Cold comfort
The COP26 summit is unlikely to be an outright flop. There has been no shortage of drama, with speakers seeming…
Where is the climate plan B?
The COP26 summit is unlikely to be an outright flop. There has been no shortage of drama, with speakersseeming to…
Letters
Hard to reconcile Sir: Although not an Anglican, I appreciate Michael Nazir-Ali’s dilemma (‘A change of mind and heart’, 23…
Portrait of the week
Home The Queen will not attend the COP26 meeting in Glasgow next week; she had resumed light duties after having…
Sunak’s surprise
The Conservative party has always sold itself to voters as the party of low taxation, but it has now pushed…
Barometer
Filming fatalities The actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot a cinematographer on set when mistakenly given a gun loaded with real…
to 2527: The main dilemma
The question posed by the song is 11A/ 22A/37A. Suggested by 37A, other unclued lights were anagrams of words meaning…
Solution to 2526: Everybody out!
The unclued lights are preceded by ALL (with the title suggesting that ALL is to be omitted). The paired lights…
Zero strategy
The commitment to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 is the most expensive government proposal in modern history. Yet it…
Letters
Doom and gloom Sir: The depressing article by Tom Woodman (‘You must be kidding’, 16 October) confirms my growing fears…
Barometer
Drinks at the palace The Queen was reported to have given up regular drinking. What do we know about her…
Portrait of the week
Home Sir David Amess, aged 69, the Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death while taking a constituency…
Portrait of the week
Home In an extraordinary wrangle between government departments, the Treasury accused Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, of ‘making things up’…
Letters
Gasbags Sir: Seb Kennedy tells us that, like Covid, our looming energy crisis came from China (‘Power grab’, 9 October).…
The wrong premise
Coronavirus may have fallen out of the news cycle but the threat of the virus has certainly not passed. Britain…
Barometer
Wrong place, wrong time The name of the village of Nelson, north of Cardiff, was described as ‘problematic’ in an…
To 2525: Prime Times
The [5 Down] MILESTONE puzzle number 2525 is the product of PRIME numbers 101 TIMES 5 TIMES 5, equivalently the…
A binary choice
It’s a strange reflection of our times that with so much else at stake, the leaders of both main parties…
Portrait of the week
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said he did not think Britain was in a crisis; he wanted it to…
Letters
How to stay safe Sir: Mary Wakefield is correct to highlight the opprobrium heaped on anyone who suggests sensible safety…
Barometer
Whole-life sentences How many prisoners are serving whole-life sentences? — There are currently 74 prisoners in prison with whole-life tariffs;…
To 2524: Spelean II
The quotation is ‘I DO WISH THOU WERT A [dog] THAT I MIGHT LOVE THEE SOMETHING’. The honest servant is…
Barometer
Scummy idea Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called Tories ‘scum’ in a speech to activists at her party’s conference. The…
Solution to 2523: Monstrous regiment
The unclued Across lights can be preceded by MISS and the unclued Down lights. MRS 2/15D is the pair. First…
Portrait of the week
Home The crisis of the week was a shortage of fuel at garages. ‘There is no need for people to…
