Life
The Battle for Britain
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No one else has the weird levels of self-regard shown by people who appear regularly on TV
One of the more tedious tropes of recent years is for journalists to bemoan the rise of populism while busily…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my husband eating everything in the fridge?
Q. A friend of a friend has an apartment in Venice. I would like to commiserate with her about the…
Wine that puts politics in its place
In the era of vinyl, lost in one of Bruckner’s longueurs, it could be hard to tell what was stuck,…
From Pliny to poetry: the history of ‘ictus’ and ‘ductus’
‘I know the difference between ictal and icteric,’ said my husband proudly, reminding me of Tweedledum in Through the Looking-Glass.…
I’d rather live under communism than the tyranny of social media
At the time it felt like a century, but it was only 12 years. I began this column in 1977…
The joy of a Rwandan airport
Our plane touched down in Rwanda at 7 p.m. Stepping outside on to the metal steps, I smelt that unmistakable…
The strange case of six missing horse rugs
The night after the fireworks display the barn was raided and our horse rugs were taken. Good job I’ve watched…
Bridge
Congratulations to Janet de B and her team, who had an excellent week last week — as I know to…
Dubov’s dynamite
When Daniil Dubov advanced his queen’s pawn in Batumi last month, he might as well have chewed the head off…
no. 580
Dubov-Svane, White to play. Later in the event, Dubov played another masterpiece, sacrificing a rook to reach this extraordinary position.…
It’s a date!
In Competition No. 3124 you were invited to compose clerihews about any date in the calendar. I was very grateful…
2434: Eat it!
The unclued lights (two of two words), individually or as one pair, are of a kind. Across 9 City…
to 2431: Pride of place
Each of the pairs of unclued lights is a CITY (formed from the letters in the yellow squares) and its…
Why does someone keep sending me furniture?
When a new vacuum cleaner was delivered to my house last week I assumed it was a belated birthday present…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
England’s rugby team are embarrassingly sore losers
Sports events come and go, but good manners, as William of Wykeham might have put it, last for ever. Or…
Dear Mary: What should I do about a Lib Dem friend who can no longer take a joke?
Q. I sent a WhatsApp message to a Lib Dem friend of 15 years. ‘How are you finding being a…
Back in the Babington Triangle: Roth Bar & Grill reviewed
The Roth Bar & Grill exists on an art-farm called Durslade in Bruton, Somerset, which is also the country outpost…
Why is a ladybird called a ‘bishy barnabee’?
People in different regions like to think their dialects incomprehensible to outsiders, yet they can usually come up with quite…
My present abode is one of the great deco houses left intact in the Bagel
New York What follows will bore the pants off you, but at least it beats another piece on Brexit.…
My image of the young Jeremy Corbyn is not a flattering one
I found the stone and the key underneath and let myself into the cottage — brr! I immediately made a…
Who will take the threat to horses from fireworks seriously?
Remember remember the 5th of November, when Britain’s most controversial pub chain stages a massive firework display in the middle…
The best thing about autumn is the return of jumping
Never mind Keats’s mists and mellow fruitfulness, or even that glorious autumnal odour of wet dog — a regular accompaniment…
Bridge
Erikas Vainikonis and his father Vytas are terrific bridge players and have supported the game very generously. Their brilliant new…
