Life
Your problems solved
Q. My parents brought me up to write only my name in a visitors’ book. However, following a recent long…
Grills just want to have fun
The Beaumont Hotel is a bright white cake in the silent part of Mayfair, where the only sound is Patek…
High life
There’s nothing to add to Martin Vander Weyer’s item about Hellas of two weeks ago in these here pages except…
Long life
It’s June, and the country-house summer opera festivals are now in full swing. Glyndebourne, which opened the season last month,…
Long life
It’s June, and the country-house summer opera festivals are now in full swing. Glyndebourne, which opened the season last month,…
Low life
On Sunday morning, I was kicking a football in the back garden with my grandson. I had bought him his…
Low life
On Sunday morning, I was kicking a football in the back garden with my grandson. I had bought him his…
Trigger
A notion is going about that, just as readers of film reviews receive spoiler alerts, so readers of anything should…
Real life
The doctor eyed me suspiciously as I walked into her consulting room. ‘Ye-es?’ she said, nervously, eyeing me up and…
The Kiwi tourists are a living lesson
A rather desultory Test series is taking place in the Caribbean where Australia are marmalising the West Indies, with a…
The Canadian Ed Miliband
I’ve been reading Fire and Ashes, Michael Ignatieff’s account of his disastrous foray into politics, in an attempt to understand…
The Canadian Ed Miliband
I’ve been reading Fire and Ashes, Michael Ignatieff’s account of his disastrous foray into politics, in an attempt to understand…
Frankie’s back
Nothing has been lost since William Powell Frith painted his Derby Day panorama in 1858: today, instead of the carriages…
High life
The last week in Gotham was exceptional fun. I saw a Broadway play, Finding Neverland, compliments of the producer, my…
Low life
The entries are crawling in on their hands and knees for the ‘drunkest I’ve ever been’ competition to win a…
Real life
Foolishly, I have this wild notion that one day, if the stars align in my favour, I might be able…
Long life
I wrote last week about a swarm of bees that had attached itself to a wall of my house, as…
Bridge
The Hacketts are probably the best known bridge-playing family in the world. They live in Manchester but travel constantly —…
Boris Good Enough
Boris Gulko, celebrated both as a grandmaster and a former Soviet dissident, has recently completed his great trilogy of instructional…
No. 365
Black to play. This is from Caruana-Jakovenko, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015. Black is winning -easily, but can you find the most accurate…
Sauce material
In Competition No. 2900 you were invited to write a short story that ends on a condiment of your choice.…
2214: What’s up?
The theme word is 29 down, which defines each of the other unclued lights (including one of two words) in…
To 2211: Toddler hero
‘THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH YIELDING PLACE TO NEW’, from Tennyson’s IDYLLS OF THE KING, suggests the outcome of ANAGRAMMATISM (2).…
Are the cultural Marxists in retreat, or lying low?
In his Memoirs, Kingsley Amis includes a story about meeting Roald Dahl at a party in the 1970s. Dahl advises…
Battle for Britain
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