Life
The secret heart of London conservatism…
There is a dive near St James’s which could claim to be the epicentre of international reaction. It is also…
The rise and rise of the brain fade
‘Aa-aah,’ groaned my husband, ‘we fade to grey.’ He had never been much of a Young Romantic, even when Visage…
Battle for Britain
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Boris Good Enough
Boris Gulko, celebrated both as a grandmaster and a former Soviet dissident, has recently completed his great trilogy of instructional…
No. 365
Black to play. This is from Caruana-Jakovenko, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015. Black is winning -easily, but can you find the most accurate…
Sauce material
In Competition No. 2900 you were invited to write a short story that ends on a condiment of your choice.…
Your problems solved
Q. What should I say the next time I run into a woman with whom I was at art school…
Claret and blues
There is a dive near St James’s which could claim to be the epicentre of international reaction. It is also…
High life
The last week in Gotham was exceptional fun. I saw a Broadway play, Finding Neverland, compliments of the producer, my…
Long life
I wrote last week about a swarm of bees that had attached itself to a wall of my house, as…
Long life
I wrote last week about a swarm of bees that had attached itself to a wall of my house, as…
Low life
The entries are crawling in on their hands and knees for the ‘drunkest I’ve ever been’ competition to win a…
Low life
The entries are crawling in on their hands and knees for the ‘drunkest I’ve ever been’ competition to win a…
Brain fade
‘Aa-aah,’ groaned my husband, ‘we fade to grey.’ He had never been much of a Young Romantic, even when Visage…
Real life
Foolishly, I have this wild notion that one day, if the stars align in my favour, I might be able…
Are the cultural Marxists in retreat, or lying low?
In his Memoirs, Kingsley Amis includes a story about meeting Roald Dahl at a party in the 1970s. Dahl advises…
Are the cultural Marxists in retreat, or lying low?
In his Memoirs, Kingsley Amis includes a story about meeting Roald Dahl at a party in the 1970s. Dahl advises…
In praise of the ‘Don’t know’ voter
I am scraping the edges of my memory here, but I am fairly sure that opinion polls in my childhood…
Taki, the greatest literary critic of our time, picks Fitzgerald’s greatest novel
An operation on my hand after a karate injury has had me reading more than usual. I even attempted Don…
Outstrip Jeremy Clarke’s worst excesses and win an invitation to his Low life book launch
On 26 June there is a party at the Spectator office at 22 Old Queen Street to launch a paperback…
In the future we will all speak a new language called Predictive Text
Andy the tech guy looked delighted when I told him I had done the stupidest thing ever. He is one…
Inside, pursued by a swarm of bees
From reading the newspapers you might get the impression that honeybees were on the way to extinction. In Europe, it…
Why jockeys prefer riding on the Flat
Getting to Goodwood last Saturday was an achievement in itself. On the Bank Holiday weekend I calculated a cross-country route…
Bridge
If you live in or around London you can play a pairs duplicate every night (or day) of the week…
Shuffleduck
There are some odd opening moves in chess, such as 1 a3 and 1 g4. The former was used by…
