Life
Long life
The smart phone is a wonderful thing. We are never out of touch anymore, neither with friends nor with the…
Low life
‘I’ve lost my phone,’ yells Trev. We’re in a club. He’s come charging on to the dance floor to tell…
Low life
‘I’ve lost my phone,’ yells Trev. We’re in a club. He’s come charging on to the dance floor to tell…
Charon
‘What about the moon Tracey?’ asked my husband facetiously when an astronomer on the wireless, talking of Pluto’s moon Charon,…
Real life
‘Cydney, we are not moving to Cobham!’ I told the spaniel in my best outraged Margot Leadbetter voice. What a…
Australia’s comeback kids
I have never met an Aussie I didn’t like, but, crikey, their sporting indefatigability is exhausting. Don’t they ever give…
Why I voted for Jeremy Corbyn
Is the ‘Tories for Corbyn’ campaign politics at its most infantile? As one of the few conservative commentators willing to…
Why I voted for Jeremy Corbyn
Is the ‘Tories for Corbyn’ campaign politics at its most infantile? As one of the few conservative commentators willing to…
Easy does it
For all their formidable physical presence, racehorses spook easily. A sudden gust of wind flapping a plastic sack, a page…
Let’s read the riot act to the kleptocrats who are buying us out
I have signed an affidavit for a hearing in the High Court stating that Janan Harb was, to my knowledge,…
In my opinion, Death Corner was a very safe place to stand
Watching the daily running of the bulls through Pamplona’s narrow streets online this week has given me a wistful pang…
Watch your backs, everyone: I haven’t slept for three years
Insomnia has a lot to answer for. I have not been sleeping well for years but a few months ago…
Croquet is a sport that makes you want to cheat and kill
I have always been what I suppose one could call a weed, and a cowardly one at that. I never…
Why I dream of the Great Wall of China
Laikipia A quarter of a century ago I met two young South African men who had ridden their ponies 1,700…
Bridge
Omar Sharif did so much for bridge. He inspired countless others through his own devotion to the game (‘Acting is…
Fabulous Fabiano
Fabiano Caruana notched the result of his life at the Sinquefield Trophy in St Louis last year. Since then he…
No. 370
Black to play. This position is a variation from Kramnik-Naiditsch, Dortmund 2015. How can Black make a decisive material gain?…
Poetry in motion
In Competition No. 2906 you were invited to write a poem about an encounter in an airport. Craig Raine’s poem…
2220: Poem II
Unclued lights (two hyphened) are words (all but one of which are in ODQ) from a poem whose title appears…
To 2217: Poem
The poem was Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats. 1A, 16, 21A, 30, 38, 8, 13, 27, 29…
What are we going to do about urban foxes?
Forget about the countryside. When is the government going to do something about the vulpine creatures wreaking havoc in central…
Battle for Britain
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This is what every menu should look like
The appallingly bad photograph below was taken on my mobile phone about 15 years ago. It shows the menu layout…
Dear Mary: unacceptable behaviour at a book signing
Q. At a recent literary festival I attended a talk with a high-profile octogenarian writer. I had already bought her…
Banking on wine
Great matters were trembling in the balance. The prime minister needed cash to achieve his objective and as Parliament was…
