http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-so-long-to-loft-living-1823083.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-so-long-to-loft-living-1823083.html ]]> <p>It's official. It's no longer fashionable to live in a loft. The monument to 1990s city living – all open plan with no bourgeois walls or middle class privacy – as popularised by Friends and Jamie Oliver – is dead.</p> Hit & Run Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-a-club-thats-members-only-1822297.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-a-club-thats-members-only-1822297.html ]]> <p>Sarah Palin's promise to lay bare the backstage details of her vice-presidential bid appears to have been an empty one; sections of her forthcoming memoir Going Rogue have been disputed by McCain campaign staffers before it even hits the shelves. Similarly, Palin's former future son-in-law has broken his vow to bare all for Playgirl magazine, a publication that his former future mother-in-law considers "porn". It was reported yesterday that eager female fans of the buff Alaskan 19-year-old will not, after all, get to see Levi Johnston's Johnson. "We're thrilled with the photos we got and are confident people will love them," said Daniel Nardicio, a spokesman for the magazine, "but although there may be glimpses, we did not get full-on frontal nudity."</p> Hit & Run Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-would-we-care-if-he-were-alive-1821712.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-would-we-care-if-he-were-alive-1821712.html ]]> <p>Imagine that this year's breakout novelist is a 56-year-old Russian-American called Vladimir Nabokov, whose 12th work of fiction, Lolita, is making waves. On Radio 4's Front Row, his agent explains that yes, it has taken a while to be published in the UK or the US, but it's available from a Parisian porn imprint called the Olympia Press. He explains it's a monologue by a posh, unregenerate paedophile called Humbert Humbert, and his 12-year-old "nymphet" stepdaughter, with whom he absconds across America, for extremely sexual purposes, after her mother dies. </p> Hit & Run Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit-amp-run-simplicity-computer-delivers-over50s-to-the-digital-age-1818830.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit-amp-run-simplicity-computer-delivers-over50s-to-the-digital-age-1818830.html ]]> <p>If social networking is something you do at the bingo hall, windows require (net) curtains, and a Mac is to be worn in the rain, chances are you're old. Because, apparently, old people don't do computers. Things like Twitter and spreadsheets only bother them when they're on the One O'Clock News. But anyone watching the BBC's lunchtime bulletin yesterday will have seen a pensioner called Betty using a computer designed to deliver her generation to the digital age. </p> Hit & Run Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-red-carpets-and-mint-cake-1818095.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-red-carpets-and-mint-cake-1818095.html ]]> <p>If there were a device that could measure toughness – an adrenalin radar scanning the planet for nutters in harnesses – hardcore hotspots would probably include the Himalayas and the Alps. But the sick-ometer (as in "dude, that was like the sickest jump ever") is at risk of blowing up over a grey corner of northern England later this month when some of the world's greatest daredevils gather for the Kendal Mountain Festival.</p> Hit & Run Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-holding-out-for-a-hamster-1817701.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-holding-out-for-a-hamster-1817701.html ]]> <p> I'm in the toy department of Boots on High Street Kensington and I'm holding a picture of a robotic hamster. "Do you have this?" I shout at a sales assistant. "I must have this. There are only 46 days left until Christmas," I explain desperately. </p> Hit & Run Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-best-job-in-the-world-1814760.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-best-job-in-the-world-1814760.html ]]> <p> In the "My Oxford" column of the new Oxford Today magazine, Ian Hislop is asked if he'd like to be a student again. "Oh yes," he replies, "and I've a major fantasy that, somewhere, there [is] a college so desperate that they will ask me to be Master." As job applications go, this has a touchingly scattergun quality: any college will do, as long as I get to be Master. It's a fantasy shared by many: a job combining the roles of academic, diplomat, upholder of tradition, guardian of protocol, sports cheerleader, party-giver, gourmand, gossip, wine-tippler and amateur fundraiser. </p> Hit & Run Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-snotty-nose-cashmere-leggings-1814130.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-snotty-nose-cashmere-leggings-1814130.html ]]> <p>They look good on the uber-trendy child models in the ad campaign, and you know they'd look good on your offspring, too. As of yesterday morning, any pampered kid aged between the ages of 0 and 10 can work their new look from Stella McCartney – or more specifically, Stella McCartney for GapKids and BabyGap – while sipping their babyccinos. It's another coup for Gap, which has a successful history of bringing designers like Pierre Hardy and Roland Mouret on board to give their adult clothing some cutting edge. And when Hit & Run frisked the rails at 8am when the first collection hit stores yesterday morning, it looked like Stella had scored the chain yet another hit. She's designed exactly the sort of retro-cool clothes that will appeal to the adults buying the clothes. </p> Hit & Run Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/team-obama--too-much-of-a-good-thing-1813589.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/team-obama--too-much-of-a-good-thing-1813589.html ]]> <p>In case you didn't find time between your roast and the X Factor results show to read the 7,500-word dissection of the Obamas' marriage in The New York Times Magazine, one of the more revealing passages tells how the First Couple wasn't always so appealing. During the 2008 race for the Democratic nomination, Obama's advisers expressed concern that his rise to the top had been too solitary – that he wasn't seen as much of a family man. </p> Hit & Run Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-find-a-branch-near-you-1810363.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-find-a-branch-near-you-1810363.html ]]> <p>The Met Office has declared that this autumn is officially an Indian summer, predicting balmy temperatures of 21C in the South-east and Midlands tomorrow. What better way to celebrate the arrival of "summer" – and save some money during half-term – than with some leaf peeping? This activity – taking a walk in the woods to admire the glorious leaves, not spying on your neighbour through the garden hedge – has been popular in the US for years. But while New England's trees certainly put on an impressive display, our own woodlands also make a splendid seasonal splash. Here are some of the best spots for kaleidoscopic leafy loveliness. </p> Hit & Run Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-a-paw-carbon-rating-1809861.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/hit-and-run/hit--run-a-paw-carbon-rating-1809861.html ]]> <p>Forget scratched furniture and suspicious patches on the living room carpet – your pet suddenly has a lot to answer for: the planet's environmental future no less. </p> Hit & Run Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0000