Life
Bridge
I have great respect for top French bridge players but I think it’s fair to say they don’t go in…
Mykonos has turned into hell (I still blame Jackie Kennedy)
The wind is maddening and constant, and gets stronger as the sun falls below the horizon. The streets are lined…
Have I killed my friend’s Jack Russell? Time to check Google
Toby goes to bed at 10 o’clock sharp every night otherwise he gets irritable. Toby sleeps on the bed always.…
My local hospital is ‘listening to its staff’ – but not, apparently, the patients
Surely it can be no coincidence that the road by which one enters St George’s Hospital, Tooting, is called Effort…
Jeremy Corbyn’s debt to Silvio Berlusconi
I’m going off Jeremy Corbyn. He seems more and more pleased with himself by the minute. But I understand why…
Bridge
I hadn’t realised quite what a thriving bridge scene Manchester has until spending a weekend there recently. I went with…
Buried treasure
Jonathan Hawkins has emerged as the winner of this year’s British Championship, which finished last week at the University of…
No. 374
Black to play. This is a variation from Osborne-Hawkins, British Championship, Coventry 2015. Black is a piece down. What is…
Pet hate
In Competition No. 2910 you were invited to submit a poem by a pet who is cheesed off with its…
2224: All here
The unclued lights (two of two words), individually or as pairs, are of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore one accent. …
To 2221: Shielded
The unclued lights are heraldic terms. First prize Simon Horobin, Kidlington, Oxon Runners-up Mick O’Halloran, Dunsborough, Australia; John Roberts, Cheltenham,…
If the bombing of Hiroshima was a moral obscenity, blame Emperor Hirohito
The 70th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has produced some predictable wailing and gnashing of teeth about the horrors of…
Battle for Britain
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The real power of free markets: not efficiency, but innovation and dumb luck
The greatest mistake made by conservatism was its overly close relationship with neo-classical economics. This was a marriage of convenience:…
Dear Mary: I don’t want perfumed people to hold my baby
Q. Is there a polite way of not letting someone hold your baby? I love giving mine to people to…
The missing ingredient for a perfect gazpacho
We were eating tapas and talking about Spain. Leaving caviar on one side, when jamón ibérico is at its best,…
Why Liz Kendall isn't close to qualifying as 'Taliban New Labour'
Toxic virus or Taleban: it’s funny how the mild-mannered Liz Kendall has attracted for her Blairite associations the most violently…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Buried treasure
Jonathan Hawkins has emerged as the winner of this year’s British Championship, which finished last week at the University of…
No. 374
Black to play. This is a variation from Osborne-Hawkins, British Championship, Coventry 2015. Black is a piece down. What is…
Pet hate
In Competition No. 2910 you were invited to submit a poem by a pet who is cheesed off with its…
Your problems solved
Q. Is there a polite way of not letting someone hold your baby? I love giving mine to people to…
In search of the platonic gazpacho
We were eating tapas and talking about Spain. Leaving caviar on one side, when jamón ibérico is at its best,…
High life
The wind is maddening and constant, and gets stronger as the sun falls below the horizon. The streets are lined…
Long life
I’m going off Jeremy Corbyn. He seems more and more pleased with himself by the minute. But I understand why…
