Life
Why a church in Jerusalem is the model for all family-owned holiday homes
Malindi, the Indian Ocean When I lived in Jerusalem a long time ago, I often visited the Church of the…
Aussie Life
The elevation of Dylan Alcott to Australian of the Year is a great win for the disability sector, but threatens…
Aussie Language
As we approach a federal election, for the next few weeks I’ll look at some ‘election lingo’. ballot: Why do…
The joylessness of Joan Didion
Gstaad Joan Didion, who died last December, took herself extremely seriously. American writers tend to do that, especially those…
Spectator competition winners: Covid’s metamorphoses
In Competition No. 3234, you were invited to submit either a poem or a short story entitled ‘Covid’s metamorphoses’. Thanks…
Magnus’s tasks
World championship match play has a stony logic, where there are no prizes for glorious endeavour. It calls to mind…
2538: Green Light! Cross! - solution
The unclued lights are towns on Gozo (go + zo are defined in the puzzle’s title). Apologies that this crossword…
Clash of the two-mile titans
The engine wasn’t what it was, they said. At ten years old the spark that had once made him a…
Why Sardinian wine is one to watch
The larger islands of the Mediterranean all have their glories. Fought over for millennia, they now seem to have attained…
The myth of the typical Brexit voter
In Jake’s Thing, Kingsley Amis gave it a name: he called it ‘the inverted pyramid of piss’: ‘One of [Geoffrey…
What does ice cream have to do with ‘late capitalism’?
‘More to my taste is Trockenbeerenkapitalismus,’ said my husband with an intonation that indicated a joke. The joke was a…
Dear Mary: How do we get out of doing our hosts’ cleaning?
Q. My husband and I have made friends with two distinguished, although fairly eccentric, writers whose company we thoroughly enjoy.…
Why don't I come with a trigger warning?
Last week brought the news that some universities have attached more ‘trigger warnings’ to certain books, concerned that students may…
The joy of the Great War memoir
Harley Granville-Barker, actor, director, playwright, manager and critic, was a pasha of the Edwardian London stage. As a director, his…
2541: Beastly
The unclued lights are to be resolved into four (unrelated, non-thematic) phrases which share a common format. Across 12…
No. 688
White to play. Dardha–Shuvalova, Tata Steel Challengers 2022. The 16-year-old grandmaster from Belgium found a crisp way to finish the…
The Battle for Britain | 5 February 2022
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Bridge | 05 February 2022
I’ve been friends with the England player Mike Bell for many years; as top bridge professionals go, I’d say he…
Beware your car’s onboard computer
After an incredible 13 emails, Vodafone decided that I was who I was claiming to be, and refunded my money.…
Aussie Life
Even in Australian publications of a conspicuously conservative disposition, it has been some time since any respected pundit has suggested,…
Aussie Language
Here’s a delightful expression I have just encountered: ‘offence archaeology’. This is the practice of going through the social media…
2540: Recycling components
Eight unclued lights, arranged symmetrically, comprise two quartets, one of which makes the other go round. Across 1 How…
It’s my ninth – and final – chemotherapy session
‘Sorry I’m late,’ I said to the big unit stationed behind her computer. She’s the chief, this one. She shows…
My Orwellian battle with Vodafone
After launching an investigation into my missing phone, Vodafone informed me it could not deal with me any further until…
Bridge | 29 January 2022
During lockdown I had a bit of a tidy-up and came across a Post-it note with the following statement written…
