All posts tagged: exquisite

The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley

The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley

Published by Jenni Sidey

Some love stories whisper. This one grins, sharpens a knife, and asks whether you would rather be healed or gutted. The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley closes the Dearly Beloathed duology that opened with her instant bestseller The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy, and it arrives with the same wicked pulse: an assassin who kills for money, a healer whose Order swears “Harm to none,” and the maddening gravitational pull neither of them asked for. If you have not yet met Osric Mordaunt and Aurienne Fairhrim, a small warning up front. This is a second book, and it behaves like one. The Assassin and the Healer Osric is a Fyren, a member of a guild of killers who murder with relish and dress for the occasion. Aurienne is a Haelan, a scholar-healer who would far rather be in her research lab than patching up a Fyren in secret every full moon. The first book forced them together over a bribe and a fatal disease. This one catches them mid-fall, …

Queen Camilla branded ‘exquisite’ in striking new portrait

Queen Camilla branded ‘exquisite’ in striking new portrait

Published by Daniella Wilson

Queen Camilla was reminded of a very special moment on Thursday when she visited The Fan Museum in Greenwich. The 78-year-old wife of King Charles made the trip to open the Monarchy exhibition. During her visit, the Queen was presented with the fan that features in her official Coronation portrait by Paul Benney, who was there in person to witness it. It was Paul who chose to include the fan, which was commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers to mark the Coronation, in his portrait. A historic portrait On Thursday, it was formally presented to Her Majesty by Master of the Livery Dinesh Naidu. The Duchess of Gloucester, also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers, joined Camilla at The Fan Museum for the occasion and viewed the exhibition, which features around 80 fans spanning three centuries of royal history, including two from Camilla’s personal collection. The outing reminded not only Camilla but also royal fans of the skill involved in Paul Benney’s portrait. “That portrait is just stunning. A masterpiece!,” …

‘”Master Harold” … and the Boys’ review: An exquisite Fugard revival

‘”Master Harold” … and the Boys’ review: An exquisite Fugard revival

Published by Sam Flores

The historical situation of “‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys,” Athol Fugard’s apartheid-era classic from 1982, has changed. South Africa’s system of racial segregation that institutionalized white supremacy was dismantled in 1994. Fugard, who died last year, played a role in bringing international attention to the injustices of his homeland through plays that chronicled the human toll of such corrosive governmental policies. The power of his work resides not in ideological argument or moral screed but in the observation of characters struggling to maintain their humanity in an inhuman system. Precisely for this reason, “‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys” has lost none of its emotional validity, as the exquisite new production that opened at the Geffen Playhouse on Thursday reveals. The revival stars Tony winner John Kani (“The Island,” “Sizwe Banzi Is Dead”), a treasured collaborative partner of Fugard’s and one of the best living interpreters of his work. His performance alone makes this an unmissable event, but that’s not the only reason you should see it. At a time when many of us …

Sir Keir Starmer’s China trip provides exquisite optics for the ‘world’s most reliable superpower’ | UK News

Sir Keir Starmer’s China trip provides exquisite optics for the ‘world’s most reliable superpower’ | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Let’s be frank, in China the UK is not seen as a particularly big or important player. It’s seen as a middling power at best, one that does have some advantages to offer, particularly in the service and knowledge economies, but one that has a greatly diminished global impact, particularly in the post Brexit years. Add to that 10 years of flip-flopping on China policy, very limited outreach and increasingly hawkish attitudes both in the British parliament and the general public, and it’s hardly surprising that China didn’t roll out the full five-star treatment for Sir Keir Starmer that it does with some visiting leaders. But despite all that, there were plenty of signs that the Chinese are happy to have a British prime minister here, not least for the optics. Much of what was said for the cameras at least was notable for its optimism, even warmth, and there’s a sense the Chinese do see this as a moment of reset and smell genuine opportunity. You need javascript enabled to view this content Enable …

Iain Ballamy: Riversphere Vol 1 review – an exquisite flow of genre, harmony and improv | Music

Iain Ballamy: Riversphere Vol 1 review – an exquisite flow of genre, harmony and improv | Music

Published by Sam Flores

Opening 2026’s jazz reviews with a story from the mid-1980s might be risking audience restiveness, but that was the decade in which a far-sighted young saxophonist on the UK jazz scene called Iain Ballamy first appeared on this writer’s radar. The cross-generational lineup and captivating ideas of Riversphere, his first solo release in years, testify to exactly why he has stayed there for 40 years. The artwork for Riversphere Vol 1 In their 20s, Ballamy and pianist/composer Django Bates frequently joined forces as two mavericks, skilfully respectful of the classic jazz tradition while adventurously and often mischievously transforming it. They were key figures in a gifted UK generation that created some of the sparkiest European jazz of the 1980s and 90s, most influentially in the revolutionary orchestra Loose Tubes, which brought together genres from old-school swing to vaudeville, improv and avant-rock, and on occasion really did get people dancing in the streets. Riversphere likens the interweaving of rivers to the flows of music-making between genres, individuals and across the blurred lines of composition and improv. …