Eurofile

The film festival defies the pandemic with plenty of touching, flesh and sex

‘Thank you’ might seem an easy phrase to learn in a foreign language. But that is not always the case says PETER TRUDGILL Sometimes, when people are going to visit a country they have never been to before, they say they plan to learn a little of the language which is spoken there, but “just […]

Nina Hamnett's artistic career shone brilliantly and briefly, until overshadowed by her lifestyle. A new show restores the focus on her work

How can pop respond to politics? With this year’s album BRUT, Polish alt-pop star Brodka has provided an object lesson, writes SOPHIA DEBOICK

TIM WALKER reviews a theatre production that held its own against the drama provided by the Three Lions

TIM WALKER on an ebullient show that creates an emotional occasion

Jason Solomons returns to the Croisette with movie reviews of Annette, Cow,  The Worst Person In The World, Everything Went Fine, The Souvenir Part II, Jane by Charlotte and more So much for the return of glamour. My Cannes started by spitting into a plastic tube in a makeshift Covid testing centre. Due to political […]

ROB HUGHES examines England’s near-miss at the Euros and finds that for all their advantages, a change of mindset is necessary at the top So near, and yet so far. England released itself from the European Union, but remain far from the world-beaters some fans imagine it is their birthright to be as the motherland of […]

Some modern misunderstandings are a consequence of changes that have occurred in the English language over the last 300 years A regrettable and embarrassing incident has occurred in the West Midlands of England. An 11-year-old schoolboy was referred to the government’s so-called counter-radicalisation programme after the teacher asked his class what they would do if they […]

Long before Kraftwerk plugged in their synthesizers, the epic bike race has been an inspiration for musicians, writes SOPHIA DEBOICK

Keith Floyd’s charm turned him into a caricature. SOPHIA DEBOICK thinks that, instead, he should be remembered as the nation’s culinary pioneer “Pick young, small, un-flowering dandelion leaves. Wash and dry them carefully. Serve with olive oil, salt and sherry vinegar and cubes of hot fried bread.” This was the delicious simplicity of Floyd’s Food, […]

TIM WALKER on a musical production which ticks many boxes, but leaves uncomfortable questions in the way it treats the issue of suicide Heathers The Musical Theatre Royal Haymarket, London; till Sept 11 *** It’s almost axiomatic that edgy, cutting edge theatre will cause offence in some quarters. Productions such as Hair – the musical that came […]

England's footballers have brought joy to the nation. Nonetheless, ROB HUGHES explains how our opponents still have much to teach us

TIM WALKER reviews a cheering show breathing fresh life – and fun – back into theatre Showstopper! The Improvised Musical Garrick Theatre, London **** Playing the first Monday of each month Theatre professionals have long been aware of the need to attract younger audiences and the pandemic has given this a new impetus. Even with their two […]

Venice’s music, like the city itself, seems designed specifically to stir emotions There is the Venice of history, the city-state that was a world power for centuries and a musical powerhouse in the 17th century. Then there is the Venice of imagination, of canals, Carnival and decadent beauty – a characterisation fuelled above all by cinema. […]

While ministerial sins make headlines here, ‘father of the EU’ Robert Schuman is on the path to canonisation. The founding father of the European Union may soon be getting a halo. Robert Schuman was the Luxembourg-born French statesman who founded the Council of Europe and masterminded the post-war plan for a single European steel and coal authority. It […]

PETER TRUDGILL on the European language that lingered on Greenland, and another –  of sorts – that still thrives there Greenland is the largest island in the world. As is well known it also lies very far to the north. At its northernmost point, it is only about 500 miles from the North Pole. Iceland lies about 200 […]

Some surprise choices - and some usual suspects missing - as JASON SOLOMONS selects the 50 greatest European movies

Sixty years after his suicide, Ernest Hemingway continues to fascinate. Matt Kelly examines his legacy and credentials as America's great European writer.

Sometimes brooding, sometimes brilliant, sometimes bludgeoning, Roberto Mancini’s remoulded Italy face a Euros date with destiny against Belgium European football is never complete without Italy. Sometimes brooding, sometimes brilliant, sometimes bludgeoning, Roberto Mancini’s remoulded Azzurri will on Friday aim to make Roberto Martinez’s Golden Generation of Belgium suffer and perhaps be suffocated in Munich. The […]

The small South American nation has produced two exceptional bandleaders from two different eras, who helped transform music in the UK Georgetown is 3,500 miles across the Atlantic from Britain, but it has exercised a huge influence on the music of the imperial mother country. This little city of low-rise colonial architecture, with the unspoilt jungle […]

Mads Mikkelsen's drinking comedy Another Round is set for a Hollywood remake after winning the Oscar for Best International Film

TIM WALKER on Amélie the Musical at the Criterion Theatre in London. An admirable effort, but for what purpose? I counted 16 cast members on the stage in Amélie the Musical and I was stunned. It’s the sort of thing that, before the pandemic, I would have taken for granted. Now, I find myself fixating on the arithmetic: West […]

With over 84% of Japan still waiting for their first jab, why are the Olympic Games being held there? Is the sporting world, and compliant politicians, playing fast and loose with the pandemic? The European football tournament across 11 countries, the Copa América in Brazil, the fast-approaching Tokyo Olympics, might all be seen as brave defiance […]

PETER TRUDGILL takes on the linguistic purists once again for their attachment to words’ ‘true’ meanings There are some pedantic people around who reckon that it is wrong to use the word aggravate to mean ‘irritate, vex’ or ‘annoy’ – as in “please stop doing that, it’s very aggravating!” This is probably the most common usage of the word […]

Jason Solomons meets Ben Wheatley, the director behind films like Kill List, Sightseers and Free Fire, ahead of the release of new movie In The Earth Everyone went to the woods in lockdown. Remember all those walks, those endless trudges through mud and twigs and leaves and into forests you’d never bothered to visit, dragging […]

A new exhibition celebrates the pioneering British artist Eileen Agar and her sideways look at the life aquatic Seven months before the outbreak of the Second World War, left wing and anti-war artists exhibited together at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore and Vanessa Bell were among those contributing some 200 works to the exhibition […]

Marseille’s music is as self-assured as the city itself, says SOPHIA DEBOICK  Marseille is a proud and ambitious city. Founded by the Greeks around 600BC, France’s second city’s ancient origins have been no bar to striving for the modern, and it is known for its ground-breaking 20th and 21st century architecture. Le Corbusier’s revolutionary La […]

PETER TRUDGILL on how bottlers became butlers There are about 45,000 people in Britain who bear the surname Butler. In comparison, there are a quarter of million Browns and half a million Smiths. But 45,000 still seems to be rather a high number if we assume that all of our contemporary Butlers are descended from men who […]

The medical protocols that helped saved Denmark’s Christian Eriksen are partly down to the work of one man, football doctor Michel d’Hooghe It was a Swedish writer, Erik Niva, who observed last Saturday: “Denmark lost but life won”. He reported on the collapse, the apparent death, and then the resuscitation that saved the Danish playmaker […]

St. Louis has as strong a claim as anywhere to be the city where the sound was first heard Rock ‘n’ roll was born at 3137 Whittier Street, St. Louis. Chuck Berry’s debut single Maybellene had it all – teenage heartbreak, fast cars and a driving guitar break – and was written during Berry’s eight-year […]

Victory for France in the Euros would give Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante the kind of trophy cabinet that even Messi and Ronaldo would envy Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are on opposite sides of the world preparing to lead their countries in tournaments that represent their last chance to win major honours. No-one of sound mind […]