in Beirut, as in Iran, are in, according to this report. Beirut has become the plastic surgery capital of the Arab world. Here’s a fascinating (if slightly creepy) photo essay about the roots of it all.

has arrived – in every sense – in Istanbul. Sheikha Mozah of Qatar was there only the other day, admiring the work of Abdulnasser Gharem. Here’s a review, and below is a snap containing part of Gharem’s latest work.

meets Tim Mackintosh-Smith, in San’a. What could be better? TMS has a new book out, Landfalls, the last in his Ibn Battutah trilogy.

p.s. as Tim Mackintosh-Smith made a cameo in my eccentrics book this gobbet belongs to two categories. Which is amazing. Like an eclipse, only more rare. I’m off to celebrate.

has landed, at the Whitechapel Gallery. Am hugely excited about it but am also in the wrong country. For anyone in the right one, it has now begun.

is very now. Hardly a week goes by without another piece on it, and it’s certainly reached Damascus. But not everyone’s thrilled about it.