Life
Taki: What I learned when I tried to join the CIA
Before his untimely death last year, David Tang had attended a Pug’s club luncheon with the proviso that no one…
Two documentaries have made me determined to visit America’s Deep South before I die
‘ESTA refused,’ said the email from the official website of the US Department of Homeland Security. Franklin Roosevelt once said…
Are vets the new transgenders?
The vet who is unhappy that I cracked a joke about vets has received the backing of the British Veterinary…
Bridge
As Janet said last week, the recent European Open trials made for compulsive viewing. Ten pairs took part; first and…
Frankenchess
A remarkable event took place in London towards the end of last year, when the AlphaZero computer program took on…
no. 490
White to play. This position is from Ivanchuk-Lafuente, Gibraltar 2011. White now terminated proceedings abruptly. What was the key move?…
Documentary
In Competition No. 3032 you were invited to provide a poem about passports. While the news that British passports…
2343: Rats!
Round the perimeter clockwise is a 14-word quotation in ODQ, with its first word represented by a number in the…
to 2340: Booboos
Amongst the many ‘aphorisms’ of Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees baseball manager, were ‘The future ain’t what it used…
Toby Young: I’ve been unmanned by a tennis brute in bright pink
As regular readers will know, Caroline has developed a fanatical interest in tennis and is currently captain of the ladies…
Battle for Britain
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This Winter Olympics, don’t knock our fearless Fridge Kids
At this time of the year, well-meaning folk of otherwise sound mind start to get very sniffy about the impending…
Dear Mary: how do you deal with a daughter who has gone vegan to get attention?
Q. Several friends have reached an age and wealth that means they take unreasonably long holidays or even entire gap…
A glorious theatrical feast at the National: Foodwork reviewed
There is a restaurant on the stage at the National Theatre in London. It is called Foodwork, and it is…
How can MPs live up to a code of conduct that makes no sense?
Ministers must observe the rather curious ‘Seven Principles of Public Life’ in the new Ministerial Code published this month by…
Taki: In praise of French women
I spent the better part of two sunny days indoors writing about authenticity for a Greek magazine, a strange subject…
Jeremy Clarke: The power of ‘Bonjour’
In France, or in Provence at least, polite rule number one is to say hello. You must offer a distinct…
Melissa Kite: The death of humour
A vet has accused me of a ‘hate crime’ for making a joke about vets. On the basis that everything…
Why I’ll chain myself to an earthmover at Kempton Park
I have never been one for system betting but one little piece of guidance returns to my mind at the…
Bridge
The first home tournament of 2018 was last week’s four-day European Open Trials. Ten selected pairs played 216 boards at…
Willing to wound
‘Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike,’ wrote Alexander Pope about Atticus. Those lines more or less describe the…
no. 489
White to play. This position is from O. Howell-Pickersgill, Hastings 2017/18. White now terminated proceedings abruptly. What was the key move?…
Rude food
In Competition No. 3031 you were invited to provide a review by a restaurant critic that is tediously loaded with…
2342: Decorative
Two unclued lights are terms for the same style. One, consisting of two words, forms a cryptic indication of each…
solution
A beastly business The quote is 1A/92/18D from the poem ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’. The theme was the names…
