On the agenda: Flatpack film festival; Ockham's Razor's The Mill; WWF's Earth Hour; Chocolate Festival; British Politics for Dummies

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
Arts & Ents blogs

Disclosure: We’d never even been to a club when we made our first single

For most of us, reaching eighteen years of age opens up a new world for exploration, spontaneity and...

Something For The Weekend in London: May 25 – May 27

With 20+ degree weather expected to last all weekend in the capital, we'd be silly not to make the m...

George Fitzgerald: I love having stuff that other people don’t have

London beatsmith, George Fitzgerald, concocts a shadowy brew of garage, house and techno that has th...

Film

There's a real pleasure in acquiring useless bits of knowledge, such as learning what Odeon stands for: Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation. The son of a scrap-metal merchant, Deutsch built a string of cinemas across the UK in the 1920s and 1930s, starting with his home town of Birmingham, and bringing a splash of Art Deco glamour to our high streets. Now, as part of alternative film festival Flatpack, the writer David Lodge will be dipping a toe into Birmingham's cultural history, with a series of bus tours around some of these original cinemas, ending at Britain's oldest working picture house, The Electric, for some vintage short films. Tuesday-Sunday, flatpackfestival.org.uk

Adam Jacques

Fashion

Move over greige: here's, um, prey. The catwalks were awash with grey-beige for spring, but your autumn look needs a topping of purple-grey to really hit the right note. The shade was on dresses at Erdem and nails at Vivienne Westwood, and is a low-maintenance but high-fashion way to invigorate girly spring shades with a bit of directional toughness. Try Models Own's shade of purple-grey nail varnish and remember: those in the know will be predator and prey this season. £5, modelsownit.com

Harriet Walker

Theatre

Is it a critique on the never-ending cycle of consumerism or a comment on the constant grind of our daily workplaces? Theatre group Ockham's Razor's acclaimed show The Mill is open to interpretation – but all you really need to know is that it comprises a massive human hamster wheel suspended mid-air, while performers spin, role and scramble around it. UK tour from tomorrow, ockhamsrazor.co.uk

AJ

Culture

At a time when environmental organisations everywhere are trying to turn us on to global warming, WWF is trying to turn us off. Its annual global initiative Earth Hour takes place this Saturday at 8.30pm, when more than 1,100 cities and towns across the world will switch off their lights for 60 minutes in recognition of the scale of the problems. Go on, sit in the dark – and prepare to see the light. wwf.org.uk/earthhour

AJ

Food

If the thought of chocolate eggs is getting you excited, head down to Brighton, where beauty specialists Pure Life Solutions are looking for volunteers to cover in layers of warm chocolate to demonstrate its range of cocoa beauty treatments. And the Chocolate Festival fun continues next weekend in London, where some of the UK's finest pastry chefs will be demonstrating a mouth-watering range of cocoa-infused recipes, including Masterchef 2007 winner Steven Wallis's courgette flower tempura and duck salad with dark chocolate vinaigrette. festivalchocolate.co.uk

AJ

Books

We couldn't possibly comment as to how many MPs will buy this on the sly, but with just weeks to go before the general election, the publication of British Politics for Dummies (Wiley, £15.99) couldn't be better timed. Written with clarity and brevity (by this newspaper's money expert Julian Knight), it tells you all you need to know about voting, the parties, what history has taught us, and some useful tips on our rights as UK citizens. You know it makes sense...

LM

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Ridley Scott: The most macho man in movies?

His cinematic CV is unparalleled. Yet the Alien director is still obsessed with beating his rivals.
Being Gary Lineker: The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport

Being Gary Lineker

The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport...
Gallic gourmets are putting French cuisine back on the culinary map

Gallic gourmets put France back on culinary map

Overdone, out of touch and old-fashioned: French cuisine has never been at a lower ebb...
So Moorish: Mark Hix offers his own take on classic Moroccan dishes

So Moorish: Mark Hix's Moroccan dishes

Why not create a north African-inspired feast to share with your friends?
Sin and the single mother: The history of lone parenthood

Sin and the single mother

Maureen Paton explores the history of lone parenthood.
The outsider: Margaret Howell is British fashion's queen of minimalism

The outsider: Margaret Howell

The designer tells Susannah Frankel why she has never felt part of the fashion industry.
The 50 Best luggage

The 50 Best luggage

From chic cases to compact baggage, pack it all in this summer
For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos

On a secluded peninsula in north-east Greece lies an enclave that's way off the tourist map, especially for women...
48 Hours In: Faro

48 Hours In: Faro

More than just the gateway to the Algarve, this city has much to tempt you off the beach.
Here, the coast is always clear: Celebrating sixty years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

60 years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

Mick Webb reveals a land of puffins, tanks and Hollywood blockbusters.
Free Range: Meet the designers of tomorrow

Free Range

Meet the artists of the future
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years