Life
![School children gather in Sydney last November to demand the government takes action on climate change [MARK METCALFE/GETTY IMAGES]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Striking_children.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
If children want to protest against climate change, why not do it at the weekend?
Thousands of schoolchildren are planning to go on ‘strike’ on Friday to protest about government inaction on climate change. Called…
The Battle for Britain
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![Video-conferencing could revolutionise how we work – so why have we failed to invest in it properly? [GETTY IMAGES]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/GettyImages_517017732.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
We don’t need more technology, we need better technology
I’d like to propose a new scientific institution: the IUT, or Institute of Underrated Technology. Rather than trying to invent…
![[ISTOCKPHOTO.COM]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/iStock_482988416.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Dear Mary: How can I get my annoying children to answer my texts?
Q. I have learned through a third party that a friend, who is feeling particularly insecure these days, has not been…
Only the south offers beer lovers a decent pint
We were discussing beer. It is a cheerful subject so I made an appropriate point. In recent years, the quality…
What the sports pages mean by ‘marquee’?
Ordinarily my husband is punctilious in keeping the pages of the Telegraph straight, especially when it is read by other…
In Gstaad neither poor nor rich worry about inequality
Gstaad Here in Gstaad there is no worker alienation. Nor are the rich especially worried. The talk is about…
Oscar is nine, and has largely abandoned speech in favour of gestures and monosyllables
Just before I left France, Oscar’s mum sent over a photo of Oscar in his classroom at school showing the…
I can’t believe I went online and found the most adorable lodger in Britain
‘I see you’ve got the posters up then?’ said the little lodger as she came home from work. She’s got…
The British see Africa only in terms of aid but there are business opportunities aplenty
Kenya As the Union Flag was lowered during Kenya’s Uhuru ceremony in 1963, the Duke of Edinburgh turned to…
Bridge
It can be hard to explain to people who don’t play bridge why it’s quite such a beautiful game. And…
Kramnik retires
A notable feature from the recently concluded elite tournament at Wijk aan Zee was the abject failure of former world…
no. 540
Black to play. This position is from Kasparov-Kramnik, Dos Hermanas 1996. Kramnik played 1 … Qh1+ and soon won. But he…
Breaking up is hard to do
In Competition No. 3084 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘Breaking up is hard to do’. From…
2394: Opening time
The first three or four letters of eight unclued lights (including one proper name) form a set said to be…
2391: Stout and bubbly
The LITTLE GENTLEMAN IN BLACK VELVET (4/8/16D) was a Jacobite toast to the MOLE (34) who made the molehill on…
The hypocrisy of Ken Loach’s Eurovision boycott
The Guardian last week published a ‘we, the undersigned’ letter from 50 ‘artists of conscience’ urging the BBC to boycott…
Battle for Britain
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If England play like they did against Ireland, they’ll be formidable at the Rugby World Cup
At the same time as England’s rugby union players delivered a magnificent hearts-of-oak performance to humble a very good Irish…
Dear Mary: How can I deal with an aggressive Big Issue seller?
Q. I wondered if you could advise me on a rather embarrassing situation please. I sing in my local Church…
Eclairs, cheesecake and unhappy women: Cakes & Bubbles reviewed
Cakes & Bubbles is an unhappy woman’s restaurant. I thought it was a child’s restaurant, but I took a child…
Word of the week: Chronograms
Jan Morris in her book Oxford enjoyed the Greek lettering on the floor of the rotunda entrance to Rhodes House,…
Why New York loves John Bercow
‘The British political class has offered to the world an astounding spectacle of mendacious, intellectually limited hustlers.’ This is a…
What Sylvia learned at the constipation clinic
‘The whole of my life I’ve had difficulty.’ I heard Sylvia say this through the door, which was slightly ajar.…
My old horse was tough, ferocious and violent – and I loved her as much as she loved me
Under a blood moon, that was how Tara went down in the end. The old chestnut mare sure knew how…
