Life
The turf
Driving to Newmarket through a biblical-style deluge that had sheep, cattle and horses queuing in twos in case Noah had…
Meet the real scourge of the English countryside
I’m off to Balcombe this weekend. In fact I might even carry a placard and paint my face with a…
If all left-wing academics were as nice as John Sutherland, Taki would tolerate Hush Puppies
Just before I left Gstaad for the Greek islands I went to dinner at Eugenie Radziwill’s, whose other guests included…
Jeremy Clarke in France: A couple of formidables, dinner with bucketfuls of rosé, dancing, cognac with sugar cubes and a delightful romance
Golly my testicles are shrinking fast. At this rate by Christmas they’ll be down to the size of garden peas.…
Melissa Kite: Spare me from successful neighbours
At last. I’ve waited a long time for this moment. I’ve been through years of torture at the hands of…
Alexander Chancellor Why can’t we have more public toilets and fewer wheelie-bins?
After a carefree month at my wife’s house in Tuscany — the longest summer holiday I have spent there for…
Killing in Kenya: Aidan Hartley tracks the last steps of an elephant
Laikipia The bull elephant had roamed our northern marches of the Laikipia plateau for decades. I always recognised him…
Bridge
If jealousy is measured in twinges my twinge-o-meter has gone viral. On my self-imposed sabbatical, otherwise known as a holiday,…
Dortmund
Britain’s top grandmaster Mickey Adams has won clear first prize in the tournament at Dortmund, ahead of former world champion…
No. 280
White to play. This position is from Williams-Brown, British Championship, Torquay 2013. What is the most direct route to victory…
New word order
In Competition 2811 you were invited to take an existing word and alter it by a) adding a letter; b)…
2127: Dire straits
Each of twelve clues contains a superfluous word. 9 of these words are unclued lights, which are of a kind. …
Lessons from a friend with a tragic flaw
Character is destiny, according to Heraclitus, and that becomes increasingly clear as you get older and chart the ups and…
Dave
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To 2124: Pack
Seven unclued lights are STUFFED ANIMALS (13 18) — i.e. deer, horse, anoa, cat, seal, tup and boar, filled with…
Suddenly, the future of British golf looks bright
Were you still up, as they used to say about Portillo in the 1997 election, for Hedwall? It was well…
Dear Mary
Q. My boyfriend, an artist, is driving himself and others mad by his inability to keep track of his mobile.…
After ‘literally’, is it time to start a Neighbourhood Watch for the OED?
There was outrage last week when it was found that the Oxford English Dictionary had listed one sense of literally…
Teenage dreams
Were you still up, as they used to say about Portillo in the 1997 election, for Hedwall? It was well…
Wild life
Laikipia The bull elephant had roamed our northern marches of the Laikipia plateau for decades. I always recognised him…
The only things modern Greece inherited from the Ancients are jealousy and envy
On board the Weatherbird off the Peloponnese The old girl groans and creaks as we tack time and again, the…
Jeremy Clarke’s joy at a two-speed oscilating fan in la chaleur TGV
Hotel Trepaner, St Raphael, French Riviera: I have read all ten reviews on this site. The overall rating (given by…
Melissa Kite was the most unpopular girl in her school
If you are bullied at school, you see, you never stop feeling bullied, no matter how old you are. It…
How can you be racist and Italian? Quite easily, it seems
The Italian shop assistant accused by Oprah Winfrey of showing racial prejudice towards her in a shop in Zurich has…
Age triumphs at Ascot
As part of the after-dinner entertainment on a cruise ship recently, I encountered a couple of comedians. One claimed he…
