Life
How I finished writing my novel
In the end, I threw my mobile phone into a sack of Chudley’s dog biscuits. It was the only way…
Sorry, Tara Erraught, but the age of the fat lady singing is over
London’s opera critics have been roundly condemned for suggesting that a female singer’s personal appearance could make her unsuitable for…
Will racing waste its Scoop6 jackpot?
Eight people became millionaires last Saturday, collecting £1,342,599 each when the Scoop6 bet, which had been rolled over for 12…
Bridge
It is always exciting when a strong new team’s tournament enters the calendar, and the inaugural Balaton Invitational, held outside…
Close run
Although world champion Magnus Carlsen clearly secured first place in the Gashimov Memorial tournament, he did not have things all…
No. 316
Black to play. This position is a variation from Mamedov-Motylev, Gashimov ‘B’ Group 2014. How does Black conclude his kingside…
Lines on the Beeb
In Competition No. 2849 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of the BBC. The entry…
Blank crossword
Solvers must create the barred grid for themselves; the resulting grid is symmetrical whichever side is uppermost. When submitting an…
to 2161: Appellation contrôlée
The unclued lights begin with DOC (the Italian abbreviated equivalent of APPELLATION CONTRÔLÉE). First prize Dennis Cotterell, Carlisle Runners-up…
Michael Gove did not kill Of Mice and Men or To Kill A Mockingbird
I suppose I should be grateful that the liberal intelligentsia doesn’t bother to check any of the facts if an…
Battle for Britain
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From Lewis Hamilton to Kevin Pietersen – who’s the worst team player?
Ah teamwork! There’s no me in team, as David Brent used to observe sagely, but there are often plenty of…
Dear Mary: What’s the best way to squash a bore?
Q. Two acquaintances of mine have somehow inveigled their way into my dining circuit. They are men who, despite privilege…
Harry’s Bar, where a slice of cake costs €32 – and is worth it
Harry’s Bar is a dull pale box. This is remarkable in Venice, which is a hospice for dying palaces, held…
The sinister new meaning of ‘support’
When I asked my husband why paramedical professions were given to remaking the language in strange ways, he replied in…
Old Harry’s game
Harry’s Bar is a dull pale box. This is remarkable in Venice, which is a hospice for dying palaces, held…
Team games
Ah teamwork! There’s no me in team, as David Brent used to observe sagely, but there are often plenty of…
Confidence boost
Eight people became millionaires last Saturday, collecting £1,342,599 each when the Scoop6 bet, which had been rolled over for 12…
Being the father of the bride has matured me – as I discovered in the nightclub afterwards
So the wedding of my little girl to Andy Bancroft Cooke went off without a hitch, a wonderful ceremony in…
In the soft Cornish air, with the pressure off, I caved in
Just when I was beginning to think I’d had enough, I was offered a free week in a caravan. I…
A&E is no place for the over-tens
‘Ouch!’ said the ex-builder boyfriend. ‘I think something’s bitten me.’ And a few seconds after that, something bit me too.…
Why do consultants write such scary, incomprehensible letters?
There is a kind of letter designed to bewilder, upset and possibly terrify its recipient, and this is the standard…
The books that have kept me alive
In bed Safety measures — I’ve never been good at them, so inevitably I inhaled and got soaked by the…
Bridge
There’s no point in soft-soaping it: however long you’ve been playing bridge, however well you think you play, if you’ve…
Iron nerves
The game that clinched Magnus Carlsen’s victory in the Gashimov Memorial came, fittingly, in a last-round cliffhanger against his closest…
