Current Weather

Britons: Life Sans Alcohol Would Be a Fright

This country's dependence on alcohol has again made headlines. The Observer yesterday ran a story billed thus: "Britons can't imagine a life without booze." Good timing. It was Easter, but the pubs were all open. And crammed.

"The fear of a life without alcohol is so endemic," ran paragraph two, "that most adults say they are scared by the idea of socialising, relaxing, taking part in any celebration or trying to have a good night's sleep without drinking."

Eeek. But not off the mark. Last week the country was abuzz with word of yet another campaign to dissuade us from drinking so much. ("Us" meaning grown-up, middle-class drinkers who enjoy a gin and tonic and a half bottle of wine with dinner, not the teenage binge drinkers famous for causing bedlam on Saturday nights).

This time — or, more accurately, again — the government has female drinkers in its sights. The latest development is that women in middle age who drink more than the recommended amounts are 50% more likely to develop breast cancer. The £10 million ($20 million) Department of Health campaign is intended to raise women's awareness of how much they're drinking. "Many drink too much because they have no idea how many units they are consuming," the public health minister, Dawn Primarolo, was quoted as saying in the Times of London. "After the campaign no one will be in any doubt as to how many units they're drinking and the impact that can have on their health." Oh dear, says one who spent the best part of yesterday in the pub, unburdened by knowledge of exactly how many glasses of wine she drank.

Alcohol dependence, as defined by the research the Observer printed, is less than straightforward. Many of the survey's respondents "do not get drunk or exceed the limit," the project director of a leading British alcohol-treatment chain, Sue Allchurch, told the Observer. "But drinking has become so commonplace in our society that even those who are not physically addicted are mentally dependent on alcohol and horrified by the thought of not drinking," she added.

More grist to the government's anti-alcohol campaign is the widespread availability of dirt-cheap drink — mostly at supermarkets and liquor store chains. Yesterday news broke that retailers are refusing to pass on to consumers new price hikes on alcohol, the result of recent tax increases. A letter leaked to the Observer showed that at least one chain, Bargain Booze, is asking its suppliers to absorb the cost, or risk losing their contracts.

It's doubtful we'll become a nation of moderate drinkers anytime soon. But the campaigns and the health scares will keep coming. How long until we crack?

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Mon, 24 Mar 2008 at 2:01 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

Ouch and Awww at the Royal Opera House

In a move that combines a pained "ouch" with an admiring "awww," the Royal Opera House is to jack up the prices of its top-drawer seats to a whopping £210 ("ouch"). The rationale, according to the head of the ROH, Tony Hall, is to make other seats cheaper for those who would not otherwise be able to afford to the see best warbling in town ("awww").

The new top price — up from £190 — takes the ROH into an unprecedented range. Even at £190 per ticket, Glyndebourne (Britain's deluxe opera company, famous for its summer season in Brighton), the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and La Scala in Milan fell short. Last season the ROH charged £213 for some seats at its Ring Cycle — but hey, the four operas lasted a total of 18 hours.

Mr. Hall said that a quarter of the House's tickets would cost £30 pounds or less, and more than half will cost £50. This, he was quoted as saying in the Guardian, is "bloody brilliant compared with football."

There are only three operas next season which will carry the top price — "La Traviata," "Tosca," and "Der Fliegende Holländer" ("The Flying Dutchman").

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Fri, 21 Mar 2008 at 12:17 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

'Jersey Boys,' Far From Home

"Jersey Boys," now in its third year on Broadway, has made the leap to London. It's always touch and go when it comes to how the British — and particularly British theater critics (the most British of them all) — will react to an onslaught of sheer Americana. This show, no doubt chosen to transfer only after the most careful commercial and cultural analysis, has done relatively well.

The Times, somewhat loftily, said that it "has the character, the narrative interest and the sense of place ... to rise way above its genre." The critic drew parallels between the Four Seasons (the band and heroes of the show, among them Frankie Valli and Tommy DeVito) and the Beatles. Both were crucially shaped by their cities.

"Jersey Boys is a blue-collar, meat-and-potatoes, straight-up-no-chaser kind of show," wrote Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph, "and I mean that as a compliment." His payoff line perfectly underscores just how British the new audience is. "Overpaid, oversexed and over here, it will, I suspect, be some time before London says Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye) to the phenomenal Jersey Boys." Lovely.

Finally, the Evening Standard called the show a "refreshing change" from "those sagging lines of hagio-graphic tribute musicals to old rock 'n' rollers and bland bands." However, it concluded, "Jersey Boys" might be just a little too American yet for Britain. "I do doubt whether Jersey Boys will make it over here," wrote Nicholas de Jongh. "The life-stories and the songs strike me as being curiously timeless, remote and unreverberative for British audiences. This may be an American import too many." Ouch.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Wed, 19 Mar 2008 at 7:20 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

A.S. Byatt: Women-Only Orange Prize 'Was Never Needed'

The intellectual's queen of women's literature, A.S. Byatt, has raised a storm by condemning the women-only Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, following yesterday's release of the long list. Ms. Byatt said that the Orange is sexist and that she has never allowed her publishers to submit her work for consideration. "Such a prize was never needed," she told the Times of London, maintaining that women have proved themselves perfectly capable of winning literary awards without positive discrimination. Last year, for example, Kiran Desai won the Booker Prize, and the Costas (formerly the Whitbreads) have been won by women for two years running — A.L. Kennedy in 2007 for "Day" and Stef Penney in 2006 for "The Tenderness of Wolves." Today's reports have also pointed out that Anita Brookner, winner of the 1984 Booker for "Hotel du Lac" and a known opponent of positive discrimination, has also remained notably absent from Orange Prize long lists.

Organizers at Orange were quick to defend the prize. The project director, Harriet Hastings, told the Times: "Although major prizes have been won by women, the value of the Orange is as a celebration of women's fiction."

Nevertheless, Ms. Byatt's voice was joined by other distinguished literary voices. The writer Tim Lott told BBC Radio 4: "There's no such thing as male writing, any more then there's such a thing as women's writing. There's just good writing and bad writing." He said a male-only prize was not the solution; Ms. Hastings said she'd welcome one.

This year's Orange has caused even more controversy than normal because the pop star Lily Allen, 22, is on the judging panel (which also includes the editor of the Guardian Review, Lisa Allardice; the novelist Philippa Gregory; the writer Bel Mooney, and the journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Lang).

Still, everyone admits the long list boasts goodies, among them Anne Enright's "The Gathering," Linda Grant's "The Clothes on Their Backs" (Grant won the Orange in 2000 with the Tel Aviv-set "When I Lived in Modern Times"), and several exciting authors in the New Writers category, including the Iranian-American Anita Amirrezvani with "The Blood of Flowers."

We can only wait and see what fresh storm is prompted by the release of the short list on April 15 (the New Writers short list comes out April 8) — and then, of course, the winner on June 4.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Tue, 18 Mar 2008 at 8:52 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

In Abu Dhabi, Beauty Has Yet To Arrive

Just back from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, the greener, more staid alternative to brash Dubai. The emirate is perched atop one of the planet's most extravagant oceans of oil, and it shows — but in the strangest way. There is no street life — no boutiques, stand-alone shops, or good independent restaurants. Instead, there are magnificent skyscrapers, dedicated to such ventures as the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, and the world's most shamelessly luxurious hotel, the Emirates Palace, the corpulent cherry on a cake of Sheratons and Intercons. Hotels here are not just for slumbering visitors; they are the mainstay of the social scene. In an Islamic nation such as this, only hotels and select other vendors are granted liquor licenses. Few expats — and these are the throbbing heart of Abu Dhabi's accelerated development — want to eat or even congregate after work without the option of knocking back a few.

Another testament to the underbelly of oil here is the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, which is still under construction but open for tours. This vast space of flower-decorated marble, hand-sewn carpets from Iran (weighing 35 tons), stone cut in China, tiles from Turkey, and the largest chandelier in the world, made from a rainbow of Swarovski crystals, could hardly be afforded by a state any poorer than this. It is not quite the largest mosque in the world, but it has to be the most opulent. Where the 40,000 worshippers who can fit into its prayer halls are expected to come from is a mystery, though, since the mosque is surrounded by highway and empty, parched earth. If they do make it, there's no worry about those at the back hearing everything; a state-of-the-art Bose sound system will see to that. So the mosque is true Abu Dhabi: passionately Muslim, but richly Western at the same time. (Swarovski crystals! Paris Hilton would be jealous.)

The expat community is concentrated and forceful, like a blast of hot air. On Thursday night in the English-style beer garden in the courtyard of the Le Meridien hotel, you couldn't move for sunburned British, American, Italian, and German flesh. The atmosphere was jolly; all seemed in a constant state of disbelief about their current — and, in most cases, new — living situation. Among the group I moved in — journalists on an English-language paper called the Nation, which is to launch in April, and Bell Pottinger PR people — the topic was always Abu Dhabi and sharing fresh discoveries and observations. It is odd to consider hordes of Londoners and New Yorkers trading in their habitual urban paradises for this dusty, boiling, bulldozer-stuffed spit of still-sterile cityscape. Culture and beauty have yet to arrive, but as everyone I met kept saying, they will, they will. The future is what everyone is waiting for here, excitedly. Indeed, outposts of the Guggenheim and Louvre will open on the still-unbuilt Saadiyat Island within five years. As for Arab culture, it seems to be taking a backseat, though there was a hugely impressive "Arts of Islam" exhibition at the Emirates Palace when I was there.

No doubt the city is on the very verge of its big future self — and once the bulldozers go away and the cranes clear off and the smell of cement dissipates, it should be a pretty rad place to be, no matter what city you're from.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Mon, 17 Mar 2008 at 9:54 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

Kate Moss, Pitiable Tabloid Target

Not that she needs it, but it's hard to live in London just now and not feel some sympathy for Kate Moss. The tabloids have her in their teeth and won't let go. She lived down the cocaine pictures in 2005 with relative ease, in part because the press allowed her to. Rather than ultimately damaging her career, after breaking the story in the first place, the papers endowed her with mystique and a veneer of unprecedented resilience. Now, though, the tabloids are dogging her evenings out, which, recently, have included consecutive nights in the pub with mates. For some reason, this is seen as cause to hate her, though the everyday Britishness and humbleness of such entertainment could be reason to love her. But no: Ms. Moss is reported to look haggard and unhealthy (the pictures don't give this impression), and thus to be morally pernicious. Where, the underlying question seems to be, is Lila Grace, her daughter, in all this?

Grist for the mill of disapproval is the model Agyness Deyn, real name Laura Hollins, who makes for a convenient new and improved Kate Moss figure. "Kate Moss boozes away for the fourth night in a row as Agyness her fresh-faced successor celebrates," screamed a headline in the Evening Standard on Friday. "Agyness Deyn lived the high life at a ritzy event in Marylebone last night, while a haggard looking Kate Moss had a low-key time at a West London pub," it sniggered. The paper praised Ms. Deyn's "clean living." Surely this marks a shift in expectations: Models are no longer to be the transgressive counterparts to rock stars. Now, it appears, they are to be squeaky-clean examples of healthy living and paragons of virtue. How dull.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Sun, 9 Mar 2008 at 7:34 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

Shades of White: Wagner on the South Bank

The South Bank is such a dense complex of arts and culture that you could go crazy trying to decide what to see — or, indeed, do little else but camp out in that bit of riverside between Waterloo and Southwark for weeks on end and never get bored. Culture minister Margaret Hodge said last week that the Proms, a summer classical music festival, were elitist in part because their program is overwhelming and chaotic. By that token she might dismiss the entire South Bank cluster, which broadly includes the National Theatre, National Film Theatre, Hayward Gallery, and Royal Festival Hall. Each building has several sub-chambers and performance halls.

Ms. Hodge might have been forgiven for thinking last night's blistering Wagner medley concert at the Royal Festival Hall was not for every walk of society. As with, say, the "From Russia" exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, an inordinate amount of white hair was visible above swaths of expensive tailoring. The young were not much in attendance, and the crowd was not ethnically diverse. Tickets cost in the region of £45 ($90).

But it was awesome — even for those, like yours truly, who find the idea of Wagner the man difficult. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (who better to play such a program?), conducted by Mariss Jansons, was technically wondrous, textured, and unified. Standouts were a stunning "Tannhäuser" Overture, Siegfried's funeral march, and the famous, rousing "Ride of the Valkyries." Mihoko Fujimura, the Japanese mezzo-soprano, sang the "Wesendonck Lieder," adding yet another strand of texture to the fulsome program.

It's a shame a greater variety of people weren't there to appreciate this concert. More important, though, was the happy fact it took place at all.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Sun, 9 Mar 2008 at 7:07 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

Greek Art — the Next Big Thing?

For some time, the art market has been rumbling with hunger for all things Russian (old and new) and Chinese (mainly new). So it stands to reason that it's begun sniffing about for the next big thing. Could Greek art be it? Sotheby's has released a breathless press release preparing us for "its most important Greek sale to date" on April 17. We're meant to be very excited by the presence of 10 pieces by Constantinos Volanakis and seven by Georges Jakobides, two (apparent) stars of the 19th century Greek art world. Volanakis was a celebrated marine artist (his career began with idle sketches of the harbor, which he faced from his office in his brother in law's sugar firm). Jakobides was a master of child portraiture and is prized for his humorous depictions. Though you'd little know, Greek Art at Sotheby's made £15.6 million in 2007. Good paintings by Jakobides, for examples, are expected to sell in the region of £250,000. Another star of the show is Constantinos Parthenis, considered the father of modern Greek painting. Up for sale here will be 'A Tree-Lined Road' (estimated at between £80,000 and £120,000), a mysterious, softly vivid painting of a winding avenue with clear Symbolist influences (Parthenis rubbed shoulders with Gustav Klimt, the archetypal Viennese Symbolist).

The collection will certainly strike many as refreshing- as for whether Greek art is the next big thing or not, perhaps it's too early to say.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Fri, 7 Mar 2008 at 5:19 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

Jewish Book Week Gets Vigorous 'Last Word'

Jewish Book Week came to a fraught close on Sunday night in a Bloomsbury hotel conference room with a "discussion" called "The Last Word: Reporting the Middle East." It was a strange shift in atmosphere, as immediately preceding had been the presentation of the first-ever Chaim Bermant Prize to a journalist who best captured the spirit of the late commentator and wit. (It went to the established Times columnist and associate editor Danny Finkelstein.)

Anyway, there we were in a packed hall, old and young, intelligentsia and students. I hesitate to call it a debate, since the two would-be combatants aren't traditionally on opposite sides. They were David Landau, the grim-looking, British-born, and controversial editor of Haaretz, Israel's best attempt at homegrown anti-Zionism (though the paper does say it supports the existence of the state of Israel), and Alan Rusbridger, editor of the left-wing British broadsheet, the Guardian.

Questions from moderator Alex Brummer, city editor of the Daily Mail, may have begun slightly critically toward the two editors. Mr. Rusbridger was asked to justify the huge discrepancy between the number of reports on Sderot (very few) and Gaza (many) in his paper and on the BBC over the past few years. Mr. Landau was asked to discuss his paper's responsibility to report unbiased news in the wider world. Both men managed to evade particulars; no answer at all emerged on the Sderot-Gaza question. But Mr. Landau was far and away the more difficult presence — he had come there, he said, to tell Anglo Jewry to stop "Guardian-bashing" and "counting mentions of Sderot" and channel their "love" of Israel into "helping us think" and work out a solution.

It stands to reason that there were lots of "How can you justify yourself, Mr. Rusbridger?" sort of accusations from the floor. (An American friend noticed how tense British Jews are in general on the question of Israel, almost incapable of tolerating any criticism of its policies.) There were also, of course, bursts of applause when Mr. Landau said something metaphysical about Israel's "disaster" or was highly critical of the state's policies toward Palestinians. At one point, he said "apartheid" might soon be a fair and accurate way to describe the situation in Israel.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Tue, 4 Mar 2008 at 8:12 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

U.K. Culture Minister: The Proms Are Elitist

Britain's culture minister, Margaret Hodge, has caused an outcry by saying that the Proms, which are among London and the U.K.'s top cultural attractions, are elitist. The Proms are a lengthy summer series of mostly classical concerts held at London's Royal Albert Hall. Top conductors swan in and out of what is a truly breathtaking array of concerts.

The BBC, the series' sponsor, says that the aim of the Proms is to make classical music more accessible, not less. Still, Ms. Hodge said that many people do not feel comfortable attending, and that the scale, complexity and grandeur of the program make the Proms confusing and alienating. "The audiences for some of many of our greatest cultural events — I'm thinking particularly of the Proms — is still a long way from demonstrating that people from different backgrounds feel at ease in being part of this," Ms. Hodge said in a speech to a think tank. She pointed to Antony Gormley's gigantic "Angel of the North" sculpture, the British Museum, and the TV drama "Coronation Street" as admirable examples of icons or institutions that everyone can feel part of. She noted that "culture" can be divisive, citing "Jerry Springer the Opera," which outraged Christians.

Ms. Hodge also took issue with the Proms for a different reason. Traditionally, the final concert is met with vigorous flag-waving, and this expression of British pride strikes her as jingoistic and unpleasant. Could this be her main objection? The pressure to be politically correct is strong, and noisy nationalism is one of the first things to be condemned in its pursuit.

By Zoe Strimpel  |  Tue, 4 Mar 2008 at 7:35 PM  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)

London Arts & Letters Archive