Life
Technology and the winner-takes-all effect
I was exchanging emails with someone the other day and signed off with the sentence ‘let me know when you…
Wild life
Laikipia On Tristan Voorspuy’s hell-for-leather riding safaris across Kenya’s savannah, he cracked a bullwhip at predators that tried to eat…
Bridge
There are plenty of bridge professionals who believe in flattering lesser players (whether they’re clients, friends or spouses) by exaggerating…
The turf
When the generals have lost heart and crept away from the battlefield it is hard for the ground troops to…
Bridge
February is probably the most exciting and glamorous month in the bridge calendar. A couple of weeks ago, über-sponsor Pierre…
The Battle for Britain
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Mr Hundred Per Cent
Nigel Short has distinguished himself by scoring 100 per cent, winning all six games, in the Bunratty tournament which finished…
no. 446
White to play. This position is from Tabatabaei-Vakhidov, Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2017. White has sacrificed a piece for a powerful…
The art of loving
In Competition No. 2987 you were invited to supply a lesson in the art of seduction in the style of…
2299: Pieces of Eight
One unclued light is the origin of the remaining unclued lights (three of two words), individually or as a pair.…
to 2296: Men of note
The unclued lights are seven COMPOSERS whose surnames begin with A to G, along with the eighth beginning with H,…
Dear Mary
My partner has become a recycling fascist. She checks everything I put into the bin. I received two bollockings today alone…
Rich desserts
Ferdi is a café in Shepherd Market; I write about it only to comfort you, because you are not rich,…
High life
Gstaad Back in the good old days a funicular used to take skiers up, bucking all the way and stopping…
Low life
All told, I find that in the last week I’ve slept with a Chinaman, three black women from the United…
Pick
I have long pondered the motive with which Michael Wharton, for long the author of the Daily Telegraph’s Peter Simple…
Real life
Shoot me if I ever let slip I’ve been mucking out with rubber gloves and a dustpan and brush. As…
Three cheers for rugby’s Italian loophole
A friend was at Twickenham on Sunday sitting not far from the Italian coaching top brass, Conor O’Shea and Mike…
Why didn’t I listen to the Old Devil?
When Kingsley Amis won the Booker prize for The Old Devils in 1986, he said that he had previously thought…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Mr Hundred Per Cent
Nigel Short has distinguished himself by scoring 100 per cent, winning all six games, in the Bunratty tournament which finished…
no. 446
White to play. This position is from Tabatabaei-Vakhidov, Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2017. White has sacrificed a piece for a powerful…
The art of loving
In Competition No. 2987 you were invited to supply a lesson in the art of seduction in the style of…
Dear Mary
My partner has become a recycling fascist. She checks everything I put into the bin. I received two bollockings today alone…
Rich desserts
Ferdi is a café in Shepherd Market; I write about it only to comfort you, because you are not rich,…
