Life
Sole Véronique: there’s no need to fear fish and grapes
One of the joys of writing about old-fashioned food is coming across dishes that are new to me, and turn…
The thrill of sailing rough seas
Coronis I suppose there’s always a first time, and looking back it was bound to happen. I scrambled off a…
My evening as a rapacious capitalist
An isolated Provençal stone farmhouse from the outside; from the inside a comfortable English country house. Sunk into the garriguea…
Bridge | 20 August 2022
My husband is a writer (John Preston), whose recent books were better received than he had ever dared hope. When…
2569: Anadad
Round the grid from 1 runs a quotation (1,3,4.2,5,3,5,3,2,6) from a play followed by the dramatist’s name (two words). Two…
The first Olympiad
Everyone remembers their first Olympiad. As I boarded the flight to Chennai last month, it struck me that two full…
No. 716
Black to play. A variation from McShane-Hamitevici, Chennai 2022. I avoided this position, but lost in a different way. White…
Spectator competition winners: Tory leadership acrostics
In Competition No. 3262, you were invited to submit a poem on behalf of Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss in…
Somewhere XII – Solution
30 July is Independence Day in Vanuatu in MELANESIA (23D). Its capital city is PORT VILA (39/16), one of its…
Is this the death of horse racing?
I don’t miss too many from the political world I once inhabited but I was saddened by the death of…
My farmhouse nightmare
From the veranda of a small Irish farmhouse, I looked out over the sun-drenched West Cork peninsula. All I could…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my husband overeating?
Q. Some older American friends take me and my husband out to dinner once a year when they are over…
Why I’m defending a pro-Putin apologist
As a defender of free speech, I’m used to taking up the cudgels on behalf of unsavoury people. To quote…
The Battle for Britain | 20 August 2022
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What Bob Dylan can teach us about economics
The problem with attempts to make everything in life more scientific is that reality hates generalisation. You can try to…
No, Boris Johnson isn’t ‘missing in action’
Someone in the Guardian wrote that Boris Johnson had his ‘out of office’ on, and the Chancellor was ‘missing in…
At least we still have wine
Even in recent heat, the English summer can be magical. As long as there is shade, a pool and a…
Aussie Life
‘Give it up for the band!’ cried Van Morrison from the stage at King John’s castle in Limerick the other…
Language
As the contest to replace Boris Johnson draws towards its protracted close, we should remember that many of the original…
Epigram
Our Marriage Soundtrack I think of our marriage quite often. I think of the music as well. It started with…
The curse of the jet-ski
An F. Scott Fitzgerald biographer by the name of David S. Brown refers to America’s promotion of deviancy (my words)…
Bridge | 13 August 2022
To paraphrase E.L. Wisty, the late, great Peter Cook’s alter ego, ‘Some people are born lazy, some become lazy and…
How I found perfect happiness
The view from the upstairs window was of other large and secluded houses perched on other still-green Surrey Hills. I…
There is nothing speedy about speedy boarding
When my black passport arrived in the post, I decided to take a trip. I’m not a good flier, so…
2568: Next door have gone
The unclued lights, two of two words, and including four pairs using two of the unclued lights twice, are of…
