Phil Robertshaw

Wide coverage, but light on detail, 27 Dec 2012

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)

At first glance, this looks like a really comprehensive guide to England and Wales. It's a big tome and covers quite a large area of the country, but once you get further in and realise that it's fairly scant in its coverage of some pretty large areas and towns, you realise that you'd be better off with a guide book devoted specifically to those areas. It's not all bad - for the overseas visitor, this is probably quite a useful general guide to England and Wales, if supplemented with other books like a Lonely Planet guide. For the average British tourist, though, it is questionable how much use you will realistically get out of this. There are quite a lot of details on accommodation and the… Read more

Great follow up to Think Of A Number, 27 Dec 2012

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John Verdon's second novel was always going to have difficulty living up to the originality of his debut novel 'Think of a Number', but Verdon continues an excellent start to his thriller career here, in the follow up. Once again 'retired' detective Dave Gurney is called upon for his expertise in solving a baffling murder in which the killer has apparently vanished into thin air. Like the first novel, this plot is set up as a teaser and gradually unravels throughout.

Gurney is an interesting character and here we see more of his relationship with his wife. Madeline is one of the more interesting and enigmatic characters in the book and again there is a focus on Gurney's… Read more

Kitchen talking point, 19 April 2012

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This kettle does what it says on the tin. It functions perfectly well and is easy to keep clean, being stainless steel. The selling point is the colour that it lights up with, with several to choose from (or you can have them on a cycle).

Considering the gizmo-nature of this kettle, it doesn't use as much power as you might expect and is quite attractive when it gets going. After a while of inactivity it preserves the power and the colour fades. It's something of a talking point when making a cup of tea for a guest.

Overall, it's a nice product which should enhance most kitchens, but some may find it a bit too gimmicky.