Life
The Lib Dems are wrong – it’s ‘ballocks’ to Brexit
I agree with James Joyce on the spelling ballocks. The Liberal Democrats made their MEPs wear T-shirts printed with ‘Bollocks…
The death of free thought
Hold the presses, this is a world exclusive. A Boris ex I sat next to last week gave me the…
Why can’t my mother be allowed to die at home
As they say: it all happened so quickly that it wasn’t until afterwards. One minute I was bawling at my…
Is my osteopath a psychopath or a mystical healer?
Either the osteopath is a psychopath or he is the second coming. I see no other possibility. I turned up…
Why female jockeys are a better bet
When Hayley Turner was made, she wasn’t just given a competitive spirit, a sensitive pair of hands and excellent balance.…
Bridge
I know I’m not the strongest declarer in the world (or even at the table) but I didn’t realise my…
Tigran, Tigran, burning bright
This year Tigran Petrosian would have celebrated his 90th birthday. The Armenian grandmaster and world champion was noted for the…
no. 561
White to play. This is from Reti-Bogolyubov, New York 1924. How did Reti conclude his attack with a fine blow? Answers…
Belles of the ball
In Competition No. 3105 you were invited to submit a fragment of commentary on the Women’s World Cup delivered by…
2415: The limit
1A (hyphened) suggests a word which, with changes to its 7D 33, becomes the four other words (including a name)…
to 2412: Transponders
On 15th June 1919 John ALCOCK (34) and Arthur BROWN (37) completed the first non-stop transatlantic flight when they crash-landed…
Scotland and Wales have much to learn from England’s education reforms
I’ve contributed a chapter to an education book published this week by the Institute of Economic Affairs. I was asked…
Battle for Britain
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Why governments should spend big on tech
I was talking to a large Silicon Valley video-conferencing firm the other day. ‘Just for interest,’ I asked, ‘what would…
Dear Mary: How should I deal with a friend who leaves appalling comments on Facebook?
Q. Friends and I keep in touch and share our more memorable experiences on Facebook. One friend is an elderly…
A toast to the wisdom – and wit – of Norman Stone
We were in a club, discussing Norman Stone, recently departed, over a meal that he would have enjoyed. Norman divided…
Who really invented the word ‘posh’?
Two rules of grammar are certain: never split an infinitive and never end a sentence with a preposition. As for…
Nice men make terrible leaders
The Duke of Marlborough gave a toast last week that brought the house down during a Turning Point dinner for…
My oncologist is a shining goddess
The weather forecast was rain, torrential, all day, so I took my anorak. In the hospital car park it was…
You can tell a Remainer by their garden fence
Remainers don’t like borders, I get that. But I had always assumed this was a preference confined to geopolitics. I…
How an orphaned baby kudu gave solace to my grieving friend
Laikipia, Kenya On 5 April this year, my neighbour Torrie’s sister Vicki died during an operation in a Nairobi…
Bridge
I’m just back from an exhilarating week in Istanbul, where I was lucky enough to be partnering Tom Paske in…
King’s Indian
The King’s Indian Defence is one of Black’s most dynamic reactions to closed openings such as d4/c4 and Nf3. Black…
no. 560
White to play. This position is from Michalik-Jirasek, Prague 2019. The game is only just out of the opening but…
Take three
In Competition No. 3104 you were invited to encapsulate the life story of a well-known person, living or dead, in…
