Life
High life
Gstaad The snows came tumbling down just as the camel-drivers headed back to the Gulf. In fact, they never saw…
Long life
I keep finding myself singing ‘Nellie the elephant’ who, packing her trunk and saying goodbye to the circus, went off…
Long life
I keep finding myself singing ‘Nellie the elephant’ who, packing her trunk and saying goodbye to the circus, went off…
Low life
‘If life is a race, I feel that I’m not even at the starting line,’ I said to the doctor…
Low life
‘If life is a race, I feel that I’m not even at the starting line,’ I said to the doctor…
Carnage
‘This carnage stops here,’ declared the headline in the Daily Telegraph, quoting President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech. My husband tried…
Real life
The problem holding up my house move turns out to be a wiggle. Have you ever had a wiggle? It…
Would I still hate actors’ rants if they all agreed with me?
I feel a bit sorry for Piers Morgan. On Tuesday, Ewan McGregor was due to appear on the sofa with…
Would I still hate actors’ rants if they all agreed with me?
I feel a bit sorry for Piers Morgan. On Tuesday, Ewan McGregor was due to appear on the sofa with…
Vinyl madness
I was at home enjoying an online episode of Tales of the Texas Rangers when my daughter interrupted me, wanting…
Bridge
You can always tell a beginner, or a poor player, at the bridge table — they’re the ones who start…
Big trouble upstream
At a wedding a few years back a very gloomy looking guest, a well-known Geordie actor as it happens, arrived…
A myth that keeps growing and growing
I had lunch recently with an assistant head of a leading independent school and he told me about their ‘growth…
The turf
You had to feel for ITV’s new racing team on their opening day at Cheltenham. It was cold, wet and…
The Battle for Britain
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Bridge
The Friday night IMPs game at the Young Chelsea is still the best game around. Some of yesterday’s internationals may…
Hypermodern
Richard Réti is one of the most fascinating figures in the history of chess thought. The author of two seminal…
no. 440
White to play. This is from Réti-Tartakower, Vienna 1910. Can you spot White’s beautiful tactical coup? Answers to me at…
Fashion statement
In Competition No. 2981 you were invited to submit a poem about a politician and an item of clothing. …
2293: Topping
The unclued lights (one of two words and one hyphened) are of a kind, all verifiable in Chambers. Across…
to 2290: Timely II
Perimetric trios combine to suggest HOG/MAN/AY: SHILLING, MALE, INDEED; SWINE, ATTENDANT, YES; MOUND, EMPLOYEE, EVER. The relevant activity is FIRST-FOOTING…
Dear Mary
Q. At a drinks party at Christie’s this evening my face was splattered with flecks of spit from the guest…
Trumped!
Trump Tower sits between Gucci and Tiffany on Fifth Avenue in New York City. It looks like infant Lego, the…
High life
Athens I can only ask sardonically: was it worth it? Executed after unspeakable torture without giving anything away — and…
Long life
I am very bad at remembering my dreams: I would have been a poor patient for Dr Freud. But I…
