Life
The battle for Eton’s soul
When trying to get my head around the row that has engulfed Eton College in the past two weeks I…
Was endorsing Boris one of my worst misjudgments ever?
Now that our social lives are a Venn diagram that only mathematicians can understand I am officially becoming a recluse.…
A magical field hospital for vegetables: Turnips reviewed
Turnips is an haute cuisine restaurant inside a greengrocer in Borough Market in London. I suspect others will try this…
Dear Mary: How do I stop the cleaner ‘helping’ with my jigsaw?
Q. Unlike my wife, I am tiring of Netflix. Wanting a project to occupy me during these long dark nights,…
The strange language of this year
‘Forget coronavirus,’ said my husband, ‘the word of the year is strange.’ The strange thing is he’s right. This wasn’t…
2483: In my soup - solution
Unclued lights are anagrams of animals: PRAENOMINA (1A: Pomeranian), MARTIAN (18: tamarin), LARBOARD (21: Labrador), SHORE (28: horse), PROTEIN (42:…
Chess improvement
The juicy prospect of improvement constantly dangles above a chess player. Those morsels of knowledge one has acquired whet the…
Bridge | 05 December 2020
Many years ago I remember Tor Helness, the great Norwegian champion, going into the semi-final of a world championship saying:…
I found a confused elderly man in my bedroom
There are several cave houses built into the cliff. Ours is the highest and can be reached only by a…
2486: Ghost companions
In this anniversary year, unclued lights (one of two words) are of a kind. Ignore four accents. Across 1 Regularly…
No. 633
White to play. A position taken from Chess Improvement (perhaps from Luchowski–Gridnew, Moscow 1992.) Black’s menacing pieces make the situation…
The Battle for Britain | 5 December 2020
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Why I stopped reading novels
New York I received a letter from a long-time Spectatorreader, James Hackett, enquiring about books I am reading. It is…
Rugby must try harder
Remember those lazy, hazy, crazy days of last year’s rugby World Cup, when as perfect a performance by England as…
Aussie Life / Language
Simon Collins Things must be getting back to normal again in Australia if we’re arguing about the wording of the…
2485: Triplets
The unclued lights (all but one either hyphened or of two words) share a distinctive feature. Across 1 Fun and…
Forbidden pairings
Put yourself in the shoes of Aryan Gholami, the teenage master from Iran who was paired with an Israeli opponent…
Why racing is not a ‘posh’ sport
Why hasn’t Bristol De Mai become as beloved by the racing public as his fellow greys Desert Orchid and One…
My advice to Trump supporters? Smile and take it
New York There are times, living in this here dump, when I doubt if anyone’s heard of the word magnanimity.…
Lockdown might bring the Dickensian Christmas back into fashion
I feel like a prisoner, making daily marks on the cell wall to chart the approach of freedom. But will…
Do civil servants need to be 'robust' or 'resilient'?
‘Why do they keep saying they need Brazilians?’ asked my husband, coming up for air from a hazy mixture of…
The surprising brilliance of meal kits
Ford’s Kumar Galhotra once remarked that carmaking is 100,000 rational decisions in search of one emotional decision. You spend five…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my boss giving me a Christmas hamper?
Q. For many years my boss gave each member of his small team a very generous Christmas gift voucher from…
My kids think my move into the garden shed means divorce
I’ve moved out of my home. No, Caroline and I haven’t broken up. It’s just that we’re having the house…
The Battle for Britain | 28 November 2020
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