The deportation debacle
The problem with the bishops in the upper chamber is not that they speak too much, but too little. The…
Barometer
He really is appalled Prince Charles was reported to have described the government’s plan to send asylum-seekers for processing in…
Portrait of the week
Home Boris Johnson won a vote of confidence in him as prime minister among Conservative MPs by 211 votes to…
Letters
Saving general practice Sir: Regarding J. Meirion Thomas’s article (‘Medical emergency’, 4 June), traditional general practice continues to thrive in…
Solution to 2556: Recent origins
The unclued entries give the origins of elements 110-118 now named Darmstadtium, Roentgenium, Copernicium, Nihonium, Flerovium, Moscovium, Livermorium, Tennessine and…
Air pirates
If you have a flight booked in the next few months, it’s time to worry. A new era of air…
Barometer
Curry in favour The BBC apologised after one of its guests for the Jubilee coverage, Len Goodman, revealed that his…
What is the most significant year of the Queen’s reign?
A Jubilee poll
Barometer
Long to reign over us The Queen is the world’s current longest-serving monarch, but two in history have had longer…
Queen and country
Rarely has a public figure taken a promise so seriously as the vow that Her Majesty the Queen made on…
Portrait of the week
Home The Jubilee for the Queen’s 70 years on the throne was marked by two days of public holiday, 16,000…
Solution to 2555: 6 x 2 Mixtures
The paired unclued lights (2/25, 4/16, 5/28, 10/20, 13/17 and 15D/41) are anagrams of one another. First prize Trish Baldin,…
Letters
Russian misrule Sir: Your editorial (‘Sanction Schroder’, 21 May) laments that western sanctions may be harming ordinary Russians, given that…
Barometer
A slip of the tongue George W. Bush condemned a political system where one man could wage a ‘brutal and…
Johnson’s guilt
An ability to survive narrow scrapes has been one of Boris Johnson’s defining qualities. The pictures of Downing Street’s lockdown…
Solution to 2554: Going, going…
The unclued lights were all extinct species. PTERODON was an acceptable variation at 5 Across. DODO was to be deleted…
Letters
Applying myself Sir: It was interesting to read David Abulafia’s rather damning critique of the Oxbridge admissions process (‘Who’s out’,…
Portrait of the week
Home Sue Gray starched and ironed her report for publication after the Metropolitan Police wound up its own enquiries into…
Letters
Don’t ban Russia’s culture Sir: It is uncouth, illiterate and actually beneficial to Putin when theatres, opera houses and other…
Portrait of the week
Home The annual rate of inflation, impelled by energy costs, rose to 9 per cent, its highest since 1982. Unemployment…
Barometer
Wagtime Footballers’ wives Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney are locked in a libel trial dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’. The term WAGs,…
Solution to 2553: Island alien
The unclued lights when arranged as 12, 11, 43, 5, 24, 1D, 1A form Chambers’definition of MULLET at 30D. First…
Sanction Schröder
From the start of the war in Ukraine, the democratic world has shown striking unity in the economic boycott of…
Letters
Disarming by default Sir: Underpinning Rod Liddle’s amusing article on use of nuclear weapons last week is the reassurance provided…
Solution to 2552: 😀
The emoticon which formed the title of the puzzle suggested George Smiley, Le Carré’s nemesis of MI6 moles, ordered as…
