to 2386: Outside what we know
ROUND THE HORNE (32/40/37) starred 6/37, 6/23, 1A, 14 and 8/13. The title suggested their other comedy show, Beyond Our Ken.…
Answers to Spot the Shakespearean Character quiz
1. Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) 2. Hamlet (Hamlet) 3. Cordelia (King Lear) 4. Dogberry (Much Ado About Nothing) 5.…
Christmas quiz – the answers
You don’t say 1. President Donald Trump, in a tweet 2. Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, in…
If May goes, the Tories have just one chance to replace her
On Tuesday, MPs will face something rare: a Commons motion which really does deserve to be described as momentous. It…
Portrait of the week: Theresa May’s double defeat on Brexit
Home Political hobbyists speculated on the future of Brexit if the government fell, if a new Conservative leader was chosen,…
Could the vote on the Brexit deal set a record for a government defeat in the Commons?
Big defeats Could the vote on the Brexit deal set a record for a government defeat in the Commons? Aside…
Letters: The consequences of a Corbyn government could be catastrophic
Sleeping on the streets Sir: Mark Palmer claims that ‘homelessness is hardly a top government priority’ (‘Home truths’, 1 December). I…
Read The Spectator article that gave birth to musical minimalism 50 years ago
The Spectator is responsible for many coinages. One of the most significant came in 1968, when an article by our…
to 2385: R and R
The two people were Prince RUPERT (12) of the Rhine, born 1619 in PRAGUE (6) and died 1682 in WESTMINSTER…
Why we must reject May’s deal
While some may doubt Donald Trump’s claim to be a friend of Britain’s, his intervention in the Brexit debate this…
Portrait of the week: the Brexit world, the non-Brexit world and Mars
Brexit Theresa May, the Prime Minister, seemed to succeed in uniting the country in opposition to the withdrawal agreement to…
Letters: Brexit’s impact on the Irish border issue has been flagged up all along
The Irish border Sir: Contrary to the assertion that the Irish border ‘only hit the headlines’ after Leo Varadkar became…
no. 534
Black to play. This is a variation from Caruana-Carlsen, World Championship (Game 10), London 2018. The black queen is trapped…
to 2384: bang!
Unclued lights, individually or as a pair (38/9), are FIREWORKS. First prize F. Whitehead, Harrogate, North YorksRunners-up I. Livingston, Wilmslow, Cheshire;…
Britain must reject the European model
France has been in a state of organised uprising this week, with 300,000 motorists taking to the streets and autoroutes…
Portrait of the Week: May’s deal, water cannon, John Worboys and Interpol
Home Five pizza-eating cabinet ministers — Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt, Liam Fox, Michael Gove and Chris Grayling — put it…
What kills penguins?
Black Friday When and where did the term ‘Black Friday’ originate? — It was used to describe a collapse in…
Letters: There is no such thing as a ‘good’ Brexit
There is no ‘good’ Brexit Sir: David Harper claims to know ‘what the population of the UK voted for’ in…
to 2383: Flagged
The unclued lights are presenters of BLUE PETER: individually at 39; pairs are 3/2, 7/22, 15A/15D, 15A/17, 25/14, and 32/31,…
It’s a bad deal – whichever way you look at it
During last year’s general election campaign, Theresa May declared that ‘You can only deliver Brexit if you believe in Brexit’.…
Portrait of the week: Moment of truth for Theresa May’s Brexit deal
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, defended a 500-page technical draft of the agreement on withdrawal from the European Union.…
Have wildfires really got worse over the years?
Hard bitten A British tourist died after contracting rabies from a cat bite in Morocco. Whatever happened to the prominent…
Trial and punishment
From ‘The Kaiser’, 16 November 1918: What is to be done with the Kaiser? For the question must certainly be…
Letters: Art is as important as history in the remembrance of the past
Hearts as well as heads Sir: Simon Jenkins suggests we should stop remembering and start forgetting about the first world…
Books of the year – part two
Daniel Swift I feel as though I came late to the Sarah Moss party. Nobody told me she was this…
