s because of Nader.

He was responsible for the introduction of safety features from improvements in bodywork to the mandatory inclusion of seatbelts and airbags. General Motors responded with a smear campaign, bringing in private investigators and setting honey traps.

Nader sued, walking away with $425,000 in damages, at the time the highest settlement for privacy infringement in US history.

The case catapulted him from a fringe consumer rights journalist to the national face of the everyday, put-upon American.

And it was a good face, his serious personality offset by his Old Hollywood looks, which, alongside his tall, gangly

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Nader celebrating his performance at the 2000 election; Democrats still blame him for spoiling the vote and helping George W Bush win the Presidency

frame, recalled Anthony Perkins. You can see why Robbins’ princess was smitten.

•••

The most recognisable name in The Rebellious CEO, at least to a British millennial, is Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop, a company that last month changed hands for £207m.

“She’s the most spectacular of them all,” says Nader. “She was such a multivariate human being with a tremendous grasp of injustice and what needs to be done by business. She would push her employees to pick an injustice and work on it on company time.”

Has she inspired the CEOs of today?

“She paved the way but not many followed.”

The problem, according to Nader, is that corporations have become too powerful and globalisation has made it virtually impossible for governments to hold them to account. And that’s if those working for the government aren’t already in the pockets of corporate interests…

Once Nader gets started on a topic like this, it’s hard to stop him. He riffs on the military-industrial complex and the pharmaceutical industry and big tech, and how they are all contributing to the “perilous” situation in which we find ourselves. At one point he catches himself: “I’m sorry, am I over-burdening you?” It is, I

admit, a lot to take in.

You sound pessimistic, I say.

“No, no, that’s not functional,” he replies.

“Years ago, I studied the philosophers of pessimism like Schopenhauer and I realised that it has no function. There’s no purpose other than an indulgent vanity. So even though these are perilous times, you have to confront it with civic energy in the direction of the resurgence of democracy and the human spirit and compassion.”

Nader is still an activist today. He says he is tentatively backing the Democrats in the upcoming election but stresses “I’m not supporting Biden. I’m supporting the Democratic Party over the Trump Republican Party. That’s different.

They always try to seduce you into an endorsement. I don’t endorse politicians. If you endorse, you lose your ability to dissent.

I don’t care who picks up our agenda, whether it’s the GOP or the Democrats. The GOP will never do it, of course, but with the Democrats there’s hope.”

He seems unable to decide for whom he holds the most contempt, Trump, who he describes as “the most repulsive, ignorant, bigoted, narcissistic, lying president in history,” or the Democrats who came close to losing to him in the last election.

“It should have been a landslide against the worst Republican Party in history, one that makes no pretence about opposing workers and consumers. But the Democrats

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refuse to look themselves in the mirror.

Instead they love to blame these tiny Green candidates.”

They certainly blamed him: after the 2000 election defeat, then-senator Joe Biden said Nader “is not going to be welcome anywhere near the corridors” of Capitol Hill again, while former President Jimmy Carter suggested he “go back to examining the rear end of automobiles”.

I ask if Nader accepts some responsibility for that famous defeat but he bats the question away, as he has for the last 23 years. “If Al Gore had won his home state of Tennessee, he’d have been President. If he’d paid attention to the low wage debate in Florida, he’d be President. It’s easy to scapegoat the Greens.”

Nader will turn 90 next year – you would think his passion for all this would have dulled, that the criticism would have ground him down or the scale of the challenge he has set himself taken its toll. Yet here he is, still campaigning, still writing letters, still churning out book after book. What keeps the posterboy for the “last quarter of the 20th century” hungry in the first quarter of the 21st?

“When you have a passion for justice, you have stamina. The only real ageing is the erosion of one’s ideals. So you don’t fret and wring your hands in despair. That’s not good for the metabolism. You just have to keep going.”

TRAVEL

GIANNI VERSACE’S LOCAL CAFE REOPENS IN MIAMI

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odels and people with a lot of money came to Miami Beach; now it’s all changed.

You don’t see that anymore, but this place is the same.”

This is the sentiment of my waiter at the newly reopened News Cafe, an ordinary place that harks back to a golden age of glamour.

In the nineties, the endless sand and muscle beaches made this central Miami bolthole one of the most lauded destinations in the world. Exactly 800 iconic pastel art deco buildings, the flames of Miami Beach, were renovated in the 1970s and now the lumpy, distinctive buildings line the seafront like a

trail of pick ‘n’ mix sweets.

Gianni Versace was a pillar of that nineties heyday. On the morning of 15 July 1997, he wandered the five minutes down the beach from his waterfront mansion to the News Cafe for coffee, as he often did.

On the walk back, he was gunned down on the steps of his mansion.

At least five customers a day ask where Versace used to sit but waiters in the newlyrenovated Cafe are flummoxed. “Nobody knows,” one tells me. “People ask what he ate and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I know he came and drank coffee but that’s it.’”

The bacon sandwiches are legendary, as are the pancakes, which could feed a family of five but are served for one. Tony’s Tomato Soup has been on the menu since the Cafe

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opened in 1988. On the terrace, dance remixes of Dua Lipa and J-Lo’s If You Had My Love play (she’s a Miami resident; maybe she pops by) as long-serving staff efficiently work tables and break to chat with passing friends.

There are also mean frozen cocktails; the classic is the Frozzie Rosie, made with vodka and rosé wine.

There’s a new bar, and a plaque to mark the Versace history for the first time, but mostly it’s refreshingly functional. The same customers come today as did twenty years ago. “They come here because they know it’s going to be the same,” the waiter says.

Go for the history, stay for the utterly contemporary feeling of being punchdrunk on the suntrap terrace. l Words by Adam Bloodworth

T RAV E L

S

ometime in the winter of 1999, my friend Danny rode over to my childhood home with some hash and three albums, all by LA-based bands. Mötley Crüe’s Dr Feelgood, Chili Peppers’ Californication, and Deftones’ Around the Fur. He put the first album on and turned the volume up as far as it would go.

There are albums that influence you and then there are albums that permanently

change the mechanics of your mind. For better or worse, Dr Feelgood did the latter.

As a green 15 year old, I began wearing leather and makeup and drank (my dad’s) whiskey from the bottle. I also started playing bass guitar in a band.

In Motley Crue’s outrageous biography, The Dirt, they talk a lot about their high jinx on Sunset Boulevard in late-eighties Los Angeles. They’d play almost weekly at the Whisky a Go Go, a notorious venue that

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is still letting bands misbehave to this day.

That was it: I had to get to LA and play a show at the Whisky.

The day I realised that would never happen, I became a travel writer. “If I can’t go as a rocker, I’ll go as journalist and write about rockers,” I thought. This year, I finally made the bitter-sweet pilgrimage to West Hollywood and the Sunset Strip. Danny moved there a few years ago and had agreed to join in on my tour of its old rock ‘n’ roll

BACK IN LA:

LOVE-LETTER TO A TOWN WITH ROCK ‘N’ ROLL IN ITS SOUL From Motley Crue to Jim Morrison and Lemmy, DAMIEN GABET follows in the footsteps of music royalty

haunts and hotels, famous restaurants and… brunch spots.

While I’ve long suspected that brunch is the ultimate harbinger of the West’s decline, I remain somewhat addicted to its flavours. Being jetlagged, the hunger timing was perfect too, and so over I went to The Butcher, The Baker, The Cappuccino Maker. My enthusiastic waiter served me a multicoloured latte on its sundappled terrace, before explaining that “WeHo” had

smartened up. Indeed, I’d seen more folks in aspirational athleisure than studded leather.

“There are so many good places to eat,” he said. “You have to try the Asian fusion at Wolfgang Puck’s Merois. So I did. And it was lovely. As was the view on the rooftop of the Pendry hotel, which the restaurant occupies. But I wanted some grit and grease.

Enter Jon D’Amico of Rock ‘n’ Walk tours, a mettlesome (and secretly lovely) man who’s

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been in bands and stage managed – wait for it – Motley bloody Crue.

“Now, guys listen up – I’m going to tell you some serious s**t on this tour,” he said.

“But don’t f**k me! Don’t you f**k me by sharing this stuff!” I agreed to only write things that wouldn’t f**k him as we started our three-hour stomp.

This was more like it. The tattoos, tall tales and bad-ass attitude I was looking for.

First stop was Barney’s Beanery, a diner

T RAV E L

on the edge of West Hollywood where Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction and Jim Morrison was ejected for urinating on the bar. The place is drowning in memorabilia and does a mean chilli. I just wanted a beer and to soak it all in.

But before my last gulp, D’Amico had us back on the road, ducking into haunts and buildings that used to be haunts, all with stories to tell. “Jim Morrison recorded the vocals for L.A. Woman behind that door.

Now it’s a restroom,” said D’Amico as we walked round historic hotdog joint, Tail O’ the Pup. As we scudded down Sunset, he virulently high-fived a few locals coming the other way, assuring us that he knew “everyone”. By this point, I believed him.

And then, there it was. The hallowed Whisky. A huge billboard advertising video game Halo on its front spoilt the view somewhat, but we were let inside and looked around the backstage area. “I saw Motley Crue’s bassist play so hard his fingers bled!” said D’Amico. The venue was prepping for a gig that night, so the manager made us leave. Cool.

The tour ended at The Rainbow Bar and Grill, where Motorhead’s Lemmy whiled away his final days, playing the fruit machine, necking Jack Daniel’s. I stuck around for a pizza, lured by a waitress’s assurance that “the food’s great and service is terrible.” The singer from London-based band Bob Vylan was sat one booth up, so I went over and fanboyed.

Later that night, I’d been promised an audience with Tommy Black, the legendary bar manager at live music venue the Viper Room. At one point, Johnny Depp owned the place; later the Pussy Cat Dolls were its resident burlesque performers. He showed me around the back office, which “hasn’t been touched since the days that Depp and Kate Moss hung out in here”. Then he gave me a Viper Room T shirt.

The band we saw that night were a little flat, “probably a pay-to-play outfit”, Danny assured me, but we still had an appropriately loose night out. News that the venue – and the block around it – are destined for redevelopment next year feels like reason enough to pay it a visit.

My lodgings for the weekend were at Guns n Roses guitarist Slash’s favourite hotel in the world, The Sunset Marquis. The hotel manager, Rod Gruendyke, sat with me at breakfast, reeling off his favourite anecdotes.

Green Day putting washing up liquid in

Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood is where Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction and Jim Morrison was ejected for urinating on the bar 56

My veal parmigiana nearly put me to the pillow but I came round (with another martini) before heading to the Troubadour Clockwise from main: The famous Whisky a Go Go where Motley Crue played; Damien taking in the West Hollywood sunshine; Dan Tana’s diner with its distinctive red and white decor; The Viper Room, formerly owned by Johnny Depp; Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood; The Rainbow Bar and Grill, where Motorhead’s Lemmy whiled away his final days Rooms at Sunset Marquis began from £320 per night; Mama Shelter Hollywood has rooms from £103 per night. Virgin Atlantic flies direct from £462 per person return; virginatlantic.com; visitwesthollywood.com

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the fountain stands out; as does Billy Bob Thornton living there – for six years.

You can see he’d want to stay: it’s a 3.5acre oasis in the middle of the city, verdant and tranquil. Maze-like garden paths skein to recently refurbished villas, while its openair restaurant is surrounded by running water and tropical flora. A soothing space, it’s hard to believe that this was – and still is – the place that rockers misbehave in.

The best food was at Dan Tana’s, a no-window, former Rat Pack haunt with classic American-Italian dishes. I loved everything about it: our celeritous waiter, the free-flowing fire-water martinis, the utterly unfashionable red-and-white decor.

My enormous veal parmigiana nearly put me to the pillow, but I came round (with another martini) before heading to the Troubadour next door.

Another storied spot for live music – Elton John played his first US show here in 1970 – it seemed to still have the pulse of a contemporary venue. That evening we saw Jensen McRae, who wittily delivered songs full of progressive sentiments. About as far from Motley Crue’s weltanschauung as you can imagine.

After the show, Danny and I bought some edibles from a local dispensary and went back to Mama Shelter Hollywood, where I was staying for a few nights. We let the sound of contemporary LA – McRae and her contemporaries – score a quiet night of catching up on the rooftop terrace. No permanent changes to the brain, alas.

But my bass guitar has since come out of retirement.

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THE END OF THE

WORLD 58

In this ancient landscape, now all but forgotten, there are more wild camels than there are visitors

This sliver of land between Tajikistan and Pakistan is unlike anywhere else on earth. SOPHIE IBBOTSON sets out to explore beyond ‘The Roof of the World’

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rive across the Roof of the World and you have to end up somewhere. That “somewhere” is the point at which the high altitude desert of the Pamir falls away into a valley before rising again, this time shrouded in snow, in the mountains of the Hindu Kush.

On a map, the valley is the narrowest finger of territory, a sliver created by imperial cartographers to keep the British and Russian Empires from touching.

Its name appears time and again in the accounts of Great Game explorers, geographers, and spies: it is the Wakhan Corridor.

In the 21st century, the Wakhan is all but forgotten by the outside world. Its southern side is one of the remotest parts of Afghanistan; and on the northern side of the river demarcating the border is Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), the most sparsely populated part of Tajikistan. There is a road of sorts, but each spring more and more sections of it are reclaimed by rockfalls and streams, and once the villages peter out, wild camels are more numerous than cars.

Every now and then someone says that the Chinese will build a highway through the Wakhan as part of their One Belt, One Road programme, but for now it still feels like the end of the world.

Getting to the Wakhan is the first part of the adventure. Turkish Airlines has two reasonable connections from London to Dushanbe (Tajikistan’s capital) via Istanbul each week, but since Tajik Air went bankrupt, there are no scheduled domestic flights within the country. I lucked out and hitched a ride on the Aga Khan’s helicopter to Khorog, the largest town in GBAO, but otherwise it is a two day drive to get here, and then another half day to Ishkashim, the gateway to the Wakhan. The landscape

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is dry and harsh, the road clinging to a brittle cliff high above the River Panj, the Oxus of antiquity. Stops along the way — Castle Karon, Vamar Fortress, the sulphur baths at Garm Chashma — are welcome breaks from driving, but also reminders that in spite of its accessibility, this territory has not only been inhabited but also been strategically important for thousands of years.

I’d visited Ishkashim half a dozen times before, but never stayed the night on the Tajik side. The town is split in two — one part in Tajikistan, the other in Afghanistan — and on each previous occasion I’d been in a hurry to cross the river. Now I had time to wander, to chat, and to see clearly the historic and cultural ties linking a single community divided between two nation states.

Tajik and Dari are, to all intents and purposes, the same language. The Pamiri people share strong familial ties regardless of what it says on their passports, and are predominantly Ismailis (followers of the Aga Khan), which sets them apart from orthodox Muslim groups. When the cross border markets in Khorog and Ishkashim reopened after prolonged closures due to security concerns, it was a cause for celebration. Not only do they boost trade,

Clockwise from above: A traditional feast including plov, Tajikistan’s national dish; Sophie amid the ancient structures and rugged landscape; Some structures here date back to the 3rd century BC; Marco Polo sheep above doorways, said to offer protection to the household; Tajiki decorations on a local building; The scale of the landscape makes the Wakhan Corridor feel like the end of the world

but trans-border relationships, personal and professional, can be maintained.

The Wakhan’s treasures lie to the east of Ishkashim, so after a night of feasting on plov — Tajikistan’s national dish, the local variant of pilau or biryani — watermelon, cherries, apricots, and other fruits from the town’s prolific orchards, I got back in the 4x4. For me, the draw of this area has always been the awe inspiring scale and

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ruggedness of the landscapes, but this time I wanted to better appreciate how and where ancient travellers made their marks.

You don’t have to drive too far.

Shoira has her guesthouse at Namagut; there’s only a handful of houses in the village, so it is easy enough to find. She grows vegetables, raises goats and cows, and until recently had a puppy, but one night it was snatched by wolves. The shady orchard makes an idyllic campsite, but the best bit is the view: across the river you see Afghanistan, and right next door — less than two minutes’ walk away — is the Kah Kaha Fortress.

It is said that there were once seven fortresses in the valley, a fairly impregnable line of defence along the Wakhan. They protected the Silk Road caravans passing through from China and the Indian Subcontinent on their way to Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran. The location of Kah Kaha was so well chosen, and its height so substantial, that the Tajik Army still has a sentry post on top. The guards are friendly enough, however, and probably grateful for the company. Visitors are few and far between.

Yamchun Fortress, further on, is larger still, though only a fraction of it has thus far been excavated. Local legend has it that it was built to resist the Arab invasion

led by Ali (son in law of the Prophet Muhammad), but there’s no historical evidence that Ali ever came to the Wakhan, and the oldest parts of the fort probably date as far back as the 3rd century BC. The upper walls and tower of Yamchun are fairly intact, and when you scramble down into a gully and then up the ramparts to the top, you’ll undoubtedly be breathless but have commanding views in both

directions along the Wakhan. Yamchun is already on UNESCO’s tentative list for recognition as a World Heritage Site, and The World Bank has identified it as one of the most culturally important structures in Tajikistan. The Bank has committed funding to preserve and develop the site, in partnership with international universities.

It is hoped that the archeological team will come for the 2020 season, enabling us to

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better understand its significance.

Fortresses demonstrate wealth and power; but ordinary people have contributed just as much to the Wakhan’s heritage.

At Langar, high above the confluence of the Panj and Wakhan Rivers, is the largest petroglyph site in the Pamir. Since the Stone Age, artists have created some 6,000 artworks here, depicting everything from ibex and men on horseback, to stickmen and religious symbols. There were sun and fire worshippers in the Wakhan long before the arrival of Islam, and this is attested by some of the rock art.

Pre-Islamic beliefs are often interwoven with Ismailism in the Wakhan. At Namagut and elsewhere, I saw the horns of ibex and Marco Polo sheep above doorways; they offer protection to the household. Bibi Fatima Spring is named after the daughter of the Prophet, but it is linked to much older, pagan practices. Bathing in the warm waters is believed to boost fertility, and local women still come here to pray for a child.

A day on the road in the Wakhan isn’t easy; it’s uncomfortable, and at times it would be faster to walk. But there are few places in the world which are accessible by 4x4 yet still feel so wild, where you’re so cut off from the modern world that 500, or even 1,500, year old traditions can still be part of everyday life. l Paramount Journey (paramountjourney. com) offers a nine day 4x4 tour of the Wakhan Corridor, starting and finishing in Dushanbe, from £1,374pp

M OTO R I N G

BEYOND

BOND

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We head to Austin to drive the new Aston Martin DB12 and meet the man with the brand’s real licence to thrill.

Words: Adam Hay-Nicholls

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or 60 years, Aston Martin has traded off its association with the world’s most famous fictional spy. Today, of course, it has more to shout about than Sean Connery and Daniel Craig: following Canadian fashionwear billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s takeover of Aston Martin in January 2020, the brand has had a string of hits. It doesn’t hurt that they’ve regularly been on the Formula One podium this year, courtesy of the sport’s most experienced driver, Fernando Alonso.

Move over 007.

The road car company’s model line-up is also more expansive than ever before, now made up of the DBX super-SUV, the Vantage sports car, the DB12 grand tourer which

has just arrived, the DBS hyper-GT, and megabucks limited-edition cars Valour, Valhalla and Valkyrie.

Aston Martin is now a fully paid-up peer of Ferrari. Before Stroll walked through the door, there were only three models, and the most expensive cost ten times less than the Valkyrie (though at £3 million for a Valkyrie, it’s all relative).

Several of these cars, including the 1,160bhp hybrid hypercar and the bestselling DBX, were instigated by former CEO Dr Andy Palmer, who was sacked by Stroll in May 2020. Those projects are now bearing fruit, and it is lucky old Stroll, 64, who’s reaping the rewards.

The point to all that background is this: the DB12 is the first car to be born wholly out of Stroll’s leadership, and it’s also the backbone of the

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brand – an elegant GT designed to extol all of Aston Martin’s core values, and the natural heir of other DBs, most notably the iconic DB5. So, it’s essential they get this one right.

•••

1963 was a big year for Aston. That’s when the DB5 tore onto the swinging scene, the same year President Lyndon B. Johnson swore the oath of allegiance on a flight back from Dallas. I mention that because I’ve been tossed the keys to the new DB12 on the eve of the US Grand Prix in Austin, and I’ve driven out to Texas Hill Country to tackle the roads that surround Johnson’s ancestral ranch and the 36th president’s final resting place. If anything’s going to wake LBJ, it’ll be the tune of this car’s twinturbo V8.

M OTO R I N G

Adam Hay-Nicholls threw his DB12 through the wide open streets of Austin, Texas

A couple of hours drive west of Austin, Texas’ state capital, this rugged terrain with its limestone knolls and cypress-lined creeks was claimed by German settlers and has led to its main conurbation, Fredericksburg, to be known by locals as Fritz-town. The Teutonic influence can be found in the food and drink. Most visitors come to Hill Country for the wine. Wineries are now almost as ubiquitous here as ranch windmills. LBJ, it’s recorded, spent almost as much time in Hill Country as he did in Washington DC, making it the Much Further West Wing.

My accommodation here is at one with nature. Bordering Johnson’s Stonewall ranch, Walden Retreats offers luxury glamping from £200-a-night, with a dozen tented suites set over nearly 100 acres of scrubland. The site takes its name from a 19th century memoir by the transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau – part personal declaration of independence, part survival guide for the wild; although he probably didn’t have an en-suite roll-top bath and a state-of-the-art kitchen under canvas like me. After a golden sunset and an evening roasting S’mores on the fire, I wake to find a breakfast hamper has been delivered to my patio for me to cook myself an omelette on the heavy-duty barbecue. After putting the finishing touches to my Johnny Cash playlist, I hit the road in my mean green machine.

The Hill Country’s sweeping and largely empty tarmac provides the ideal canvas to assess the DB12’s dynamic abilities, but first let’s pull over and assess the styling, while keeping an ear out for rattlesnakes.

Ultimately, much like the progression from DB5 to DB6, you have to look very closely to spot the differences between the DB12 and DB11, which arrived on our streets in 2016.

There’s a sharpened lower nose which is very welcome, but everything that stretches back from there is almost unchanged. To be fair, the DB11 looked perfect save the slightly too bulbous face, accentuated by the oversized DB4 GT Zagato-inspired grille. It looked like it’d been stung by a wasp. The 2023 rhinoplasty puts everything in proportion.

Plus, only 20 percent of parts have been carried over. The visual surprise is saved for the inside, and what an improvement it is.

The DB11’s cabin was a dark and cluttered place, unsophisticated compared to its competitors from Crewe, Stuttgart and

The Hill Country’s sweeping and largely empty tarmac provides the ideal canvas to assess the DB12’s dynamic abilities 64

Maranello. The DB12 is altogether more stylish, commanding and luxurious, taking, one suspects, significant inspiration from the superb Bentley Continental GT. It’s a major step forward in every way, with the ergonomics of a fighter cockpit mated to the materials and finesse of one of David Linley’s living rooms. Another marked difference is the user interface, completely redesigned in-house, which is now as fast and intuitive as the car’s main controls.

Like Fredericksburg, there’s a lot of German influence to be found under the skin. Not only is Mercedes-Benz a long-term strategic partner of Aston Martin, it owns almost ten percent of the company. The AMG-sourced 4.0 engine has been uprated to 671bhp and 590lb ft of torque, giving it longer legs than its rivals. Engage launch control by stamping on both pedals and letting go of the brake: all of that power is adhesively dispensed to the asphalt via its eight-speed automatic gearbox and vast Michelin Pilot Sport 5S rear tyres, which have been developed to be noise cancelling; 60mph arrives in 3.5 seconds and, if you’re willing to bury the needle into orange jumpsuited territory, it’ll gallop on to 202mph.

In Sport Plus mode, this is a muscular supercar, with cracking gearshifts and rabid revs but, overall, it’s the adroitness of this car that makes it so special, with driving modes to suit any mood and a spirited chassis that’s both thrilling and reassuring.

The DB12 is lighter and stiffer than the car it replaces, and one really feels this through the bends. The car is bitier on turn-in than the Ferrari Roma, is much more planted at

Adam’s Texan road trip took in sights from glass sky scrapers to kitsch suburbs and proper cowboy saloons. Austin has changed in an almost unimaginable way over the last 20 years but some of the old charm remains, if you know where to look

the rear, and the clever damping gives the driver huge confidence to get on the loud pedal early out of corners. The DB11 could wallow under high forces like a wayward Ford Mustang, whereas the ’12 is on rails.

The carbon ceramic brakes aren’t grabby like they are on other machines in this segment, matching McLaren – the benchmark – for feel and refinement.

•••

I skirt Lake Austin on the drive back towards the city, a 22-mile stretch of the Colorado River that’s been christened the Malibu of Texas; vast waterside pads that’ll make the residents of Sandbanks feel like paupers, owned by the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock and Elon Musk. Tech companies such as Tesla, Dell, Apple and Samsung are big employers in Austin, creating a Silicon Valley of the south and causing a population and high-rise condo boom over the last decade. I lived in Austin for a brief time 20 years ago, and today everything feels twice the size and three-times the price. With all this glasssided corporate growth, the city has lost some of its charm. It used to be a redneck Williamsburg filled with hipster dive bars, vintage stores and mad artists. Now it’s as yuppie as San Francisco. There’s always been money here, but it used to be quiet and now it’s in your face. I’m probably not helping matters by cruising around in a £185,000 supercar.

A lot of my favoured haunts have been bulldozed, including the wonderful Rainey Street which was filled with historic

There’s always been money in Austin, but now it’s in your face. I’m not helping matters by cruising around in a £185,000 supercar bungalows that’d been turned into rustic cocktail bars. Now it looks like Canary Wharf. The eccentric Johnny Cash-themed Mean Eyed Cat Bar is still there, at least, as is the Broken Spoke, a throwback country bar that’s hosted live bluegrass and boot-scootin’ since 1964. So’s the Texas Chili Parlor, where I recall Lee Harvey Oswald’s daughter working for a while, and the Casino El Camino on 6th Street which makes Austin’s best burger for just $8.

The famous 6th street, with its late night live music and frat party crowd, has turned increasingly sketchy, and the new urbane residents are more likely to be found in the sleek bars and restaurants close to Congress Avenue. The Aston Martin team takes me to dinner at the moody Comedor, typical of

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modern metropolitan Austin, with its stark, gallery-like interior and upscale Mexican haute cuisine. I’m staying at the city’s Soho House (rooms from £375) on the reinvigorated South Congress, which used to be all hippie boutiques and now boasts an Hèrmes.

On the night before the grand prix, the popular members club hosts a party on its rooftop with a rousing set by breakthrough Korean-American rapper Audrey Nuna.

Dining in a low-lit corner of the club is Prince Harry, who appears to be wedded to Soho House. He’s in town, sans Meghan, for the race and he’ll be in the Mercedes pit with Elon as guests of Lewis Hamilton.

Our respective hosts have arranged helicopters to take us in and out of the circuit on race day, where I have a brief catch-up with Mr Alonso. In Fernando, I posit, Aston Martin now has a company driver far more skilled than Bond when it comes to assessing how to really get out of dodge quickly (without grazing the beautiful bodywork). He offers me his assessment on the DB12: “It’s extreme in its performance, but it’s also comfortable,” reflects the double world champion, who has a Valkyrie on order. “A lot of sports cars are uncomfortable and you end up using it only a few times a year because it’s just too impractical. What I really like about the DB12 is it’s a sports car you can use every day.”

Then Alonso jumps in his emerald-coloured F1 car, hits the track, and will doubtless sell some road cars in the process. Secret or not, he’s now Aston’s number one agent. It’s no coincidence the most popular colour for Astons is no longer silver, it’s racing green.

C O LU M N

THE LAST WORD JOEL GOLBY

THE HOURS OF CHRISTMAS DAY, RANKED You already know exactly how it’s going to go, the same way it goes every year. We rank the highs and lows from best to worst  10AM: You are being handed presents, in a very warm room, ideally while a modern animated movie is playing quietly in the background. The joy and the anticipation. You are a child again. It feels incredible.  8AM: Your eyes bolt open. You lie cosy in your bed.

‘It’s Christmas Day!’ you whisper excitedly to yourself.

You never outgrow that feeling. Untouchable.  5PM: You eat a roast the size of a dustbin lid.

You eat a roast that could feed four of you. You pull crackers and tell jokes. You wear the little hat. The cabbage is shredded far better than you could have ever done it.  2PM: You go to the pub for a pint. Drink Guinness and eat a handful of Celebrations left on the bar.  9PM: You are drunk and everyone is smiling. You are stood in the kitchen eating cheese. The lights in here are bright. You feel peace.  8PM: You step outside for a minute just to cool down. If your mum still doesn’t know you smoke, this is when you have a cigarette.  10PM: You realise you’ve been watching the lights on the tree blink off and on for the past 15 minutes. The powdery taste of red wine stings your lips. It’s time to stagger to bed.  11AM: Someone is aggressively going around the front room with a recycling bag and based on your gifts everyone thinks your two major personality traits are ‘has feet that sometimes get cold’ and ‘alcoholic’.  1PM:. You remember you can go to the pub for a pint so you um and ah about going to the pub for a pint.  3PM: Due to licensing laws the pub is now shut, and you didn’t know and the announcement was made while you were in the bathroom, so now you have to go

home. It’s cold, but not in a romantic way.  4PM: You offer to “help” whoever is cooking with “anything, anything at all” and they give you three huge heads of cabbage to shred. You sigh and pick up a knife. Two cuts in, they tell you that you’re “in their way” and “I’ll do it” and you leave the kitchen instead.

For the rest of the afternoon, going and getting anything from the fridge is an extremely passiveaggressive affair.  9AM: You are waiting for everyone else in your house to stop faffing around – “Have you put the coffee on? Can someone put the coffee on” – so you can open the presents. The wait-for-your-gateannouncement-at-the-airport of C.D.  12PM: You kind of want to have a shower but everyone in the house wants a shower right now so you slump on the sofa and look at your phone. People you follow on Instagram have nicer houses than you.

If there are any children present, this is the moment their energy will overwhelm you.  6PM: A family member you sort of forgot existed has called from their family Christmas and keeps handing the phone around to various young children who don’t really know how to talk on the phone. “So how’s school?” Neither of you care about this but you go through the motions.  7PM: The house is really hot, now. You ate Christmas Pudding even though you don’t really like Christmas Pudding and your jumper itches at your body. You are stranded like a whale on a sofa but people keep coming in to the room and making you scooch up so they can sit next to you. The person who cooked has decided you all have to watch something really rubbish.  11PM:. Getting upstairs took forever but you know you’re going to sleep well. As you murmur into the abyss, you realise someone is going to make you “go for a walk” tomorrow, and you feel a clunk of dread. Same again next year?

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S ECT I O N H E R E

Tel: +44 (0)1334 460090

Email: Hospitality@TheOpen.com

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S ECT I O N H E R E

We are dedicated to taking time: we wait, we learn, we perfect. Share the unique character of Glenfarclas.

TIMES CHANGE BUT OUR SPIRIT HASN’T

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