Very Visible Cities
Giant Chinese pigeons, Scarlett Johansson’s daughter, and deliberately un-green urban living: What to expect from London, Los Angeles, and Moscow in 2040, 2070, and 2100.
Jonathan Bell
Super Sad Tiny Home Fetish
Micro-living is no longer just for the very poor and the very bohemian. But how much space do we really deserve? Tracking down the minimum square-footage below which no one should be forced to endure.
Home on the Thames
London's evolution is measured in centuries, not years. But when half of the city's new abodes go to foreign buyers—frequently as third or fourth homes—who's steering the design? Assessing Battersea's return from 30 years in the desert, just in time for a brand new American embassy.
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Before the internet, before Facebook, before Twitter, a group of British documentary filmmakers launched what has become the grand-daddy of reality television. What can Seven Up! tell us about our own experiences in the (self-induced) spotlight?
Hammer of the Dads
Joining a band at middle age can feel like a juvenile, shameful pursuit, until you consider all the gear you get to buy. A report on purchasing earplugs and playing live—but why are the crowds so small?—when you're 40.
Mary Poppins Has a Tumblr
Children easily comprehend the web—almost as easily as new parents grasp fear. Exploring his computer's "parental controls" for the first time, our writer tries to preserve his innocence a little longer.
(Drool) Brittania
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week, a woman seeking men from Blighty meets the Connecticut Britons.
Publishing Is Toast
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week, a reader wonders about TMN's vision of the future of publishing.
The Analyst's Cookbook
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. We help a reader ferret out the truth about which foods are good to eat, and which ward off bullets.
Spite as Snow
Britons are weather-obsessed, but they can't manage flurries. Our man in London reports on why the U.K. won't handle the next blizzard any better.
God Save the Queen From You Chumps
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we defend Britain against a cursing student of Anglo-Saxons.
Attending the NME Awards With Pete Doherty and a Whole Bunch of Actual Musicians, Feeling Nostalgic
When you're young and you love music, you can't imagine losing touch with the new sound. And then it happens.
Today We Learn About Canada
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. In this week's installment we uncover why Americans can so easily sniff out Canadians in their midst.
The Coast Is Sheer
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we explain how to build a roller coaster in terms a young engineering student may not expect.
The Stratus Sphere
For a city that's constantly grey, why is London so obsessed with the weather? Our man in Britannia takes a look at the capital's skies, which are more colorful than you might think.
A Mystery of Violence
Terrorism fills the British papers this week, but over the winter a different sort of violence kept London on its toes. Our correspondent reports on the personal impact of a season of murders.
Live at the Isle of Wight
Home to past rock festivals, model villages, and other dinosaurs, this wedge in the English Channel makes for an inviting family vacation.
London
When you're a twenty-something in love with the urban life, parks can seem invisible. But, as they say, having a kid changes everything.
London Sprawling
The British capital is never empty, and only major television events can clear the streets. So why do movies and science fiction teem with vacant blocks? Does urbanism have room for emptiness anymore?
Days of Grind and Poses
The modern city anticipates our moods--start off jolly and you'll find a dozen happy sights. Start the day day rotten, though, and everything's squalid. How can you maintain sanity when the city changes as often as you do?
Vexed in the City
London is constantly changing--surviving bombs, rebuilding flats--so what's there to hold onto when even the subway map's an abstraction? Our longtime Londoner may notice only what's missing, but his son sees the city for the very first time.
My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism
Insights into the British media don't come more highly praised than Andrew Marr's My Trade, freshly issued in paperback. Marr, formerly the BBC's chief political correspondent, bares the secrets of the industry in the highly self-deprecating story of his journey from hack to commentator,
Carl's Cars
Carl's Cars is a "magazine about people," but hey, aren't they all? What makes this Norwegian publication different is hard to nail down. Sure, there's a fashionable streak of one-upmanship about it--with winsome girls folding skinny legs into the crushed velour interiors
Alison Lapper Pregnant
Completed in 1841, Trafalgar Square's so-called fourth plinth immediately suffered a funding crisis and has been statue-less ever since. In 1999, it became a showcase for new sculpture, and now it's coming into its own with a series of longer installations. First up is Alison Lapper
Smoke, A London Peculiar
Contemporary writing about London has been slightly cursed by the Iain Sinclair factor, with the author's dense but overbearing style encouraging legions of imitators to laboriously scrape away the modern city in search of the historical debris--and laborious prose--that lies beneath. Fanzine Smoke eschews the density in favor
Don't Look Back
The ATP-organized Don't Look Back gigs feature "classic albums" performed in their entirety by all-original lineups: Step forward, Dinosaur Jr., Mudhoney, and the Lemonheads. It's an idea that smacks of selling out and dumbing down, a pipe-and-slippers rock show for aging grungesters who no
Big Brother Nation
The London bombers were identified by the city's vast camera system, recording footage of them humping their deadly backpacks, so did Orwell get it wrong? Are these spies more helpful than sinister? Our man in the U.K. explains how the capital keeps tabs on its citizens.
London Underground
Terror strikes twice in as many weeks. A major city is disrupted, and discomfort is widespread. Our London correspondent sends us three days' dispatches about life on the tube.
New Fidelities
Our perceptions age with the cities around us--old thoughts are razed, new theories go up, the subway seems less confusing. But what about that band we loved as teenagers? What happened to them?
An Evening Out
Though New York now has its own Soho club, it's London where the eating club has its roots, though only in recent years for celebrities with hungry noses.
Raising the Game
As New York recovers from Sept. 11 with construction, it would do well to look abroad for ideas. Reporting on the history of London's skyline, and how architecture heals.
Royal Memories
As Britain prepares for the Golden Jubilee--the 50th anniversary of the Queen's throning--a reflection on the pomp, circumstance, and correctly colored ties in the monarch/subject relationship.