Life
Long life
I have always been what I suppose one could call a weed, and a cowardly one at that. I never…
Low life
Watching the daily running of the bulls through Pamplona’s narrow streets online this week has given me a wistful pang…
Low life
Watching the daily running of the bulls through Pamplona’s narrow streets online this week has given me a wistful pang…
Bugs
If my husband were an insect it might well be a bug — a squat creature imbibing nutriment in liquid form.…
Real life
Insomnia has a lot to answer for. I have not been sleeping well for years but a few months ago…
Urban foxes, the ginger menace
Forget about the countryside. When is the government going to do something about the vulpine creatures wreaking havoc in central…
Urban foxes, the ginger menace
Forget about the countryside. When is the government going to do something about the vulpine creatures wreaking havoc in central…
The presentation of choice
The appallingly bad photograph below was taken on my mobile phone about 15 years ago. It shows the menu layout…
Wild life
Laikipia A quarter of a century ago I met two young South African men who had ridden their ponies 1,700…
The staff of The Spectator are straight out of a painting by Norman Rockwell
Wow, what a week. London may be bad for one’s health, but it sure makes it fun on the way…
The chemically castrated are useless at crosswords: true or false?
After hitting me with the cancer diagnosis, the urologist offered me the choice of a longer life in exchange for…
The menopause lost my car keys
Here is what I thought happened. I thought that as I tided my store room at the stables I put…
How strange to feel nostalgic for the 1970s
The 1960s were already more than halfway over when I realised that I was living through what was supposed to…
The Eclipse Stakes at Sandown: a pulsating contest between two brave horses and two thinking jockeys
Eclipse was one of the most remarkable racehorses ever. Sired by the then undistinguished Marske, whom mares could visit for…
Bridge
Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. The European Championships in Tromso kicked off with a week of Mixed and…
Chinese cracker
I have a particular affection for Chinese involvement in mind sports. In 1981 I was invited as the first western…
No. 370
Black to play. This position is a variation from Hou Yifan-Kramnik, Dortmund 2015. Black is a rook down. What does…
I can see a rainbow
In Competition No. 2905 you were invited to write a sonnet whose lines begin with the letters R,O,Y,G,B,I,V,V,I,B,G,Y,O,R, in that…
2219: Keep going
Unclued lights (one of three words) are of a kind, as suggested by the title. Across 7 Mostly…
To 2216: Riddle
Films starring AUDREY HEPBURN (4 29) include MY FAIR LADY, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, SABRINA FAIR and ROMAN HOLIDAY in the perimeter, and…
Why I’m proud to be a (sometimes) pushy parent
I took my three boys for a cycle ride in Richmond Park on Sunday. Under normal circumstances, this would have…
Battle for Britain
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Nick Kyrgios is exactly the bad boy tennis needs
Well thank heaven for Nick Kyrgios. The lavishly inked, blinged and barbered Aussie is quite one of the most thrilling…
Dear Mary: How can I survive a house with shared bathrooms?
Q. I am anxious about a forthcoming house party to which several people in my friendship group have been invited.…
The joy of an empty Gordon Ramsay restaurant
The Maze Grill is on a sinister street in Chelsea, between a small Tesco — a boutique Tesco? — and…
