Life
Real life
At least two insurances are going to have to go, as I grapple with fear of penury, I have decided.…
Give Robshaw a break
Pity poor Chris Robshaw. England’s sturdy captain might have a knockout girlfriend and exceptional skills on the cappuccino machine, but…
The vision of Steve Jobs
Last week I went to a screening of Steve Jobs, the new biopic about the co-founder of Apple directed by…
The vision of Steve Jobs
Last week I went to a screening of Steve Jobs, the new biopic about the co-founder of Apple directed by…
Fair minded
One of Alan Bennett’s characters once lamented, ‘We tried to set up a small anarchist community …but people wouldn’t obey…
Fair minded
One of Alan Bennett’s characters once lamented, ‘We tried to set up a small anarchist community …but people wouldn’t obey…
Bridge
The 42nd Bermuda Bowl has kicked off in Chennai, and after several weeks of cheat-busting Boye Brogeland (‘The Sheriff’) has…
2230: Lot 46
The unclued lights, five of which are correctly numbered, are of a kind. Ignore one accent. Chambers does not include…
To 2227: Word building
The word pyramid runs from CAN at 7A, then 35, 36, 30, 5, 2, 21D, 19 to CONSIDERATE at 1A.…
It’ll be me vs Jean-Claude Juncker at the Judo World Championships
Gstaad Jeremy Clarke has wiped me out again, for a change. His accounts of the high jinks on board the…
Follow my grandsons on the trail of the last bear in England
I was looking after Oscar, my five-and-a-half-year-old grandson, for the day. We’d played football in the garden, then we’d come…
Balham is about as close as you get, in 2015, to the 1950s
After pulling out of my flat sale and U-turning on the idea of moving to the Cotswolds, it took me…
Why could a robot replace a police chief – but not me?
It’s hard to turn on the television nowadays without being shown a robot. It might be looking like a grasshopper…
I was petrified of the power of the Great Monition, the most terrifying curse of them all
Laikipia A lion has just mauled and partially eaten a warrior who tried to throw a spear in my…
Bridge
This has been the most shocking saga in the entire history of bridge. In the face of overwhelming evidence that…
Coincidence
My grandmaster colleague James Plaskett has two passions, the pursuit of the mythical giant octopus (ongoing) and a fascination with…
No. 380
Black to play. This position is from Abramciuc–Nevednichy, Chisinau 2014. How can Black simplify down to a winning endgame? Answers…
Rebranded classics
In Competition No. 2916 you were invited to recast a well-known scene from literature to reflect the fact that its…
Rail nationalisation: Jeremy Corbyn’s stupid flagship policy
Amid all the excitement about David Cameron this week, I fear that Jeremy Corbyn’s first major policy announcement may have…
Battle for Britain
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Why Tube strikes can be good for you
Afamily member is thinking of moving and asked for commuting advice. Well, first add 25 per cent to any journey…
Dear Mary: How can I make visiting friends realise it is a burden to take them to see the sights?
Q. I am an impoverished artist living in a famously cheap European city, largely for reasons of economy. I love…
The strange creatures of Clubland, from Evelyn Waugh to the oligarchs
When it comes to nightclubs, many have written, but none has surpassed the Perroquet in Debra Dowa. Le tout Debra…
The remarkable discovery of Roger Fuckebythenavele
A great discovery has been made by Dr Paul Booth, a fellow of Keele University. It is a 14th-century example…
Battle for Britain
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