Life
In the crazy world of identity politics, facts don’t matter
According to a poll of 538 experts on women’s issues, the United States is one of the ten most dangerous…
The Battle for Britain
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It doesn’t matter how hard you work – just how busy you look
The behavioural scientist Dan Ariely once found himself chatting to a locksmith with a curious problem. The better he became…
Dear Mary: How does a Wimbledon ball girl deal with a disgusting player?
Q. I’ve accepted an invitation to stay in a small house party in France. My host hasn’t mentioned who else…
London’s perfect Paris brasserie
We order some French things better in London — often, admittedly, with French help. A grenouille friend recently took me…
Ideation, from suicide to management speak
‘Suicide!’ yelled my husband, while performing an inappropriate mime of a hangman’s noose. That was his reply when I asked…
Is it time to move to Austria?
Schloss Wolfsegg I was watching two very old men slowly approaching the open doors of the Pilatus airplane I…
Why I was proud to be a dustman
I heard the last and final call for flight 6114 to Nice while shuffling forward in the unexpectedly long queue…
Me and my gun
Finally, I got my hands on a gun. About the size of a sawn-off shotgun it was, just under 20in…
A cow is better than a bank balance
Laikipia, Kenya A minotaur head glowers at me through the bathroom window while I am brushing my teeth in…
Bridge
When my talented friend Paula Leslie and I decided to put a team together for the Hubert Philips Bowl (England’s…
The Caruana conundrum
Over the course of this year Fabiano Caruana has scored splendidly in tournaments with classical time limits, notching up first…
no. 512
White to play. This position is from Anand-Caruana, Leuven Blitz 2018. How did Anand achieve a winning material advantage? Answers…
Double vision
In Competition No. 3054 you were invited to compose double dactyls about double acts. I didn’t include the rules about…
2365: Beds
One of the clued lights below reveals the theme which Brewer confirms. One of the unclued lights is not paired…
to 2362: MEN OF NOTE IV
The unclued lights are COMPOSERS whose surnames begin with the letter D. First prize E.C. Hynard, GuernseyRunners-up Geran Jones, London…
The problem with deciding that popular culture is ‘problematic’
A controversy has erupted in Folkestone over a forthcoming screening of Zulu, the classic British war film. A charity has…
The Battle for Britain
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Never mind VAR – this is a fabulous World Cup
Let’s talk about VAR, why don’t we? We love the World Cup though the football is getting bonkers. The scoring…
Dear Mary: How can I stop a controversial columnist from being sacked?
Q. A close friend is an elderly writer who has contributed, as a monthly columnist, to the same publication for…
Wedge salad in the shadow of the Tudors: Sargeant’s Mess reviewed
Sargeant’s Mess (2018) is a tourist catcher’s net in restaurant form by the Tower of London (c. 1078). It has views…
The origins of the famous blue tiles of Portugal’s buildings have been misunderstood
A friend sent a nice postcard from Portugal showing the outside of a church covered with old blue tiles. She…
The Bible’s #MeToo problem
New York I write this on my last day in the Bagel, and it sure is a scorcher, heat and…
Cancer? I wouldn’t have missed it for the world
Homesick for England, family and friends, I flew back, and the next day went for a long walk with my…
The hidden costs of dogging
Every day in every way we are paying for more and more. I realise this increasingly. Things we took for…
