Life
It's time for Kenya to put aside dreams of singing wells and dancing bulls
Laikipia ‘Good morning, sir!’ The warrior strides up to me on the high plains and shakes my hand. ‘May…
Bridge
I was talking to the brilliant 27-year old Israeli player Alon Birman at the recent Brighton Congress, when suddenly there…
Olympiad highlights
To round off my coverage of the chess Olympiad in Tromsø, which saw a total of 313 teams in the…
No. 329
White to play. This position is from Lee-Croes, Tromsø Olympiad 2014. White’s position is overwhelming and he now found a…
Dark thoughts
In Competition No. 2862 you were invited to submit a poetic preview of when the lights go out. Submissions were…
2177: Amaze
The titles of four of an artist’s works (9,7; 6,6; 6,2,4; 12) read clockwise round the perimeter from a square…
To 2174: Difficulty
The key phrase is KNOW WHERE THE SHOE PINCHES (12 38 43). Each of the partially indicated answers is pinched…
Not all knowledge is equal
I first locked horns with Michael Rosen, the former children’s laureate, on Sky News about four years ago. We were…
Battle for Britain
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Why don’t more non-smokers try e-cigarettes?
I was waiting on an office forecourt recently puffing on an e-cigarette when a security guard came out. ‘You can’t…
Dear Mary: Is it an insult to be given anti-ageing cream?
Q. When someone gives you anti-ageing cream as a present, is that an insult or a compliment? — A.O., Provence…
Horse racing, Sancerre and escaped lobsters
A stint in dry dock — the ‘dry’ literally — has one advantage. There is time for lots of long…
A bitter struggle with the dictionary
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ is one of husband’s stock phrases — jokes he would think them — in this…
From horses to glasses
A stint in dry dock — the ‘dry’ literally — has one advantage. There is time for lots of long…
The kick of the habit
I was waiting on an office forecourt recently puffing on an e-cigarette when a security guard came out. ‘You can’t…
Wild life
Laikipia ‘Good morning, sir!’ The warrior strides up to me on the high plains and shakes my hand. ‘May…
Six decades and two chat-up lines
Gstaad In this freewheeling Swiss village of the 1950s, the unconventional was the norm and monumental drinking commonplace, but the…
What I learned working in the lunatic asylum
In 1984 I was 27. Since leaving school I had done unskilled manual labour, when I could get any. Then…
Press five to report a funny man on your doorstep with strange tales of dog torture
Strangely enough, I was in the middle of writing an article about the tactics used by the RSPCA when another…
The Italians are disgusted with our holidaymakers
As the holidays draw to a close, Italian newspapers have been reporting with perplexity and distaste on the outlandish behaviour…
Some horses go better for a woman
Mrs Oakley returned from her latest book club with an uplifting story. The Mother Superior of an Irish convent was…
Bridge
It’s August — that time of year again — and I am in France, as usual, on my annual holiday.…
Great wall
China have won the Olympiad in Tromsø. I believe that we can now look forward to a sustained Chinese dominance…
No. 328
Black to play. This position is from Ivanchuk-Mamedyarov, Tromsø Olympiad 2014. How did Black win material? Answers to me at…
Tourist misinformation
In Competition No. 2861 you were invited to submit misleading snippets of advice for British tourists travelling abroad. A previous…
