French lessons
In just over a week’s time, Emmanuel Macron will most likely win a second term. He has the opponent he…
A fine mess
Attending an impromptu birthday party in the office is not the most heinous of crimes, and of course Britain’s fixation…
Letters
Backward devolution Sir: Thanks for once again highlighting the many issues with government in Scotland (‘Sturgeon’s secret state’, 9 April).…
Portrait of the week
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, travelled to Kyiv in secret and joined President Volodymyr Zelensky for the cameras in…
Solution to 2548: Poem VII
The poem is ‘Rondeau’ by Leigh Hunt. Its first three words as quoted in ODQ are ‘JENNY KISSED ME’ (diagonally…
Portrait of the week
Home Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s business spokesman, said that the government should be preparing for energy rationing, but Grant Shapps, the…
Keep the faith
Whatever advantages money may have brought Rishi Sunak as he rose to become Chancellor of the Exchequer, his wealth has…
Barometer
Palm substitutes Palm Sunday was so-called because of the palm fronds thrown before Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem. But…
Letters
The lie’s the thing Sir: Your leading article (‘Partygate’s hangover’, 2 April) maintains that if the Prime Minister receives a…
Solution to 2547: Ascending order
The unclued lights are phrases which include the numbers from 1 to 7, with 1 featured twice. First prize John…
Letters
Nuclear future Sir: It is refreshing to see Martin Vander Weyer note that, properly and fully costed, nuclear power is…
Portrait of the week
Home Twenty fixed-penalty fines were issued after the police inquiry into Downing Street parties that broke Covid rules, but the…
Barometer
Common knowledge Tensions in the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Jamaica led some to speculate that…
Solution to 2546: Picture book
NICOLAS POUSSIN painted ET IN ARCADIA EGO and A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME. The latter inspired ANTHONY POWELL,…
Partygate’s hangover
Afew weeks ago it seemed that the issue of Downing Street parties over lockdown had been usurped by a more…
Solution to 2545: With a twist
Suggested by 41, the other unclued lights were worms entered backwards in the grid. To comply with the preamble, 6…
Letters
Don’t blame the banks? Sir: Kate Andrews struggles to disentangle the causes of the developing cost-of-living crisis (‘Cold truth’, 19…
Portrait of the week
Home Britain had provided Ukraine with more than 4,000 Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapons, the Ministry of Defence said. Shell…
Barometer
Time for a change A bill before the US Senate would abolish daylight saving time. Some countries which have previously…
Sunak’s salami slice
Next month, Rishi Sunak will break a Tory manifesto pledge by increasing National Insurance as the tax burden heads to…
Silent censors
The arrest of a reporter who held up a poster during a Russian news broadcast criticising the war in Ukraine…
Barometer
Thamesky Prospekt Who first coined the place name ‘Londongrad’? The name was used in a BBC sitcom called Comrade Dad,…
Letters
Two Russias? Sir: I have been turning Owen Matthews’s article (‘Putin’s rage’, 5 March) over in my mind since I…
Solution to 2544: Fives
First prize Leigh Hughes, Bootle, Merseyside Runners-up Francis Wheen, Pleshey, Essex; Robin Jolly, Selsey, Chichester, West Sussex Got something to…
Portrait of the week
Home More than 100,000 people registered interest in giving a place in their homes for Ukrainian refugees under a government…
