Life
Salt-beef delirium
Katz’s Delicatessen, established 1888, is a theme park of Jewish-American food, with tribute gift shop, on the lower east side…
The Battle for Britain
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Low life
Valencia was a furnace. During the short ride from the airport, the taxi driver supplemented his chat about the weather…
Support
The Foreword didn’t bode well. This was on the first page of The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices. It…
Real life
Two months after I cancelled Sky, a strange letter arrived in the post. ‘We are writing to you because we…
Rog apart, Wimbledon 2017 was a disgrace
For obvious reasons this column always welcomes ‘King Roger Rules The World’ headlines on the back pages. And the front…
Winter is nearly here – bring on the body count
As a Game of Thrones fan, I feel ambivalent about the fact that the saga is finally wending its way…
The turf
A woman I once encountered at the dining table whose prime years were clearly behind her described herself as ‘approaching…
Bridge
The first week of July is heaven for those of us who don’t normally hear the words ‘bridge’ and ‘holiday’…
New in chess
New in Chess is one of the world’s leading chess magazines. At one time or another, every contemporary champion and…
no. 466
White to play. This position is from Quparadze-Uzunoglu, Cesme 2017. Black is hoping for counterplay on the a1-h8 diagonal but…
Cat call
In Competition No. 3007 you were invited to submit a poem about Larry, the Downing Street cat. Larry came to…
High life
I switch personalities at Spectator parties, depending who the guests are: for our readers’ tea party, I am a warm…
My wife’s revenge has me at break point
Fifteen years ago, when I was The Spectator’s drama critic, Caroline used to complain that she had become a ‘theatre…
To buy cheap art, buy architecture
Of the 375,000 listed buildings in England only 2.5 per cent are Grade I. Half are churches; many are otherwise…
Bridge
Here’s one of my favourite hands from the European Open Championships — although it caused David Gold to spend the…
no. 465
White to play. This is from Nepomniachtchi-Korobov, Khanty-Mansiysk 2017. Black’s king is clearly in desperate trouble. What is the most…
Laughing matter
In Competition No. 3006 you were invited to submit a sonnet that takes as its opening line Keats’s ‘Why did…
2318: Groundwork
One unclued light (four words) is the title of a 40 recorded by 43 (two words). This title forms a…
to 2315: Trunk call
4, 40, 43, 1, 3, 16 and 17 were all examples of PORTMANTEAU words, into which are packed the sense…
Dear Mary
Q. Is there an etiquette regarding security gates? My wife and I were invited to dinner by new neighbours who…
I nourish my dream of a fat pill
As good conversation should, the talk meandered from the serious to the playful. One of the serious topics was overseas…
The Battle for Britain
What to read next: The Battle for Britain | The Battle for Britain | The Battle for Britain | The…
Low life
The hen party was seated at an outside restaurant table under the plane trees when I arrived. They sat with…
Pride of lions
‘Are they all gay too?’ asked my husband, waving the Sunday Telegraph with its headline ‘Pride of Lions’. He had…
