Life

The Battle for Britain | 18 December 2020

19 December 2020 9:00 am

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It’s been a tough year for socialites

19 December 2020 9:00 am

New York Here we go again, the annual holiest of holies is upon us, although to this oldie last Christmas…

Dear Mary, from Joanna Lumley: what should I do with my excess Christmas cards?

19 December 2020 9:00 am

From Joanna Lumley Q. We receive a huge number of Christmas cards every year. When I take them all down…

Is it time to reopen technology’s cold cases?

19 December 2020 9:00 am

One of the staples of crime drama is the ‘cold-case squad’. This allows programme-makers to add period detail to the…

The word of the year (whether we like it or not)

19 December 2020 9:00 am

In 2015 smombie became the Youth Word of the Year in Germany. In January 2016 a survey found that 92…

The beauty and tragedy of Lebanon

19 December 2020 9:00 am

I was thinking about tragedy. Could one use the term ‘chronically tragic’? My first instinct is against. Tragedy is the…

Food to absorb alcohol: Christmas hampers reviewed

19 December 2020 9:00 am

There is straw inside the Fortnum & Mason Christmas Treat Hamper (£100). As the straw drifts through the house, it…

Why 2021 could be sport’s greatest year yet

19 December 2020 9:00 am

The best thing about sport in 2020 was that any happened at all. And how good much of it was.…

2020 Christmas quiz

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Set by Christopher Howse. Illustrated by Castro

The unlikely Schindler who saved my wife’s family

19 December 2020 9:00 am

As I gaze at my four children on Christmas morning, clambering on to the bed with their stockings, I will…

The many good things to come out of lockdown

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Laikipia I was drinking in the fresh air on the high earth wall of my farm dam last week, when…

Spectator Christmas party

19 December 2020 9:00 am

At the Spectator Christmas PARTY(90) the TREE (42D) has a FAIRY (22), a STAR (78) and TINSEL strewn around (41,…

The magic of Anthony Powell

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Every few years I’ve picked up one or other of Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time series…

Come back, doggers, all is forgiven

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Bring back the men having sex in the undergrowth. This was the thought that occurred to me and my friend…

2485: Triplets - solution

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Each of the unclued lights includes the same letter three times in succession. First prize Tom Rollinson, Borehamwood, Herts Runners-up…

A puzzling dozen

19 December 2020 9:00 am

This Christmas, government guidance says that board games are out and quizzes are in. Thus, 12 questions for Christmas. Answers…

Bridge | 19 December 2020

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Goodbye 2020 and don’t come back. Worst part for bridge players? All the matches and tournaments have been moved online,…

Christmas hits rewritten as sonnets

19 December 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3179 you were invited to submit a Christmas hit single rewritten as a sonnet. This seasonal challenge…

No. 634

19 December 2020 9:00 am

White to play and mate in five moves. Composed by Kohtz & Kockelkorn, 1875. Be careful — four moves isn’t…

The horse with a taste for human flesh

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Greville Starkey’s great victories as a jockey included the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Star Appeal at 119-1. In…

Aussie Life / Language

12 December 2020 9:00 am

Simon Collins Contrary to popular belief, the largest and deadliest constrictors do not kill with speed and ferocity. Rather, having…

Racing books to get you through lockdown

12 December 2020 9:00 am

Who owns Altior? I ask because of the brouhaha over Nicky Henderson’s late withdrawal of his stable star, winner of…

2487: Birthday boys II

12 December 2020 9:00 am

December 12th was the birthday of two famous men. Unclued lights (including one of five words, one of two words…

What the Dickens

12 December 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3178 you were invited to submit an extract from a Dickensian novel based around the name of…

Why you can’t trust supermarket cheese

12 December 2020 9:00 am

We were celebrating the end of lockdown by talking about war and deer stalking — over a business lunch, naturally.…