Life
2201: Facility
The words FAST FORWARD (given by letters added to definitions in clues) define 42 and 11, both indicating the way…
How (and why) we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
Battle for Britain
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A lesson in decision-making from the world’s worst road sign
Driving from Dover on the M20 a year ago I missed the turning for the M25. A month later I…
Dear Mary
Q. When sending wedding invitations, does one put the full titles on the card, or can one just put, for…
Wines to toast a warrior saint
Towards the chimes at midnight, a few of us left a — respectable — establishment near Leicester Square. Eight or…
Where ‘poop’ came from
Danny Alexander recounted in the Diary last week his daughter’s efforts in making unicorn poop. This is something of a…
Battle for Britain
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Caro can
The Caro-Kann Defence, 1 e4 c6, has always appealed to me. It has the advantage of staking a claim in…
No. 355
Black to play. This position is a variation from Ganguly-Vitiugov, Gibraltar 2014. The game started as a Caro-Kann and is…
End paper
In Competition No. 2890 you were invited to imagine that one of the major newspapers has ceased publication and provide…
Dear Mary
Q. When sending wedding invitations, does one put the full titles on the card, or can one just put, for…
A toast to Spain
Towards the chimes at midnight, a few of us left a — respectable — establishment near Leicester Square. Eight or…
Poop
Danny Alexander recounted in the Diary last week his daughter’s efforts in making unicorn poop. This is something of a…
Why we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
Why we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
Looking for answers you can’t see
Driving from Dover on the M20 a year ago I missed the turning for the M25. A month later I…
Wild life
Laikipia With a shriek, the warrior arched his body, readying to sling his spear at my chest. The tear-dropped javelin…
No man ever wanted a dumb broad for a wife
As I was flipping through some television garbage trying to induce sleep, I came upon an old western starring Kirk…
My afternoon in a Gallic version of Betfred
For the Cheltenham Festival I received the customary tipster circular from my pal Soapy Joe. Soapy’s most convincing credential as…
I held my breath ready for the explosion. But no explosion came
Darcy was obviously listening to every word I said. After we got back from the ride from hell, in which…
An Episcopalian vicar made me warm to the principle of women joining gentlemen’s clubs
In 1993, when I was living in Manhattan working for the New Yorker magazine, I was chosen as ‘distinguished visitor’…
Disneyland comes to the Cheltenham Festival
Irish racing guru Ted Walsh was asked at the start of Gold Cup day if retiring champion jockey Tony McCoy…
Bridge
You either love rubber bridge or you hate it. Personally I love it: I love the freedom it gives you…
Just So
Last week in a perceptive piece for the Times, Will Pavia animadverted upon the fact that the USA appears to…
