Life
Long life
The 6th Duke of Westminster, who died this month, was living support of the claim that wealth doesn’t make you…
Low life
Next week I’m going to Ladakh for a travel gig. Me neither — never heard of it. So I heaved…
Low life
Next week I’m going to Ladakh for a travel gig. Me neither — never heard of it. So I heaved…
Pelican pie
Revisers of OED have made a pig’s ear of pelican pie, I fear. I’ve been reading for pleasure Peter Gilliver’s…
Real life
‘How did I get here?’ I think dazedly. I am sitting in the Big Yellow Self Storage in Balham being…
The yawn supremacy
The BBC has published a list of the 100 best films of the 21st century, compiled after consulting academics, cinema…
The yawn supremacy
The BBC has published a list of the 100 best films of the 21st century, compiled after consulting academics, cinema…
The internet of stupid things
Back in the 1980s a colleague of mine was paranoid about being burgled. Before he went away on a two-week…
Wild life
Kenya When the late Tom Cholmondeley walked into his cell after being accused of murder in Kenya’s Rift Valley, etched…
Bridge
There’s been a fair amount of moaning about the English Bridge Union’s decision to move the week-long ‘Summer Meeting’ —…
2274: Round and round
The perimeter squares yield six theme-words in order, though any one of them can come first. The remaining unclued lights…
Real life
Whenever I try to use the NHS I end up feeling like Bruce Willis’s character in The Sixth Sense. No…
Bridge
Bridge players love going on about system. Some want every bid to have a conventional meaning and some want to…
Our (nearly) golden summer
It seems like a long time ago, but back in the day, when Sir John Major launched the National Lottery,…
no. 422
White to play. This is a position from Adams-R. Pert, British Championship, Bournemouth 2016. What is White’s most direct route…
Hurrah for Cornish holidays!
After the misery of going abroad for the summer holidays for the past few years, I’m now happily back in…
Magic at St Michael’s Mount
The Sail Loft is under a castle on a mountain on an island in the sea; for that, I could…
Blessed be the humble
After 30 years in racing it is a little late in Rab Havlin’s career to suggest that he will suddenly…
Adams apple
Grandmaster Michael Adams turned in a superlative performance earlier this month to win the British Championship for the fifth time.…
Act of contrition
In Competition No. 2961 you were invited to submit limericks that might have been written by Boris Johnson in an…
to 2271: I’m not here or there
All but one of the unclued lights can be preceded by DOCTOR (or in one case DOC). The title also…
Battle for Britain
The post Battle for Britain appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Dear Mary
Q. My partner and I have been living together for 26 years, but now that he’s asked me to marry…
Chrononhotonthologos
When I ran out of space last week, I was about to mention the way in which some people relish…
High life
An item in an American newspaper had me thinking of my father all last week. Old dad died 27 years…
