Life
Bellum sociorum
The internecine but friendly annual rivalry between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, generously hosted last month by the Chess Circle…
No. 402
Black to play. This is from Pichot-Khismatullin, Moscow 2016. What was Black’s killing blow? Answers to me at The Spectator…
Short story
In Competition No. 2941 you were invited to supply a short story entitled ‘Diary of a Superfluous Man’. Turgenev’s Tchulkaturin;…
Your problems solved
Q. Twice recently our host has clinked his glass, required us to stop relaxing and instead take part in a…
Send in the Alsatians
Islington is a bellwether, and also a joke: the most unequal borough in London, where social housing leans against £4…
High life
My old friend and one-time doubles partner Ray Moore has stepped down as chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis…
Long life
The Parish Church of St Luke in Sydney Street, Chelsea, is enormous. Vaguely reminiscent of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, it…
Long life
The Parish Church of St Luke in Sydney Street, Chelsea, is enormous. Vaguely reminiscent of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, it…
Low life
While I was in Provence, my hostess and I went out one day for a walk in the hills. We…
Low life
While I was in Provence, my hostess and I went out one day for a walk in the hills. We…
Gender fluid
Benjamin Franklin thought that an excess of electric fluid gave rise to positive electricity, and a deficiency of the fluid…
Real life
After a year of affordable car insurance, I knew I had to be in for it when my premium came…
Reasons to be cheerful, parts one, two, three…
Well the sun is out, the sky is blue, and poor Boris Johnson is taking such a pounding from Matthew…
Why I’m uneasy about academies for all
As someone who believes in limited government, I feel conflicted about universal academisation. I’m a fan of the academies policy…
Why I’m uneasy about academies for all
As someone who believes in limited government, I feel conflicted about universal academisation. I’m a fan of the academies policy…
My Cheltenham misery
Everybody has their glory memory from Cheltenham this year. Some celebrate the extraordinary seven victories for the quietly confident Willie…
My Cheltenham misery
Everybody has their glory memory from Cheltenham this year. Some celebrate the extraordinary seven victories for the quietly confident Willie…
Bridge
Tom Townsend, my esteemed teammate and the Telegraph’s bridge correspondent, did the double last weekend at the London Easter Festival…
Putin has shown the West up as a paper tiger
On 17 November 1813, Marshal Ney, the bravest of the brave, had been the last to march out of Smolensk…
Cheltenham has no brothels – I wonder why
I shared a taxi from Cheltenham station to the house party in an outlying village with a stripper. Finding a…
I am keeping the vet in work all on my own
If you are the sort of person who enjoys tinkering with a classic car prone to myriad mechanical problems then…
Do any of us know what our human rights are?
Apart from the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, I’ve never known what my human rights are…
I’ve put a fence up around my farm, but it doesn’t keep the wildlife out
Laikipia ‘Awayoo,’ was how our head stockman Apurra said ‘how are you?’ in his texts from Pokot country, where I…
Bridge
Bridge players are a superstitious bunch. And I don’t just mean the steps they take to prepare for matches —…
Tal story
With the proliferation of modern opening theory and advances in knowledge of the game, I wonder sometimes if the kind…
