Dom Nicholls

Singing like a bird

IT IS one thing to possess the ability to interfere with the avionic systems onboard an aircraft. It is quite another to announce to the world the intention of practicing such capabilities. But it takes a galactic level of stupidity, hubris or, perhaps, courage to tweet that you are going to do it when you…

Hitting home

AFTER falling in love with European coffeehouses on his wanderjahr in Germany in1971, Brian Olson started importing espresso machines to America. Today his three Café Intermezzo outlets in Atlanta employ 150 people and take in $7m a year. But in 2013, after fake credit cards were used in one of his restaurants, his card payment processor…

Walking on water

IN 1983 Christo surrounded 11 islands in Biscayne Bay, off Miami, with 600,000 square metres (6.5m square feet) of luminous pink fabric. The installation, called “Surrounded Islands”, was completely removed after two weeks. On one morning of its brief existence an elderly woman entered the project’s main office. She was livid. “It looks like you’ve…

Dirty rotten scoundrels

To be remembered as a truly sinister villain it’s all in the marketing. A memorable name is a must; preferably ironic or cropped from the rarely frequented areas of the keyboard and even better when combined with the definite article or an umlaut. Angel Eyes, The Mekon and Keyser Söze all fit the bill nicely….

The art of political collaboration

Some time ago I visited the Tate Britain gallery in London with my family. Finding the lift out of order, a gallery assistant kindly offered the use of the staff lift which is not usually available to the public. She led us through the areas that were setting up for the Turner Prize. Variously described as “a barometer for the…

The Litvinenko Inquiry – Reading the signals

Days 18 to 29 (end of public hearings) – up to March 30th All good spy dramas end with an intriguing cliffhanger. In this regard, the open session of the Litvinenko Inquiry has not disappointed. Late in proceedings the Chairman received notice supposedly from Dmitri Kovtun (one of the two alleged assassins) asking to present…