Life
Cricket must return to Pakistan
In a tiny courtyard just off the teeming alleys of Lahore’s old town, a young Pakistani boy in a gleaming…
The turf
November has never been my favourite month, not since the time when as a Rugby-playing student my face was rearranged…
The difficult art of finding the right yacht
To Newport, Rhode Island, the smallest state in the Union but one of the most beautiful. Driving north-east from the…
Bidding a fond, and drunken, farewell to the awe-inspiring Mark Amory
Rubbing shoulders with political suits on the pavement outside the Westminster Arms, I drank two pints of Spitfire. Pump primed,…
My spaniel Cydney has covered herself in glory and disgrace
Just before Cydney ran off and disgraced me on the first day of the shooting season, she covered herself in…
Two ways to disgrace a president
On 21 October Ben Bradlee, the famous ex-editor of the Washington Post, died, aged 93. The day before that, on…
Bridge
To get good results at bridge, it’s not enough to play well — your opponents need to play badly; and…
Sochi Challenge
On Saturday 8 November the first game will be played in the three-week long rematch between defending world champion Magnus…
No. 339
White to play. This position is from Carlsen-Anand, Amber Rapidplay 2008. White is a pawn ahead but Black has counterplay.…
Thanks but no thanks
In Competition No. 2872 you were invited to submit an author’s acknowledgments page that contains subtle indications that no thanks…
2187: River and Islands
The ten unclued lights consist of a theme word and three groups of three answers of a kind, each group…
To 2184: Airline
Unclued lights each contained a different TREY (20) from the alphabet: AFGHAN (24), CANOPY (27), DINGHIES (42), DABCHICK (1D), HYMNODY…
Why schools can't teach character
I participated in a lively discussion about character education at Policy Exchange earlier this week. For those of you who…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
S&M&B&Q: Why aren’t there sex-and-shopping novels for men?
I never got beyond page 20 in Fifty Shades of Grey. No one got shot in the first chapter, and…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my future son-in-law saying ‘must of’
Q. My future son-in-law has been successfully house-trained in the use of upper-middle-class English over the years that he has…
Wine merchants might just be the happiest people in the world
A delightful girl came to see me this morning. She is helping with the research for a biography of David…
Should ‘suicide’ mean pig-killing?
There was a marvellous man in Shakespeare’s day known as John Smyth the Sebaptist. ‘In an act so deeply shocking…
A vintner’s vocation
A delightful girl came to see me this morning. She is helping with the research for a biography of David…
S&M and B&Q
I never got beyond page 20 in Fifty Shades of Grey. No one got shot in the first chapter, and…
The beauty of fire escapes and the vanishing of Edward Hopper's New York
Autumn in New York: they even wrote a song about it that was a great hit 60 years ago. Last…
'My boy was my all': letters from a bereaved mother to a Somme widow
My maternal grandmother (née Clarke) had six brothers, all keen poker players. All six volunteered to fight in the Great…
Why won't the law go after the terror of my park?
What is the point of the Dangerous Dogs Act when there is a man marauding with an illegal pit bull…
The only good thing about Halloween is that it makes people hate bats
I always dread Hallowe’en. It may have originated in Europe as a Christian celebration for remembering the virtuous dead and…
Maybe Mrs Oakley is right: all my tips will come in second
The novelist Anita Brookner once declared that in real life hares always beat tortoises: ‘Every time. Look around you. And…
