To enter the secret suburban jazz lair, you go past the red-sauce pasta joint’s dining room; down the creaky stairwell lined with photos of elegantly dressed crooners and pianists and horn players; and past Ted Carter, a jowly 73-year-old wearing a ponytail pulled tight and a T-shirt bearing Miles Davis’s icy-cool gaze. Read full article > >

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At Vicino Ristorante Italiano, pizza, pasta and all that jazz

At the heart of Ali Smith’s exceedingly clever and subtly wrenching new novel, “ There but for the ,” is a dinner party guest who locks himself into his hosts’ spare bedroom between the main course and dessert and refuses to come out — for months. Miles Garth, like J.D. Salinger’s Seymour Glass, is a gentle, playful soul who connects most readily with bright children who haven’t yet been “onced by life.” But he’s also a man whose past tragedies have stayed with him, a man with perhaps too much heart to survive tranquilly in a hard world. While Salinger’s Seymour blows his brains out, in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Miles retreats into the guest room of Genevieve and Eric Lee’s suburban London townhouse and unwittingly becomes a cause celebre who creates a media frenzy. Read full article > >

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Book review: ‘There but for the,’ by Ali Smith

At the heart of Ali Smith’s exceedingly clever and subtly wrenching new novel, “ There but for the ,” is a dinner party guest who locks himself into his hosts’ spare bedroom between the main course and dessert and refuses to come out — for months. Miles Garth, like J.D. Salinger’s Seymour Glass, is a gentle, playful soul who connects most readily with bright children who haven’t yet been “onced by life.” But he’s also a man whose past tragedies have stayed with him, a man with perhaps too much heart to survive tranquilly in a hard world. While Salinger’s Seymour blows his brains out, in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Miles retreats into the guest room of Genevieve and Eric Lee’s suburban London townhouse and unwittingly becomes a cause celebre who creates a media frenzy. Read full article > >

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Book review: ‘There but for the,’ by Ali Smith

BBC News invited comedians Lucy Porter, Arthur Smith, Miles Jupp and Hattie Hayridge to give their advice to Prince Harry about his traditional best man’s duty.

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VIDEO: Best man tips for Prince Harry

In celebration of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation after 30 years of uninterrupted rule, hackers have broken into the website of the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Egyptian ruling party. Established by President Anwar El Sadat in 1978, the NDP dominated Egyptian political life under Mubarak; their headquarters was set on fire  by anti-government protesters on January 28th as Egyptians took to the streets. The NDP website now looks like this:  This message roughly (i.e. via Google Chrome’s translation widget) reads: Be safe, Egypt!  Preserve our nation, our beloved Egypt, from all enemies of evils. I love you Egypt! If anyone can provide a clearer translation, please post it in the comments section and I’ll update this post accordingly. Edit, 3:40 PM: Translation updated. Thanks to Miriem Kastally via The Atlantic Tumblr H/t Ian Miles Cheong

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Hackers Break Into Mubarak Ruling Party Website

An investigation is under way after a driverless train ran for almost four miles on the London Underground.

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‘Runaway train’ on London Tube