Life
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…
2176: ,
The unclued lights (one hyphened, one of two words), individually or as four pairs, are of a kind. Across…
to 2173: Men of note
The unclued lights are COMPOSERS whose surnames start with the letter C. First prize C.R. Haigh, Hassocks, West Sussex…
The self-delusion that makes people go to festivals – me included
I wouldn’t describe myself as a veteran of the summer festival circuit, but I’ve been to enough to have a…
The battle for Britain
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What does Duncan Fletcher actually do?
Some years ago, when the last Conservative government was limping towards defeat, someone published a book called 101 Uses for…
Dear Mary: Show me the tactful way to pay for a lift
Q. My neighbour is really lovely and always helps me chainsaw trees. He used to be the herdsman at the…
Rhubarb has the loveliest, craziest dining room I have ever seen
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival: the city is full of glassy-eyed narcissists eating haggis pizza off flyers that say Michael Gove:…
What’s humanitarian about a humanitarian crisis?
‘Our first priority,’ David Cameron said this week, ‘has of course been to deal with the acute humanitarian crisis in…
Escaping the Fringe
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival: the city is full of glassy-eyed narcissists eating haggis pizza off flyers that say Michael Gove:…
