Balti

A new report today suggested that, amongst the many economic victims of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the UK hundreds of Indian restaurants may never re-open. In this context in Britain, "Indian" means "from the Indian sub-continent", as many of them are run by people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage.  This is our favourite local takeaway. 

China's most expensive living artist is Zhang Xiaogang.  Born in 1958, aged only 8 he and his parents were forced to leave their home for a "study camp" in the countryside as part of Mao's Cultural Revolution. That experience influences his work today, in paintings such as Comrades (2006.) The bland, emotionless faces of the young men in Mao jackets suggest to me both a former "normality" and a lack of emotion amongst those who implemented the Revolution.