featured articles
Hong Kong is ending 2026 with a festival calendar that stretches from the Central Harbourfront to its outlying islands. The Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival brings more than 300 booths to Victoria Harbour over four days, WinterFest turns Statue Square Gardens into Christmas Town beneath a magnificent 20-metre tree, and the New Year Countdown fills the waterfront as the city welcomes 2027. Cooler weather adds hiking trails and island ferries, making the city a compelling prospect for a late-year escape.
travel
Grotta Giusti Thermal Spa Resort in Tuscany has been named World's Best Thermal Grotto Spa at the World Spa Awards 2026, retaining the title for a tenth consecutive year. The five-star resort sits above a vast natural thermal grotto, the largest in Europe, whose three chambers and thermal lake have drawn guests since the nineteenth century. The Executive Magazine looks at the subterranean spa that Verdi called the eighth wonder of the world, and at the recognition it continues to command.
McLaren Automotive has revealed the McL 6GT concept at the 2026 Monterey Car Week, a car inspired by Bruce McLaren's unfinished M6GT project of the 1960s and built around an authentic manual transmission, the first offered by the marque since the legendary F1 of 1992. With full carbon fibre construction and V8 power, it previews a highly exclusive new type of supercar beyond the core portfolio, with a production version promised for 2028 and tactility at the heart of its design.
motoring
Manchester-based independent bottler House of Rum has been named Supreme Champion Rum at the International Spirits Challenge 2026, the distinction widely described as the best rum in the world, together with the title of Independent Bottler of the Year. A four-strong haul of gold medals confirmed the young company among the world's finest spirits producers. The winning release, a Mauritius 2014 drawn from a single cask of just 273 bottles, saw off thousands of entries from more than 70 countries for founder David Howarth, whose five-year-old business bottles rum from eleven nations in its purest form.
food & drink
JFA Yachts has launched the Long Island 87, a 26.25-metre sailing catamaran that expands its Long Island range with a broad flybridge and generous indoor-outdoor living. Designed by Marc Lombard Yacht Design Group, the yacht pairs aluminium hulls with a composite deck and superstructure. Its layout accommodates up to 10 guests and four crew, while a 5-metre tender platform and solar-equipped flybridge support extended time at sea. The new model brings together the range’s cruising focus, practical systems and family-oriented comfort.