Life
Why the crusade against Alastair Cook?
A jaw-dropping moment on the front page of Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph the other day: ‘How to fix England’, read…
Fit as a filly
Fretful horses who waste their energies — and often their racing potential — ceaselessly pacing their stable dormitories are known…
I think I just went to the greatest ball in history
To Fort Belvedere for a ball that most likely will discourage any more balls because of its brilliance and perfection.…
A circle of love with Brown Eagle Feather
‘I’m wasted,’ said Trev, meaning not that his life is futile, but that his mind was overwhelmed by illegal drugs.…
A tip for future invaders of Britain – start after 3pm
If we had to fight a war on the home front I’m fairly sure we would be stuffed. I base…
The profitable delusion shared by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair
Tony Blair and Bill Clinton must be very happy about how they have fared since leaving political office, for each…
Bridge
Our Golden Oldies have brought home the Gold! Many congratulations to the England players who have won the Seniors Teams…
Tiger tiger
Petrosian Move by Move is a new book published by Everyman Chess written by the Swedish international master Thomas Engqvist.…
No. 321
White to play. This position is from Petrosian–Rossetto, Portoroz 1958. What is White’s most efficient continuation? Answers to me at…
Fresh food
In Competition No. 2854 you were invited to invent a title for a new cookery book, with a fresh angle,…
2169: Land
Six items of one kind, reading clockwise, form the perimeter, whilst four unclued lights are of another kind. All ten…
To 2166: Somewhere X
Somewhere next to GUYANA (34) and BRAZIL (12), DUTCH (33) is SPOKEN (25), the highest mountain is JULIANA TOP (1D),…
Accept it, embrace it: Conservatives aren’t cool
The Times headline on Tuesday was rather cruel: ‘Stars turn down No. 10 invitation.’ This was a reference to the…
Battle for Britain
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Adam Smith is the father of more than one sort of economics
Gandhi would test his resolve by sleeping between two naked virgins, an avenue not really open to me, as my…
Dear Mary: Do men really have worse table manners when they’re on their own?
Q. My 16-year-old son, who has recently had his first experiences of Clubland, has observed to me, his mother, that…
Measuring out an elegy in Burgundy
It was a sort of wake. An old friend’s father had died, and some of us were helping him and…
Diffuse, defuse and the damnably confused
It’s funny how people hardly know what they are saying. I read recently of diplomats going to Riyadh ‘to diffuse…
An elegy in Burgundy
It was a sort of wake. An old friend’s father had died, and some of us were helping him and…
Adam Smith vs the measurebators
Gandhi would test his resolve by sleeping between two naked virgins, an avenue not really open to me, as my…
After 100 years, the mess we made of the Middle East is coming full circle
When I hear the words Sykes-Picot I more often than not feel like punching an Englishman or a Frog —…
My night in a room haunted by falling cannonballs
On Saturday night I went to Charlie’s 69th birthday party. What a gaff he’s got. The rather snooty description of…
I need a syringe full of ketamine to survive a visit to the vet
The vet arrived at the stable yard wearing his customary grin. He is the happiest man I know. Of course…
Brave, noble, forgotten – the other side of Italy's second world war
At the time of the armistice of September 1943, when the kingdom of Italy formally transferred its allegiance from the…
Yes, I'm biased – but this was a great Royal Ascot
The one sight I was determined not to miss at Royal Ascot was that of the Queen from over the…
