After four weeks of Christmas (!) with three sets of grandkids in Desert Dream, we’re heading out for a week of peace and quiet in an old favourite of ours, Belmond’s La Samanna in St Martin.

My reading list – Black Gold by my NZ Rugby World editor Gregor Paul, Grit, Rigour & Humour:  The INEOS story and the ninth Orphan X thriller – Lone Wolf.

On my iPad:

• The Gold:  A brilliant Apple TV drama series from BBC/Paramount+ about the biggest gold bullion robbery of its times – the Brink’s-Mat – an iconic true story.  A seminal event in British policing/criminal history and the birth of large-scale, international money laundering.  November 1983, I remember it well.  The series brings back the cars, fashions, class system, Thatcherism, the birth of the mobile and the computer.
• Berlin:  The Netflix prequel to the brilliant Casa de Papel (Money Heist) with the charismatic Pedro Alonso playing the eccentric dreamer Berlin.
• The Engineer:  A Netflix movie about the real life manhunt of the terrorist bomb-maker Yahya Ayyash.  Feels like Fauda – a great series.
• Suburraeterna:  The sequel to one of my favourites – Suburra – the gritty, powerful story of the chaos/corruption in today’s Rome – the Vatican, the City and criminals are all at it – again.  On Netflix.

And from Apple:  Season Five of Fargo, and Idris Elba in Hijack.

Whilst Jack Ryan and Jack Reacher make for muscular, nuance-free watching for tired, escapist minds on Amazon Prime.

Here comes the sun.