Life
Bridge | 6 February 2021
The American professor Martin Seligman is one of the most influential psychologists in the world. Known as the father of…
The myth of American freedom
Gstaad Imagine a beautiful, sexy woman, an Ava Gardner or a Lily James, with a wart on the end of…
My tips for Cheltenham
Dry January it wasn’t and I am not referring to the trainers who normally undergo an annual abstinence but who…
In praise of the bacon butty
I was tipped off to meet a white Hyundai at a French motorway toll rest area at 2.30 p.m. (I…
Aussie Life
Has any speech by an American politician ever received more attention in the Australian media than Joe Biden’s inauguration speech?…
Aussie Lingo
Every other day some minor celebrity complains of being ‘trolled’ on social media. The answer is to get off social…
Remembering Kavalek
‘I began my escape from the communist Czechoslovakia 42 years ago, on Sunday, September 1, 1968. According to Wikipedia, I…
The fakery of Martha Gellhorn
Gstaad Martha Gellhorn was a long-legged blonde American writer and journalist who became Papa Hemingway’s third and penultimate wife. She…
Quarantine heralds the death of Mid-Atlantic Man
As an ambitious journalist making my way in Fleet Street, I dreamed of becoming a Mid-Atlantic Man. Tom Wolfe came…
2491: Recycling
Ten unclued lights comprise a septet with a common theme. Across 1 Running article perhaps subject to trial? (7)…
What should you put at the end of an email?
Suzanne Moore, the Telegraphcolumnist, found it ‘deeply annoying’ when perhaps five years ago she noticed people putting ‘Kind regards’ at…
Dear Mary: How can I deter acquaintances who want to stop and chat?
Q. There is a Tube stop next door to my place of work but I now walk in each day.…
Our obsession with city living is out of date
In March last year, the world made an interesting discovery. We found that a high proportion of knowledge-work could be…
The Battle for Britain | 30 January 2021
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Bridge | 30 December 2021
When bridge moved from actual tables to virtual tables last March, it quickly became clear that cheating was ruining the…
2488: Clueless - solution
Unclued lights were games played in I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue: SOUND CHARADES, SWANEE KAZOO, CHEDDAR GORGE, PICK UP…
Spectator competition winners: adverbial short stories
In Competition No. 3183 you were invited to submit a short story entitled ‘My Year of Living [insert adverb of…
No. 638
Kokkoris–Kavalek, Athens 1968. Kavalek’s next move initiated a beautiful forced mating sequence. What did he play? Answers should be emailed…
The joy of my new British passport
‘Anything you want?’ says Catriona on her way out of the house to go to the shop. I’m standing at…
Surrey county council has abolished night time
An everlasting lightbulb brighter than the Dog Star was installed in the street lamp outside my house one morning as…
How Argentina conquered Malbec
When Napoleon III proclaimed himself Emperor of France in 1852, he unwittingly kickstarted quality wine production in Chile and Argentina.…
Kiwi Life
When I dice a chilled cucumber along with a couple of tomatoes, toss them together in a bowl with a…
Aussie Lingo
Have we flogged the word ‘spirit’ to death? Or, rather have politicians, emptied it of all meaning and turned it…
No. 637
White to play. Howell — Adams, Caplin Hastings Online 2021. Adams’s last move, 35…Ba4-b3, gave Howell the chance for a…
The small world of Polari
In discussing the German low-life cant called Rotwelsch, Mark Glanville (Books, 9 January) referred in passing to Polari, ‘the language…
