For a time it seemed Portugal would reach the final of their national dream in the very best of style. Infused with passion by the people and led by a Luis Figo displaying all his old panache, that was the thrilling prospect when they led by two goals inside an hour.

Deco Souza led Porto to victory with a match-winning performance in the final of the Champions' League but he is resigned to starting Euro 2004 on the bench.

Jose Mourinho's assault on the highest ground of European football, a wonder of upward mobility since his days as Sir Bobby Robson's interpreter, was given its most brilliant thrust by the kind of player who is always likely to burst beyond the tactical rigour of a Champions' League final.

Capturing the dynamism and excitement of the modern age became a common artistic goal in the inter-war years. One British group succeeded in the unlikeliest of mediums: lino.

Just what should you buy a difficult teenager, the man who has everything, a label queen, the techno fan, your granddad? Martin Skegg and Michael Oliveira-Salac have the answers

Just after the publication of The Woman Who Walked Into Doors in 1996, Roddy Doyle was standing in a bookshop when he was approached by the proprietor. "Could you do me a favour?" he asked. Sure, said Doyle, thinking the man wanted a book signed. "Next time," said the man, "would you write a comedy? Booksellers prefer it."

A restaurant inspired by pre-war Berlin and Milan may sound a theme too far, but David Baddiel is won over. Photograph by Madeleine Waller

Could fake grass confound the mockers and become fashionable, asks Helen Chappell

That's Inspirational against Aspirational. Hester Lacey on the rival wo rlds of interiors magazines