Life
Cool and underground
The Keeper’s House sits in the basement of Burlington House, a restaurant in disguise. It is quite different from the…
High life
New York Let’s face it, sleaze is to professional party-givers what jail is to a burglar, an occupational hazard. I’ve…
Long life
When your mind suddenly goes wonky, you may be the one person who doesn’t realise that there is something wrong…
Long life
When your mind suddenly goes wonky, you may be the one person who doesn’t realise that there is something wrong…
Low life
We cleared the kitchen table for a game of pick-up sticks. Remember them? Thirty long, thin bamboo sticks, their differing…
Low life
We cleared the kitchen table for a game of pick-up sticks. Remember them? Thirty long, thin bamboo sticks, their differing…
Concept
‘It was nothing special, but it was a pub,’ said my husband, looking up from his copy of Bar magazine…
Real life
After a tense two week stand-off, the Balham Airbnb Crisis has been resolved. My upstairs neighbour and I have drawn…
A blueprint for English cricket
No place for the faint of heart, Headingley, and certainly not for some sketchy Sri Lankan batsmen at the back…
The only Eurosceptic in the room
I was in Paris last week to take part in an EU referendum debate at Sciences Po, a French university…
The only Eurosceptic in the room
I was in Paris last week to take part in an EU referendum debate at Sciences Po, a French university…
Numbers game
‘After a few decades of marriage a man ought to be able to recognise his own wife,’ Mrs Oakley observed…
Numbers game
‘After a few decades of marriage a man ought to be able to recognise his own wife,’ Mrs Oakley observed…
Bridge
If you live in (or anywhere near) London, and you enjoy a good teams tournament, you could do no better…
The view from New York tells me that Trump can win it
New York I have never seen anything like it. If Adolf Hitler were running for president, he would match…
The French gym where kissing before a workout is mandatory
A fresh start in a new gym in a foreign country. The serious young gym attendant didn’t speak a word…
I am handmaiden to a foul-mouthed member of the royal family
Some people call their house Dun Roamin’ to sum up their state of mind. After ten weeks ministering to my…
How Nairobi gangsters would vote in the EU referendum
Nairobi The gangsters hadn’t heard of Brexit. ‘What is this “Breaks it”?’ they asked my friend hours after kidnapping…
Bridge
Sometimes Janet teases me that this should be called the David Gold Column, as I mention his name so frequently.…
Cyrus the Great
I think I hold the world record for the greatest number of chess books written (or co-written) and published. At…
No. 409
White to play. This position is from Dubov-Yandemirov, Russian Team Championship, Sochi 2016. How can White exploit the unfortunate placing…
Wild thing
In Competition No. 2948 you were invited to step into the skin of a species of your choice and provide…
2261: Long jump
Six unclued lights are examples of ‘3/4/18’ (four words in total, ignore an apostrophe), a quotation (in ODQ) whose author’s…
To 2258: Perimetrical jigsaw
The perimeter quotation is from L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between, in which Leo, Marian and Ted are the main characters. First…
Meet Leo... my soppy, dopey, affectionate, deadly predator
Leo, the Hungarian Vizsla my wife brought home unexpectedly last year, is approaching his first birthday and not getting any…
