Language
Is it time to revisit how we define the word ‘racism’? Early in the 20th century the settled definition became…
Roe v. Wade in the dustbin of history
Once again Trump triumphs
Scared
In news that won’t necessarily come as a surprise, a recent poll by the Lowy Institute claims that nearly half…
Solution to 2559: Platinum upgrade
The perimeter, starting at square 38, yields six of the CITIES created to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee: DONCASTER, MILTON KEYNES,…
P is for pointless
The Princess, a new documentary film, is the first re-framing of the Princess Diana story since it was last re-framed,…
Measure for measure
In Competition No. 3255, you were invited to submit a poem about imperial measures. Brian Bilston’s terrific poem ‘The Empire’s…
Puzzle No. 709
White to play. Miles-Pritchett, Lloyds Bank Masters 1982. Tony Miles found a powerful counter to the queenside threats. What did…
Indie heaven
‘Well, it’s just not Glastonbury, is it?’ said my daughter aggressively, when told that our yurt featured an actual bed,…
Maximum mischief
Forbidden things have a secret charm – that delicious paradox applies to the chessboard just as it does in life.…
How to get it all wrong
The Glass Menagerie directed by Jeremy Herrin is a bit of an eyeball-scrambler. The action takes place on a huge…
More melancholy, please
The Yeomen of the Guard has been called the ‘English Meistersinger’ but the more you think about that, the dafter…
Not one for the naive
The Undeclared War has many of the traditional signifiers of a classy thriller: the assiduous letter-by-letter captioning of every location;…
2562: Clear view but no vowels
The cryptic title of this week’s crossword leads to a five-letter representation of the theme. The unclued lights include two…
Miracle in an evening gown
When Motown first packaged up a roster of artists and songs that could be embraced by a non-black audience, no…
Diary
I made it through the airport crush to Berlin at the beginning of last week to see how Germany is…
Curtain calls
‘And now the end is here / And so I face the final curtain…’ You said it, Frank. The lights…
Sturgeon’s bluff
Nicola Sturgeon presents Scotland as a country outraged by Brexit and straining at the leash of the United Kingdom. She…
‘Zelensky hadn’t read what I said’
Henry Kissinger talks to Andrew Roberts about Russia, China and Ernest Hemingway
Portrait of the week
Home Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said that military spending had to increase. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, reacted to…
What Mayra Flores reveals about America
If you had to take a guess on which American political party would produce the first Mexican-born Congresswoman, which one…
Vive la gloire
The refurbishment of Paris’s galleries and museums continues apace, with money no object, finds Rupert Christiansen
The rise of the sex bore
You know you’re getting old when your friends start going to sex parties. In our twenties, there were parties, and…
Back to the wall
East Germans still find it hard to see Russia as the enemy
Wading in
Does Joe Biden want to protect women’s rights – or his majority?
Actor’s notebook
I’m on the road, a very proper place for an actor to be. Never mind all those jokes about some…
