The best of an unusual and surprising selection made by a group of independent British importers, known as The BunchTanners Douro Red, Douro, Portugal 2018 (£8.80, tanners-wines.co.uk) The fraternity of seven British independent wine merchants known as…
Fadiga, London: ‘The pasta is bloody lovely’ – restaurant review
Tiny Fadiga is a wonderful place to let your hair down in SohoFadiga, 71 Berwick Street, London W1F 8TB (020 3609 5536). Starters £8-£12, mains £9-£18, desserts £8-£9, wines from £25I knew there was a point to my ludicrous hair. It’s this review. Becau…
I’m dying. Will it help my beloved husband to cope if I leave him notes?
Thank you for a really beautiful email, writes Philippa Perry. I will store your lesson away for myselfThe question I need your help. Specifically, a woman therapist’s help, in fact. Even though I’ve got a perfectly good and helpful therapist, who’s he…
Neoclassical villas restored to echo their stunning setting
Two villas set either side of a lake in the forests of Piedmont have been sensitively restored to make the most of the breathtaking surroundingsIn Italy, we call them boccalone,” explains Gemma Richards. “I’m going to have to look up the English…” The …
Birmingham cultural gem at risk as developers eye jewellery quarter
An industrial hub for 200 years, the area’s historic workshops are being turned into flatsIn the dusty workshop basement of luxury jeweller Deakin & Francis, grooves have been worn into the wood of workbenches used by generations of skilled hands t…
Bob Mortimer: ‘I’m comfortable with getting older, but I try not to look in the mirror’
The comedian, 62, on growing up shy in Middlesbrough, losing his dad, meeting Vic Reeves, and the deep contentment of fishingI was quite a shy boy. Growing up in Middlesbrough, I felt a bit of an outsider. My three elder brothers are funny and boistero…
Sindhu Vee and her father go back in time: ‘As a child, I was always copying him’
The comedian and her dad recreate a childhood photo and talk about early days in India, agoraphobia and swapping banking for comedy Born in New Delhi in 1969, Sindhu Vee spent her childhood in India and the Philippines, before throwing herself into aca…
Guardian angel: a dog lover creates a close-knit community in a London park
In our new column, in which we make nice things happen for nice people, we meet Mark Davis, who runs free dog socialisation classes loved by pooches and their peopleMark Davis carries around photographs of his now- deceased dogs Bonnie, Smokey, Zola an…
Ready, steady … oh. Can a life coach shake me out of my pandemic-induced ennui?
It started in bed one morning when I realised I hadn’t had an original thought for months. I needed someone to make me wake upFor some reason it takes me two and a half hours to email my life coach. I write “email life coach guy” on my to-do list. I ha…
A lemon at the car dealership: Charles Traub’s best phone picture
‘In our vernacular, a lemon is something that’s not right. We have a lot of lemons around’In Miami, Florida, a few years ago, Charles H Traub was walking past the packed lot of a car dealership when he saw this outsized lemon parked in a vacant spot. “…