Life
Essential racing books for Christmas
Do horses have souls or a ‘spirit’? When form expert Marten Julian was looking to buy a horse, he asked…
Bridge
Last weekend saw the qualifying matches for the Tollemache Cup, the inter-county championships for teams of eight. I didn’t play…
The doctored images of me and Demi Moore are in my solicitors’ hands
Blind is an indie movie that has an original screenplay by John Buffalo Mailer and is directed by his older…
All hail to the Stig’s mum’s Seat Ibiza TDI Sport
The car: a ’06 rosso red Seat Ibiza 1.9 TDI Sport, bought three weeks ago from a man who had…
Don’t get on the Clapham omnibus; you might never get off
I got on a bus. Well, I wasn’t to know, was I? I just saw a bus stop by the…
How the Germans made Glyndebourne
This is hardly the time of year for picnics on the lawn, but I have nevertheless had a week dominated…
The Kenyan night is like a busy shipping lane, but silent
Night falls like a fire curtain at seven and I go to bed not long afterwards, serenaded by bullfrogs after…
Bridge
Bravissimo! The Italians have won gold yet again at the European Champions Cup. The event was launched in 2002, and…
Grand Larsen-y
It is said that more books have been written about chess than about any other game, sport or pastime. I…
No. 388
Black to play. This is from Sursock–Larsen, Siegen 1970. How can Black win material? Answers to me at The Spectator…
Bad sex award
In Competition No. 2924 you were invited to submit a ‘love scene’ from a novel that dampens rather than boosts…
2238: Old issues
The title suggests a pair of unclued lights which identify the common feature of the others. Solvers must shade the…
To 2235: Vile stuff
The quotation was ‘IS THIS A [DAGGER] WHICH I SEE BEFORE ME’ (1/44) (Macbeth).18, 22, 2, 27, 29 and 30D…
Is this the beginning of the end of liberal democracy?
As a graduate student in the Harvard Department of Government in the late 1980s, I became slightly jaded about the…
Battle for Britain
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The most important test that HS2 doesn’t pass
Despite my opposition to High Speed 2, I am quite a big fan of HS1, the line which runs from…
Dear Mary: How can I shut up business travel bores?
Q. I work in the London art market. Often, when I run into a fellow dealer and ask how they…
Guinness and oysters — or beef and Haut-Brion — in deepest Ireland
We were talking about the West of Ireland and agreed that there were few greater gastronomic pleasures than a slowly…
‘Clean eating’ is a great word of the year… for 1906
The word of the year, according to Collins, the dictionary people, is binge-watch. It means to watch DVDs consecutively or,…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Grand Larsen-y
It is said that more books have been written about chess than about any other game, sport or pastime. I…
No. 388
Black to play. This is from Sursock–Larsen, Siegen 1970. How can Black win material? Answers to me at The Spectator…
Bad sex award
In Competition No. 2924 you were invited to submit a ‘love scene’ from a novel that dampens rather than boosts…
Dear Mary
Q. I work in the London art market. Often, when I run into a fellow dealer and ask how they…
Guinness and oysters — or beef and Haut-Brion — in deepest Ireland
We were talking about the West of Ireland and agreed that there were few greater gastronomic pleasures than a slowly…
