Life
A brief history of the death of God
A few weeks after Friedrich Nietzsche bragged to an admirer that he had completed a ruthless attack on our Lord,…
The torment of a tasting menu: Hélène Darroze at the Connaught reviewed
The Connaught Hotel’s formal dining room was always, to me, a place of childish myth; more comforting for being mythical.…
Some (tentative) reasons to be cheerful in 2022
Someone sent me a job advert recently for a Junior Research Fellowship at Queen’s College, Oxford. It states: ‘The Queen’s…
2534: Off-pitch - solution
The unclued lights are cricket fielding positions. The clues contain the names of 12 present and former England cricketers: Old,…
Spectator competition winners: Harold Pinter’s Nativity
In Competition No. 3229, you were invited to provide the story of the Nativity retold in the style of a…
No. 683
White to play and mate in 3. Composed by Albert Barbe, 1861. Only the first move is required, but it’s…
Everyone should be sick in the street once
I learned a great deal at university, about half of it from a man called Raymond Foulk. Ray was not…
A long-forgotten tale of sorcery and a severed head
Laikipia Plateau, Kenya Our local chief Panta wore a government-issue khaki uniform with epaulettes, beret and swagger stick. On a…
The year sport and politics became inseparable
Sport and politics have always been intertwined, but this was the year they became joined at the hip. Yorkshire racism;…
Dectet
Ten pairs of unclued lights give the names of people whose 89 was ‘50D/2A’ (six words in total). They include…
Twelve questions for Christmas
1. ‘I like the game, the money, and the fame.’ Which Twitter-loving top grandmaster said that, in response to an…
2021 Christmas quiz
Set by Christopher Howse. Illustrated by Castro
Aussie Life
The slur issued by Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe in the Chamber last week towards Hollie Hughes reaffirmed one thing, that…
Aussie Language
Nick Cater has coined what I think is a brilliant new expression the ‘laptop class’. This is his vivid and…
Spectator competition winners: Goldfinger for tots
In Competition No. 3228, you were invited to provide a well-known extract from adult literature rewritten for inclusion in an…
Puzzle | 11 December 2021
White to play and mate in 2. Composed by W.A. Shinkman, Montreal Spectator, 1880. As things stand, White has no…
Bridge | 11 December 2021
All the best people play bridge. Stephen Sondheim, who died two weeks ago, was mad about the game. In his…
A hidden side of the Somme
Noticing via this Low Life column that I had trench fever, the Western Front Association treated me to a year’s…
The culture of the weighing room needs to move with the times
In the first such case for 20 years, former rider Freddy Tylicki, paralysed and wheelchair-bound since his mount Nellie Dean…
Why I prefer to rely on natural immunity
‘Did you hear it?’ said a friend of mine, red-faced with the flush of a piece of news she couldn’t…
What do Millwall supporters and internet alt-righters have in common?
My grown-up friends don’t use based in its new slangy sense, so I asked Veronica (whom I still think of…
Carlsen’s breakthrough
Game 6 of the Carlsen–Nepomniachtchi world championship match was one for the ages. After draws in the first five games,…
Has Formula 1 ever been this exciting?
The good citizens of Stevenage would be well advised to prepare extensively for the likely open-top bus parade of their…
The Battle for Britain | 11 December 2021
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