What Christmas really costs us — and how much of it we waste
Christmas splurge How much extra do households spend at Christmas?— £500, according to the Bank of England. Over the course…
Letters: Returning jihadis, the Labour abyss and why Stokes can’t play
Returning jihadis Sir: Coping with those who pose a terrorist threat to the UK but cannot be prosecuted for a…
Sarah Vine, Prue Leith and Jilly Cooper on their most convincing ghost story
Anthony Horowitz Novelist I have never really believed in ghosts, but I actually had a personal experience which…
to 2337: millefeuille
Links with NAPOLEON were his battles WAGRAM (10) MARENGO (14) JENA (36); card games BACCARAT (1A) PATIENCE (26) BRAG (30A);…
Christmas quiz – The answers
Weird world 1. Cannabis 2. Che Guevara 3. Tesco 4. Asda 5. Beauty and the Beast 6. Georgia 7. France…
The joy of Japanese puzzles – The answers
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Returning jihadis must be brought to justice
At first sight, the evidence presented in David Anderson’s report into the four terror attacks committed between March and June…
DUP’s 11th-hour objection throws Brexit deal into chaos
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, was thrown into a political crisis, along with the negotiations for Brexit, during a…
Stolen spikes: the strange history of the Irish border
Border skirmishes What did the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic used to look like? — In 1923 a…
Letters: why is the C of E still messing around with the Carlile report?
The Carlile report Sir: The Bishop of Bath and Wells tells us (Letters, 2 December) that nobody is holding up…
to 2336: IRRELEVANT
The action that results in 6, 10, 29D and 30 is HAIR-RAISING (7, defined by 5). RAISING A HARE (39)…
A £50 billion Brexit ‘divorce bill’ is a price worth paying
There will be howls of outrage in some quarters if it is confirmed that the government has offered the EU…
Prince Harry announces his engagement to US actress Meghan Markle
Home The engagement was announced of Prince Henry of Wales, aged 33, and the Los Angeles-born Meghan Markle, an actress…
As Prince Harry gets engaged, how many other single men marry divorcees?
Pit stopped After complaints from the Durham Miners’ Association, a rugby club at Durham University cancelled a pub crawl in…
When heroes come home to be husbands again
From ‘Comrades of the great war’, The Spectator, 1 December 1917: Eventually all will be over, even the shouting; and…
Lawyers do make the best MPs (despite Thatcher and Blair)
Proven lawyers Sir: Andrew Watts says that for ‘lawyers in politics, the elimination of risk becomes the highest aim of…
to 2335: CHIPPY
The unclued lights are COMPUTING terms. First prize D.A. Henderson, Almonte, Ontario, CanadaRunners-up Robin Muir, Compton, West Sussex; Ian Shiels,…
This budget was useful but boring: the Tories need bigger ideas
Philip Hammond began his first Budget, in March, by playing down its importance — for his big ideas on fiscal…
Britain agrees to offer the EU a £40 billion divorce payment for Brexit
Home The cabinet, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, agreed that the European Union would have to be offered something…
The Queen wed 70 years ago… but she has 20 more to go to break a record
Enduring love The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. They are not the first public figures to…
Revenues past
From 12 July 1828: The Chancellor made his financial statement on Friday, in a style of candour and clearness which…
to 2334: sweet variations
Four types of CAKE (37) were given UPSIDE-DOWN (5): 10D, 20D, 31D and 33D. Four other types of cake were…
Britain and its allies are opening the way for yet another Iraq war
After the most intensive street-by-street combat since 1945, Isis’s so-called caliphate is no more. Last weekend, the Iraqi government won…
The Brexit Bill faces 470 amendments on its way through Parliament
Home As the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill faced 470 amendments in its examination by a committee of the whole House,…
If EU nationals are leaving the NHS, why are their numbers going up?
No. 2 iron English Heritage launched a crowdfunding campaign for repairs to Abraham Darby’s 1779 bridge at Ironbridge, Shropshire. This…
