Life
Low life
I stood in front of the mirror in the £61-a-night hotel room in Paddington, buttoned my polyester dinner jacket and…
Ash
Home is where the heart is, but some poor languages have no word for ‘home’. For them, home is where…
Real life
‘If you ask me,’ said the builder boyfriend, watching me hobble down the street as we set off for an…
Eddie Howe for England
The name of Jozef Venglos won’t mean much to most of us apart from a few Aston Villa completists with…
I know an anti-Tory pact won’t work
I appeared on Radio 4 with Shirley Williams recently and as we were leaving I asked her if she thought…
I know an anti-Tory pact won’t work
I appeared on Radio 4 with Shirley Williams recently and as we were leaving I asked her if she thought…
The turf
There are few more compulsive reads in racing than the Kingsley Klarion, the in-house journal of Mark Johnston’s Middleham racing…
The turf
There are few more compulsive reads in racing than the Kingsley Klarion, the in-house journal of Mark Johnston’s Middleham racing…
Bridge
TGR’s rubber bridge club is a bit like the set of your favourite soap. You have the regulars, of varying…
Right-on rhymes
In Competition No. 2966 you were invited to filter popular nursery rhymes through the prism of political correctness. Some years…
The Battle for Britain
The post The Battle for Britain appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment…
Dear Mary
Q. How can I tactfully request that well-meaning old friends stop toasting my (new) husband’s hospitality? It seems ungrateful but,…
The King of Clubs
Unless you are a monk in Mount Athos, or a Tibetan holy man, El Morocco rings a bell as one…
The stupidest target in British transport
Two books to recommend to my fellow transportation nerds: Travel Fast or Smart? A Manifesto for an Intelligent Transport Policy…
Niche
Jonathan Swift, in his satirical poem ‘An Epistle to a Lady’, says modestly: ‘If I can but fill my Nitch,/…
High Life
Sicily Under the watchful eye of Mount Etna the storied past of the island lies parched and yellowish, but as…
Low life
One side of the hostel overlooked Waterloo station’s 22 platforms. Trains departed and arrived at the rate of two or…
Real life
Out of the blue, I woke up one morning and my feet didn’t work. I opened my eyes, swung my…
Long life
The publication of private emails by Colin Powell has spread panic in Washington. Now nobody feels safe. Some prominent people…
Winemaking with convictions
Any Australian who admits to not having convict ancestors loses caste. When granted a coat of arms, the smart ones…
Wild life
Laikipia For a rancher north of Mount Kenya, a man’s best legacy might be a good bloodline of Boran beef…
Bridge
I’ve been in a bridge bubble in Wroclaw for the past two weeks, playing in the World Bridge Games. I…
Olympiad
The 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan, ended in a narrow victory for the USA. Having tied with Ukraine, the…
No. 427
White to play. This position is from Heredia-Videnova; Women’s Olympiad, Baku 2016. Can you spot the White continuation that enabled…
2279: Where it’s at II
Four pairs of unclued lights suggest the constituent parts of a name (two words). Elsewhere, ignore three accents. Across 1 …
