Life
The young are miserable and the old are happy – shouldn’t it be the other way around?
We learn from a new report that children in England are among the unhappiest in the world — more unhappy,…
Africa is no longer the land of elephants
Laikipia An elephant can break through an electric fence by pulling out the posts, pushing younger, more stupid animals into…
Bridge
I hope Zia Mahmood will forgive me. It’s not often I come across a contract that he has failed to…
Piratical
I have never met David Smerdon, the Australian grandmaster and author of Smerdon’s Scandinavian (Everyman Chess). Last week I gave…
No. 376
Black to play. This position is a variation from variation from Maslak-Smerdon, Pardubice 2007. Black has powered through on the…
Fan fare
In Competition No. 2912 you were invited to submit a tribute in verse to a once-popular foodstuff that has fallen…
2226: Whitehouse
Clockwise from 4 run three titles (6,2,3,6,7,9,3,4,3,4,5) linked with X who won a 21 of 8s. 29 is a fourth…
To 2223: Clerihew
Edmund Clerihew Bentley wrote: The art of Biography/ Is different from Geography/ Geography is about maps/ But Biography is about…
Once again, the French are relying on Americans and Brits to protect them from murderous fascists
Boy, am I glad I’m not a Frenchman. Last week’s dramatic incident on board a Paris-bound train, in which a…
Battle for Britain
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Want to avoid regulators? Do something useless
I had a water meter installed in my flat a few months ago. I looked at it just now and…
Dear Mary: How do you persuade your drunk friend to leave a party when the taxi arrives?
Q. How do you persuade someone drunk to leave a party when it doesn’t make sense for them to stay?…
Dorset is a palliative for the human condition
Do-orzaat. Dorset is part of L’Angleterre profonde. It is possible to find evidence of modernity, but only in limited areas.…
Saints still beat Game of Thrones for baby-naming – but maybe not Mohammed
We reached peak Charlie in 2012, when 5,571 baby boys were given the name. There were only 4,642 last year.…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Piratical
I have never met David Smerdon, the Australian grandmaster and author of Smerdon’s Scandinavian (Everyman Chess). Last week I gave…
No. 376
Black to play. This position is a variation from variation from Maslak-Smerdon, Pardubice 2007. Black has powered through on the…
Fan fare
In Competition No. 2912 you were invited to submit a tribute in verse to a once-popular foodstuff that has fallen…
Your problems solved
Q. How do you persuade someone drunk to leave a party when it doesn’t make sense for them to stay?…
A secluded paradise
Do-orzaat. Dorset is part of L’Angleterre profonde. It is possible to find evidence of modernity, but only in limited areas.…
High life
According to Somerset Maugham, in material terms one must live on the razor edge between poverty and minimal subsistence in…
Long life
We learn from a new report that children in England are among the unhappiest in the world — more unhappy,…
Long life
We learn from a new report that children in England are among the unhappiest in the world — more unhappy,…
Low life
I sprinted through Milan station, speed-read the departures monitor without stopping, and arrived gasping on platform 8 with two minutes…
Low life
I sprinted through Milan station, speed-read the departures monitor without stopping, and arrived gasping on platform 8 with two minutes…
