Mesdames De La Halle review: Great weather and beautiful surroundings made the opera irrelevant

Mesdames De La Halle Glyndebourne Until August 28 Rating: Glyndebourne is leading the return of opera after lockdown, with outdoor, staged performances of Offenbach’s obscure one-acter Mesdames De La Halle, starring Glyndebourne’s heavily pregnant chatelaine Danielle de Niese. However, seated at the back on the First Night, it was nigh …...Read More

From Pixie Lott's Stories Of 29 to Nice White Parents & Couples Quarantine: This week's top podcasts

Stories Of 29 Singer Pixie Lott was once told by an astrologist that the most pivotal year in our lives is our 29th, when we experience a ‘Saturn return’. Pixie Lott asks actors, musicians and fashionistas to tell her about the year that was most transformative for them in her …...Read More

DEBORAH ROSS: Fast fashion? I still wear my St Michael dressing gown...

Inside Missguided Wednesday, Channel 4 Rating: The Life And Times Of Captain Sir Tom Thursday, ITV Rating: I am old enough to remember a time when clothes were not throwaway items. Hems were taken up, hems were taken down. If we, as children, ever received a compliment from my mother …...Read More

Daisy Johnson, Avni Doshi, Denise Mina and D. B. C. Pierre: This week's best new fiction

Sisters Daisy Johnson Jonathan Cape £14.99 Just ten months apart, teen sisters September and July share an unusually intense bond, with one dominating the other. At the start of this eerie novel, they’ve moved from Oxford to an isolated house on the North York Moors with their mum, a children’s …...Read More

'We're eternally grateful': PM Narendra Modi writes a touching letter to MS Dhoni after retirement

PM Narendra Modi and MS Dhoni An Artist,Soldier and Sportsperson what they crave for is appreciation, that their hard work and sacrifice is getti… https://t.co/YfZlyopymU — Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) 1597911922000 NEW DELHI: Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni announced his retirement last Saturday and wishes since then have continued to …...Read More

Best of buddies: Butterflies just adore buddlejas and we should appreciate them too, says Monty Don

Monty revisits one of his classic books, Gardening at Longmeadow, in an occasional series. The butterflies are at their busiest in August, jostling and flitting from flower to flower like shoppers in a sale to reach the nectar of late-season blooms – and there is no plant in the late …...Read More

Lockdown lessons for homeowners: Prime your property for a second wave

Nobody wants a second wave of coronavirus sweeping across the country, but we all know it might happen this autumn or winter so it's time to prepare your home. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says there's unlikely to be another national lockdown, but councils have new powers to insist residents stay …...Read More

Landlords must reveal if tenants affected by coronavirus if trying to evict them

Landlords hoping to get rid of tenants who have failed to pay rent when the current evictions ban comes to an end on August 23 will face new restrictions if they want to evict them. Once the eviction ban is lifted, landlords can once again start court proceedings against tenants …...Read More

PSYCHO THRILLERS

INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell (Century £14.99, 416 pp) INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell (Century £14.99, 416 pp) Apart from anything else, this book is an instant education about Incels — the new breed of men who identify as Involuntary Celibates. They are unable to form sexual relationships with women …...Read More

Author Noriko Morishita draws parallels between the art of Japanese tea making and life

CULTURE THE WISDOM OF TEA by Noriko Morishita (Allen & Unwin £12.99, 224 pp) You may think you're particular about how you make your tea — warm the pot? Milk in first? Teabag in a mug? Whatever your brew, it's nothing to the Japanese tea ceremony. As this delightfully quirky …...Read More