Life
Three years on and I thought I would soon be free of the Slobs
A letter arrives from the lawyers handling my defence in the phantom whiplash injury claim. It is now coming up…
Evan Davies is SO not Jeremy Paxman (thank God)
It’s unusual for somebody promoting his own television programme to tell you not to watch it, but that’s what Evan…
These are the ones to watch in the Prix de l’Abbaye and the Derby
Rightly, the authorities are doing all they can to find and discipline the disgruntled racegoer who threw a beer can…
Bridge
I don’t know about the only gay in the village but I am starting to feel like the last woman…
Highland fling
Recently Professor Jackie Eales gave a lecture in Canterbury on ‘Queenship in the Age of the Enraged Chess Queen’. (The…
No. 334
White to play. This position is from Keene-Nunn, Surrey Junior Championship 1963. This game started with the Scotch Game opening.…
And another thing
In Competition No. 2867 you were invited to add a final stanza to a well-known poem. Nicholas Stone imagined how…
2182: Tops
The unclued lights are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. Across 1 Poet has overdose first (5)…
To 2179: Cos
The unclued lights are abbreviations of seven English and one Welsh county, which themselves are inflected headwords in Chambers. (Consequently,…
Nigel Farage’s class war
I initially thought Nigel Farage had made a mistake in unveiling Mark Reckless on the final day of his party…
Battle for Britain
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Please don't let the Ryder Cup go the way of football
Well, that was a lot of fuss wasn’t it? The Ryder Cup is a strange old creation, only fractionally less…
Dear Mary: Must we tip other people's servants in London, too?
Q. What is the etiquette on tipping in London houses? I have been in the habit of staying with friends…
Today’s Disney princesses look like Russian mafia wives. This is their café
The Disney Café is a gaudy hell on the fourth floor of Harrods, Knightsbridge. It is adjacent to the Harrods…
How did Mark Reckless get his surname?
When I first heard ‘Wonderwall’ being played in a public house, in 1995 I suppose, I thought it was some…
Disney matter
The Disney Café is a gaudy hell on the fourth floor of Harrods, Knightsbridge. It is adjacent to the Harrods…
Enjoying the Ryder
Well, that was a lot of fuss wasn’t it? The Ryder Cup is a strange old creation, only fractionally less…
Bronze Angel delight
Rightly, the authorities are doing all they can to find and discipline the disgruntled racegoer who threw a beer can…
My ghosts of Athens; a shooting and a royal wedding
Athens This grimy semi-Levantine ancient city has its beauty spots, with childhood memories indelibly attached. There is a turn-of-the-century apartment…
Melissa Kite: a crazy woman is living inside my head.
A crazy woman is living inside my head. It’s not just the normal crazy woman who camps out there from…
2181: Obit II
The 19 of a great 1A of 6 and for the 1D occurred in 37 25 years ago this month.…
To 2178: Saint and playwright
In Vanity Fair (18/2), George Osborne is associated with 6/30 and 10/31. As Chancellor, he was preceded by 8, 26…
A visit to a drugs den above a fishmongers with Miss South America
‘Stand outside the fishmongers in 20 minutes and call this number,’ she said, ‘and I can arrange it.’ On Saturday…
Winslow Hall shows you don’t need fancy sets to make opera enjoyable
Winslow Hall is a large and handsome country house in Buckinghamshire, built in 1700 by Sir Christopher Wren, which Tony…
From Burma — or maybe Saigon — to Manchester via Calcutta
England We dropped off our daughter Eve at her new school in the Midlands and started the long journey…
