Stuart McGurk

Journalist. Ex-GQ. PPA & BSME Magazine Writer of the Year. 2022 Foreign Press Awards winner. Rep’d by Emma Paterson @AitkenAlexander. Lurking.

Articles

Britain’s aircraft carriers: a national embarrassment?

2 months ago | prospectmagazine.co.uk | Stuart McGurk

Being aboard the HMS Prince of Wales is like standing on a little bit of England, moored off Liverpool. I was six decks up on the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, on a flight deck the size of three football pitches. An hour earlier, I was on the floating concrete jetty against which the vessel was docked, watching the incongruous sight of vans parked on the platform bobbing with the tide. Aircraft carriers have this effect: they blur the line between land and sea.
The race to make the greatest Christmas ad

Dec 13, 2024 | ft.com | Stuart McGurk

Every New Year’s Day, Emma Bisley starts asking herself the same question: who is going to win Christmas this year?
Armando Ianucci is tired of your Veep comparisons

Nov 10, 2024 | gq-magazine.co.uk | Stuart McGurk

Little-known story: Armando Iannucci was nearly a civil servant. He even sat the entrance exam. “I was given all sorts of scenarios, you know: how would you deal with this?” Iannucci explains over breakfast, in the same Fitzrovia café he’s been coming to for the last 30 years. He was rejected, though, because the bureaucrats didn’t think he’d take it seriously. Thankfully for us, he’s been taking serious subjects unseriously ever since.
‘I’m not the sexy one. I’m not the nerd. I don’t know where I fit’

Sep 28, 2024 | msn.com | Stuart McGurk

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Elizabeth Olsen: ‘I’m not the sexy one. I’m not the nerd. I don’t know where I fit’

Sep 28, 2024 | theguardian.com | Stuart McGurk

The actor Elizabeth Olsen and I are in a London hotel, staring down at her dinner. She lifts the lid from one plate: a bowl of plain black beans. She lifts another: a bowl of similarly spare couscous. You wouldn’t know it, but Olsen is something of a foodie. She takes a set of knives around the world when filming, makes her own ricotta, knows what brand of caviar is best, and records the name of every restaurant she visits.
Can Sir Jim Ratcliffe Save Manchester United?

Sep 5, 2024 | ca.style.yahoo.com | Stuart McGurk

Can Sir Jim Ratcliffe Save Manchester United?Laura SheppardRunner number 46136 of the 2024 London Marathon moved steadily, if ever so slightly gingerly, his feet staying in close communication with the ground. This was perhaps understandable, considering the runner — the billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe— was 71 years old, and that, due to a hamstring injury, he had only trained for six weeks. But also, perhaps, something else. Not so long ago, he found his bones had started breaking.
Whatever Happened to Josh Hartnett?

Aug 9, 2024 | airmail.news | Stuart McGurk

Every morning, as soon as the actor Josh Hartnett wakes up in his home in the Hampshire countryside, there are mouths to be fed. Most obviously, those of his four young children. But also: the dog, several guinea pigs, several more chickens and a small herd of pygmy goats. The goats, Hartnett notes, are his favorites. “They’re the sweetest animals on the planet,” he says, over Zoom, from his home. “They’re like dogs. They would live in the house if they could.
‘I didn’t want to be swallowed up’: actor Josh Hartnett on swapping Hollywood for Hampshire

Jul 27, 2024 | theguardian.com | Stuart McGurk

Every morning, as soon as the actor Josh Hartnett wakes up in his home in the Hampshire countryside, there are mouths to be fed. Most obviously, those of his four young children. But also: the dog, several guinea pigs, several more chickens and a small herd of pygmy goats. The goats, Hartnett notes, are his favourites. “They’re the sweetest animals on the planet,” he says, over Zoom, from his home. “They’re like dogs. They would live in the house if they could.
Whose Lime is it anyway? How the green ebikes took over our streets

Jan 13, 2024 | msn.com | Stuart McGurk

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Whose Lime is it anyway? How the green ebikes took over our streets

Jan 13, 2024 | theguardian.com | Stuart McGurk

At about 7am each morning, Ed Wright arrives for his shift as one of Lime’s fleet of van drivers in Bermondsey, south London. At 64, he remains lithe and lively, cycling the seven miles from his Streatham home to Lime’s London warehouse on an ebike. This comes in handy when your job is to heave wounded and lost ebikes found across the capital into your van and replace them with their recently repaired comrades. Sometimes he just switches the batteries.