Life
Is the future of work flexible?
Today we suffer disillusion, not because we are poorer than we were — on the contrary, even today we enjoy,…
A wine of Boris’s vintage
My host twinkled sardonically. ‘We’re bound to be discussing Boris. So what’s the right wine?’ I suggested a bunker-busting Australian…
Is the term ‘Esquire’ U or non-U?
‘I’m a learned doctor,’ cried my husband, pulling at the hems of his tweed coat and doing a little jig.…
Dear Mary: What can I do about the vexatious racket of windchimes?
Q. I took an old friend to Bellamy’s for lunch. We were just settling in for a proper gossip when…
![Greece’s new Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promises higher growth and lower taxes [Getty]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Getty_Greek_PM.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
No ‘cool’ people here: the joys of Serifos
Serifos He went away to fight and the war lasted ten years. He missed his wife but he didn’t worry…
A literary lunch that hits an unforeseen buffer
‘So what are your plans?’ said our gentle, civilised Airbnb host over a tray of tea and cake to welcome…
My boy Rider’s circumcision ceremony brings back memories of my childhood in Samburu
Laikipia All across the north the ritual bulls have already been slaughtered. I am waiting for the invitation from…
Nut jobs like me can’t process misfortune in a calm way
‘Ah well, it can’t be helped,’ said the builder boyfriend. I call people who talk like that civilians. Nut jobs…
Bridge
Bridge isn’t a game you can get good at quickly. It takes years to reach a reasonable standard — far…
Black Death
There are comparisons to be made between tennis and chess. Player X (aka White) serves. Player Y (Black) responds. The…
no. 564
White to play. This is from Giri-Mamedyarov, Croatia 2019. White is a piece down and needs a dramatic continuation. What…
After Milton
In Competition No. 3108 you were invited to submit a sonnet with the following end rhymes: son, mire, fire, won,…
2418: Sweet
Unclued lights are of a kind, including one of two words, all listed in Chambers or Oxford (the required spelling…
to 2415: The Limit
The word was ‘pale’, suggested by PEELIE-WALLY (1A) and the title, which, with changes to its FIRST VOWEL (7D/33), becomes…
If you want a pro-Boris pundit, please pick me!
The changing of the guard at 10 Downing Street always creates opportunities for the commentariat. I don’t just mean it…
The Battle for Britain
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Why women shouldn’t play Test cricket
The name Cameron Delport might not be immediately familiar, but his exploits last week could mean more for the future…
Dear Mary: I used to work with Boris Johnson. Why does no one believe how fun he was?
Q. It was 10 p.m. by the time the canapés appeared and by then it was already too late. The…
A hotel dressed like the Queen Mother: Siren at the Goring reviewed
The Goring is a tiny grand hotel near Victoria Station and the Queen’s garden wall. Victoria is not pleasant —…
From moustache to extremist – the journey of ‘bigot’
How might an oath lend its name in England to a religious extremist and in Spain to a moustache? That…
Let’s choose our politicians by random selection
Athens Standing right below the Acropolis, where pure democracy began because public officials were elected by lot, I try to…
Italy, in seven hours and five trains
The train standing at platform 1A had no air-conditioning and the heat was stupefying. Latecomers pressing into the carriage reacted…
Why won’t the police acknowledge that speeding coppers are a liability?
For a while, it seemed as if the only words my beloved would ever say again were ‘chicken Kievs’. Two…
One to watch: the 5lb claimer Theodore Ladd
Newmarket’s wisest trainer, Sir Mark Prescott, once noted: ‘The greyhound is propelled through the pain barrier by its desire to…
Bridge
I have always thought the term ‘bridge holiday’ was an oxymoron. When I travel with my team to various events,…
