Life
The complicated business of swearing in Ukrainian
‘This will interest you,’ said my husband, looking up from the smeared screen of his telephone. For once he was…
Spectator competition winners: poems about literary feuds
In Competition No. 3238, you were invited to submit a poem about a literary feud. Wallace Stevens’s 1936 fisticuffs with…
How to post a parcel without leaving your house
Here’s a useful tip. Go to the Royal Mail websiteand you can ask your postman to collect letters or parcels…
Bridge | 5 March 2022
Few things in life compare to the joy of playing bridge, but if I rack my brain I can think…
The story of Tuscany’s all-female winery
The inhabitants of Tuscany and Umbria can claim to be the most civilised beings on the planet, even exceeding the…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my new friend leaving me broke?
Q. Recently I started hanging out with a new friend. We are both in our twenties, single, and usually go…
Nuclear war, magic mushrooms and a teenage trip I’ll never forget
Vladimir Putin’s decision on Sunday to put his ‘deterrence forces’ – code for nuclear weapons – in a high state…
2542: Wider II - solution
The unclued lights and COMPOSERS (35A) are RIBBONS/Gibbons (1A), MAILER/Mahler (7), RAMEAN/Rameau (25), WANTON/Walton (26A), DELICES/Delibes (46), RAVENER/Tavener (1D), BELLING/Bellini…
2545: With a twist
41 (four words) suggests the other unclued lights – which are individual examples (not group names) of a kind –…
No. 692
White to play and win. A gem discovered by the Ukrainian composer Vladislav Tarasiuk with Israeli composer Amatzia Avni. How…
The Battle for Britain | 5 March 2022
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My top tips for Cheltenham Festival
Even when the authorities were refusing Milton Harris the right to renew his training licence after he got his finances…
St Moritz is unique among ski resorts
St Moritz Once upon a time, not that long ago, St Moritz was the world’s greatest resort, an exclusive winter…
Aussie Life
A journalist friend has been writing an advice column rather like The Speccie’s ‘Dear Mary’. He was calling it ‘Ask…
Aussie Language
A small award should be presented to the Australian’s Alice Workman for her new coinage. She has given us a…
The joy of French car boot sales
Every Saturday morning Michael rises at four and drives down to the Côte d’Azur to the Magic World car boot…
No. 691
Black to play. Maric-Gligoric, Belgrade 1962. White has offered to exchange the rooks on f5 and c3. But Gligoric found…
How 'like' lost its way
A strange crisis has befallen like. It had long been an object of obloquy and vilification in two functions. The…
Bridge | 26 February 2022
My friend Nick Sandqvist says that coaching the England juniors is a joy; so great when someone enthusiastic and creative…
The Battle for Britain | 26 February 2022
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Is football hooliganism on its way back?
Forty-odd years ago a friend, a Liverpool supporter, somewhat unwisely took his girlfriend to Elland Road for a Leeds match…
2544: Fives
Clues lead to 5-letter solutions. Each set of ten clues is presented in alphabetical order of the solutions. Correct positioning…
A victim of its own mythology: Langan’s Brasserie reviewed
Langan’s, a brasserie off Piccadilly with curling orange neon signage calling its name, is under new management after it fell…
Dear Mary: How do I tell my friends that napkin rings are the height of naff?
Q. Three weeks ago I banged my head on the lower branch of our near neighbours’ tree, which I couldn’t…
Mexico is no country for journalists
I’m writing this on my last day in Mexico City, having accompanied my 18-year-old daughter here for the first week…
