to 2371: In a paddy
The unclued lights and those clued without thematic definition (2, 11, 26, 33 and 42) are Irish forenames. Nuala Considine’s…
If the UK economy is a wreck, why are jobs and exports booming?
Economies run on confidence — as Franklin D. Roosevelt observed when he told Americans, in his first inaugural address during…
Portrait of the week: Government surpluses, desperate Donald and a prisons meltdown
Home Government finances were in surplus by £2 billion in July. Public sector net debt rose to £1,777.5 billion, equal to 84.3…
How bad is the drugs problem in British jails?
Cultured tastes Dawn Butler accused Jamie Oliver of ‘cultural appropriation’ for coming up with his own recipe for jerk rice.…
to 2370: Problem XII
The numbers were linked to titles of classic works of FICTION (12): The Two DROVERS (26) (Walter Scott), The Three MUSKETEERS…
Terrorism isn’t ‘losing’. It has already lost
By now, the routine is familiar: a lone wolf strikes, roads are sealed off, buildings locked down and a biographical…
Portrait of the Week: Westminster attack, House of Fraser and bridge collapse
Home Unemployment fell by 65,000 to 1.36 million — at 4 per cent the lowest level since 1975. The economy…
Where does our food actually come from?
Black list Jeremy Corbyn was attacked for attending a ceremony for members of Black September, the terrorist group which carried…
to 2369: Prodigious
WUNDERKIND — given by corrections of misprints in clues — can be read as W UNDER KIND, indicating the unclued…
Boris wars
Ever since Boris Johnson resigned as foreign secretary, it was generally assumed that there would — in time — be…
Boris and burkas; Jeremy Corbyn and anti-Semitism; Donald Trump and Iran
Home Brandon Lewis, the chairman of the Conservative party, demanded that Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, should apologise for…
Letters
Why we love Boris Sir: Stephen Robinson is right: Boris Johnson is not loathed outside the Westminster bubble (‘Brexit means Boris’,…
to 2368: Cobbled together
The unclued lights (6, 20/9, 21, 23/31, 30D/13, 34/3 and 42/32) are characters in Coronation Street with its COBBLED streets. First…
Now May’s talking tough over Brexit, we might actually get somewhere
Ever since Theresa May declared that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ she has seemed to be drifting…
Portrait of the week: ‘Project Fear’, Labour’s anti-Semitism row (continued) and Jeremy Hunt’s wife gaffe
Home When families and doctors are in agreement, medical staff will be able to remove tubes supplying food and water…
Are Britain’s railways really the envy of the world?
Ranking railways A director of the Rail Delivery Group claimed that Britain’s railways were the ‘envy of Europe’. Could it…
Victory is nigh
From ‘The fifth year of war’, 3 August 1918: There are those who think that Germany will try to regain…
Letters: What is the point of pandering to children?
Memories of drought Sir: I read your leading article with interest as I well remember the hardship caused by the…
to 2367: When pigs fly
The quotation ‘NEVER (1A), NEVER (35), NEVER (41), NEVER (7), NEVER (32)!’ is from King Lear (V.iii.310). Lear was the…
We need to turn the tide on poor water planning
The year 1976 rises like a spectre whenever the sun shines for more than a few days. That long, dry,…
Portrait of the week: Labour’s anti-Semitic row, public-sector pay rises and Greek forest fires
Home Dame Margaret Hodge accused Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, of being an ‘anti-Semite’ and a ‘racist’ in front of…
Who throws acid at whom?
Relax Asked about her spare time, Theresa May said she liked walking, cooking (she has 150 cookbooks) and watching the…
Hitting home
From ‘The munitions strike’, 27 July 1918: It is necessary for the Government to make it clear that the present…
Letters: Dementia may be terminal, but then so is life
The Stauffenberg plot Sir: Matthew Olex-Szczytowski argues that the German officers who tried to kill Hitler did so only to…
