Life
Verse Viagra
In Competition No. 2875 you were invited to submit a poem about an unlikely aphrodisiac. Thanks are due to that…
2190: Petra
‘1D/19’ (six words in total) is a work by 18/13. Remaining unclued lights form two pairs suggested by 13. …
To 2187: River and islands
The theme word is PHOENIX (38A). 6A, 12A and 26A are legendary birds; 15A, 28A and 4D are state capitals;…
If you want an argument against state-school-only Oxbridge colleges, just look at me
I read with some interest the proposal for Oxford and Cambridge to set up state-school-only colleges in the Guardian this…
Battle for Britain
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What football can tell you about Jim Murphy (and what Jim Murphy can tell you about football)
The author of a rather brilliant little book about football could just hold the key to Labour’s otherwise negligible prospects…
Dear Mary: Do I really have to take my shoes off indoors?
Q. There has been a marked increase in the number of people who have pristine flooring and are so keen…
The hotels trying to turn Cornwall into Kensington
Mousehole is a charming name; it is almost a charming place. It is a fishing village on Mount’s Bay, Cornwall,…
Why ‘respect’ is the last thing we should want from politicians
‘Respect!’ cried my husband, drop-kicking a cushion with a picture of the Queen Mother holding a pint of beer on…
Cornish and pasty
Mousehole is a charming name; it is almost a charming place. It is a fishing village on Mount’s Bay, Cornwall,…
Tackling Jim Murphy
The author of a rather brilliant little book about football could just hold the key to Labour’s otherwise negligible prospects…
The resurrection man
‘I’m going for Al Ferof,’ said a suit in front of me in the Totepool queue at Ascot on Saturday…
Snobbery, sneering and secret sniggers: the sad truth about the so-called 'special relationship'
To the grand Herrera house on the upper east side of Manhattan for lunch in honour of Lord and Lady…
‘Are you going out tonight, Frasier? If you are, don’t leave without me’
An hour earlier I had stepped off a plane from Dublin and I was three-quarters deaf in one ear. I…
If the tofu munchers had their way, horses would sleep on mattresses in bespoke tents like a Glastonbury VIP area
Before I go any further, I would like to make clear that no animals were harmed in the making of…
Lottery winners are strikingly unimaginative about spending money
I thought that this week I might write about memory loss, but couldn’t remember if I’d written about it last…
There are echoes of Turkey and Armenia in the revisionist view of the Rwandan genocide
Kenya It’s a long time since I thought of Thaddee, our Kigali stringer when I was covering Rwanda for Reuters.…
Bridge
It’s one of the burning political issues of the day: why don’t more MPs play bridge? Two weeks ago, the…
Comedy of errors
For reasons unknown, the world championship in Sochi between Carlsen and Anand is turning into a catalogue of disastrous blunders…
No: 341
Black to play. This is from Korchnoi-Karpov, World Championship (Game 17), Baguio 1978. Can you spot Black’s winning coup? Answers…
Problem child
In Competition No. 2874 you were invited to submit a scene written by a well-known children’s author of the past…
2189: Offering
One unclued light is the name of a 15A activity requiring the 4A of three things. Answers to clues in…
2186: From the off
Unclued lights (11/1D, 12/35, 15, 18/1D and 22/17) are fences of the Grand National course, together with two famous winners…
Pity I’m a Celebrity’s token old guys
I had thought that my days of being approached by reality show producers hoping to put together a cast of…
Battle for Britain
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