Life
The impossibility of ordering the right-sized salad
People don’t listen. It’s a relatively new thing. People used to listen, to varying degrees. You had your good listeners…
A trip to Berlin with John Smith before the wall came down
Last Sunday night 8,000 illuminated balloons, tethered along eight miles of Berlin’s former inner-city border between East and West Germany,…
Robin Oakley's Twelve to Follow for 2015 (this year's came out ahead)
November has never been my favourite month, not since the time when as a Rugby-playing student my face was rearranged…
Bridge
It’s always good to know where you draw the line and my line, drawn in thick black ink, was going…
Force Majeure
The common feature of the first two games of the World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen in…
No. 340
Black to play. This position is a variation from Anand-Carlsen; World Championship, Sochi (Game 1) 2014. Can you spot Black’s…
Concrete poem
In Competition No. 2873 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of a well-known building. It…
2188: Pieces of eight
Each unclued light is somehow related to a clued one. Elsewhere, ignore an acute accent. Across 4 …
To 2185: Over the sea
The unclued are locations on SKYE, ‘The Misty Isle’ (solutions at 15 and 31). ISLE does double duty in 15/31…
The man feminists seemed to think was worse than the Taleban
Feature writers aren’t often acclaimed for their courage, but Neil Lyndon deserves a bronze plaque in St Bride’s. Twenty-two years…
Battle for Britain
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International cricket must return to Pakistan (and my team went first)
In a tiny courtyard just off the teeming alleys of Lahore’s old town, a young Pakistani boy in a gleaming…
Dear Mary: How to talk to friends whose book you haven’t read
Q. What is the correct thing to say to a writer friend whose book you haven’t read? I buy most…
A buffet in an Egyptian tomb
Atlantico is a vast buffet inside the Lopesan Costa Meloneras Resort Spa and Casino in Gran Canaria. The Lopesan Costa…
Why must every ‘accident’ be an ‘incident’?
I had thought that the saying ‘Accidents will happen in the best regulated families’ was a vulgar reference to children…
Station to station
Atlantico is a vast buffet inside the Lopesan Costa Meloneras Resort Spa and Casino in Gran Canaria. The Lopesan Costa…
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.…
