Life
The Battle for Britain
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Rugby union vs league – or Barbour-clad southerners vs the whippet brigade
Leader in the clubhouse for top rugby try by an Englishman in 2018: Oliver Gildart. Oliver who? Oliver Gildart, only…
Dear Mary: How can I face the friends who warned me that my girlfriend would dump me?
Q. Previously a long-term and content single man, earlier in the year I began a relationship with a wonderful girl,…
Like Soho House in the country – but marginally less hateful: The Pig at Combe reviewed
The Pig at Combe is a restaurant in a country house hotel in a valley in Devon. I actually went…
Getting on – and falling off – the wagon
Radio 3 tries to distract listeners from music by posing little quizzes and hearing quirky details of history from a…
Requiem for New York
New York In the dark she still looks good. The mystery and magnetism linger until dawn, then you slowly…
My first world war obsession
My reactionary first world war reading jag continues. The literature is vast, but so is my capacity and fascination. I…
Bitless and scared witless: a dangerous new left-wing cult
Just when you thought there was nothing more for women of the left to nonsensically oppose, I bring you news…
The dirtiest racehorse names
Watching whip-thin jockey George Baker, just short of six feet, greeting his mounts used to make me think of the…
Bridge
Vytas and Erikas Vainikonis, father and son bridge enthusiasts, are the generous hosts of one of the best five days…
Condottieri
The recently concluded European Club Cup, held at Porto Carras in Greece, resembled late medieval Italian warfare — populated by…
no. 529
Black to play. This position is from Carlsen-Ding Liren, Porto Carras 2018. Black tried 1 … Nxg4 here but Carlsen…
Accentuate the negative
In Competition No. 3071 you were invited to supply a demotivational poem. This was your opportunity to come up…
2382: A pointed remark
Three unclued lights make up a nine-word quotation. Remaining unclued lights are of a kind. Across 1 Norway blocking…
to 2379: Shocking
The word is ‘pink’. Definitions of the eight headwords are: CARNATION (9), STAB (43), CHAFFINCH (22D), SMALL SAILING SHIP (41/1A/13),…
Science is on the side of the trans activists
Some interesting scientific research on gender differences was published last week. Two social scientists studied the preferences of 80,000 people…
The Battle for Britain
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John McDonnell’s right – the four-day week could work
Most people were scandalised by John McDonnell’s proposal to promote a four-day working week. But before we get incensed about…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my wife from sabotaging my anecdotes?
Q. My wife and I have been married for 50 years. The marriage is basically sound but she has recently…
Searching for God in the twilight on the Aegean Sea
My friend Jonathan Gaisman recently gave rise to a profound philosophical question concerning wine. Jonathan is formidably clever. He has…
The polite origins of the police
My husband, who fancies himself as something of a classicist, was delighted to see the Turkish investigators of the Khashoggi…
Why truth gets you nowhere
New York There is fear and loathing in this city, with men looking over their shoulders for the thought…
Guns and gin: just another Spectator Wine Club lunch
East of London the Thames broadens dramatically to a surreal waste of mud and sewage-coloured water lined with shipping-container dumps.…
Silicon Valley’s evil plan
After months of trying not to try the exciting new version of Gmail, the exciting new version of Gmail tried…
Bridge
I’ve just come back from ten days in Orlando, but don’t ask me what it’s like — I haven’t a…
