Life
Taking risks | 12 March 2022
I do not, as a rule, go looking for a fight on a Sunday morning. Chess, if it must be…
The Battle for Britain | 12 March 2022
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Africa’s lessons for Ukraine
Kenya During Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 I got a close look at Moscow’s troops and their kit. These…
The joy of wigs
I thought, or anyway hoped, that once I’d finished the chemotherapy I would spring back to vitality. Seven weeks on…
Aussie Life
I’m thinking about acquiring a drug habit. As a New South Wales Seniors Card carrier I may have left it…
Aussie Language
We are used to words being banned – but now it seems the word police are coming for the word…
My oncologist has a new weapon in his arsenal
‘We’re at war!’ said the taxi man as I installed myself for the long drive to Marseille. I put a…
Russia in check
The Champions League final has been moved from St Petersburg to Paris and the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi cancelled.…
The politics of trees
Trees glorious trees. People can’t get enough of them. They don’t want to take care of trees, they just want…
The complicated business of swearing in Ukrainian
‘This will interest you,’ said my husband, looking up from the smeared screen of his telephone. For once he was…
Spectator competition winners: poems about literary feuds
In Competition No. 3238, you were invited to submit a poem about a literary feud. Wallace Stevens’s 1936 fisticuffs with…
How to post a parcel without leaving your house
Here’s a useful tip. Go to the Royal Mail websiteand you can ask your postman to collect letters or parcels…
Bridge | 5 March 2022
Few things in life compare to the joy of playing bridge, but if I rack my brain I can think…
The story of Tuscany’s all-female winery
The inhabitants of Tuscany and Umbria can claim to be the most civilised beings on the planet, even exceeding the…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my new friend leaving me broke?
Q. Recently I started hanging out with a new friend. We are both in our twenties, single, and usually go…
Nuclear war, magic mushrooms and a teenage trip I’ll never forget
Vladimir Putin’s decision on Sunday to put his ‘deterrence forces’ – code for nuclear weapons – in a high state…
2542: Wider II - solution
The unclued lights and COMPOSERS (35A) are RIBBONS/Gibbons (1A), MAILER/Mahler (7), RAMEAN/Rameau (25), WANTON/Walton (26A), DELICES/Delibes (46), RAVENER/Tavener (1D), BELLING/Bellini…
2545: With a twist
41 (four words) suggests the other unclued lights – which are individual examples (not group names) of a kind –…
No. 692
White to play and win. A gem discovered by the Ukrainian composer Vladislav Tarasiuk with Israeli composer Amatzia Avni. How…
The Battle for Britain | 5 March 2022
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My top tips for Cheltenham Festival
Even when the authorities were refusing Milton Harris the right to renew his training licence after he got his finances…
St Moritz is unique among ski resorts
St Moritz Once upon a time, not that long ago, St Moritz was the world’s greatest resort, an exclusive winter…
Aussie Life
A journalist friend has been writing an advice column rather like The Speccie’s ‘Dear Mary’. He was calling it ‘Ask…
Aussie Language
A small award should be presented to the Australian’s Alice Workman for her new coinage. She has given us a…
The joy of French car boot sales
Every Saturday morning Michael rises at four and drives down to the Côte d’Azur to the Magic World car boot…
