Life
The meeting of minds
I learned a great deal at university, about half of it from a man called Raymond Foulk. Ray was not…
Wild life
Laikipia Plateau, Kenya Our local chief Panta wore a government-issue khaki uniform with epaulettes, beret and swagger stick. On a…
Another year of brickbats and bouquets
Sport and politics have always been intertwined, but this was the year they became joined at the hip. Yorkshire racism;…
Dectet
Ten pairs of unclued lights give the names of people whose 89 was ‘50D/2A’ (six words in total). They include…
Twelve questions for Christmas
1. ‘I like the game, the money, and the fame.’ Which Twitter-loving top grandmaster said that, in response to an…
Christmas quiz
Set by Christopher Howse. Illustrated by Castro
Aussie Life
The slur issued by Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe in the Chamber last week towards Hollie Hughes reaffirmed one thing, that…
Aussie Language
Nick Cater has coined what I think is a brilliant new expression the ‘laptop class’. This is his vivid and…
Small-minded
In Competition No. 3228, you were invited to provide a well-known extract from adult literature rewritten for inclusion in an…
Puzzle 11 December 2021
White to play and mate in 2. Composed by W.A. Shinkman, Montreal Spectator, 1880. As things stand, White has no…
Bridge
All the best people play bridge. Stephen Sondheim, who died two weeks ago, was mad about the game. In his…
Low life
Noticing via this Low Life column that I had trench fever, the Western Front Association treated me to a year’s…
The turf
In the first such case for 20 years, former rider Freddy Tylicki, paralysed and wheelchair-bound since his mount Nellie Dean…
Real life
‘Did you hear it?’ said a friend of mine, red-faced with the flush of a piece of news she couldn’t…
Based
My grown-up friends don’t use based in its new slangy sense, so I asked Veronica (whom I still think of…
Carlsen’s breakthrough
Game 6 of the Carlsen–Nepomniachtchi world championship match was one for the ages. After draws in the first five games,…
The final showdown
The good citizens of Stevenage would be well advised to prepare extensively for the likely open-top bus parade of their…
Battle for Britain
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Soho consolations
Soho is so gilded nowadays that even drug addicts look down on it. The wasteland without must match the wasteland…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My mother-in-law has remarried and now lives in South America. She has a large family with nieces, grandchildren, godchildren,…
Let’s not become Scotland
The Law Commission has published a string of recommendations following its recent consultation on changes to hate-crime laws in England…
High life
New York Imagine a European country today in which a newspaper in its most populous city launches a mendacious project…
2536: At rest
Unclued lights are three sets of three words of a kind, along with a name which connects them all (two…
Solution to 2533: Monday’s child
‘From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began’ opens JOHN DRYDEN’s Song for ST CECILIA’S DAY (22 November, a…
Aussie Life
I have reached an age where I have started to forget where I have put things, but so far they…
