Life
Low life
There was only a handful of us arriving at Bristol on flight 6114 from Nice. Oscar and I had the…
Sport as a TV event
Crowds, Covid and sport: could it get any crazier? I don’t mind about golf: no idiots yelling ‘Get in the…
Public disservice broadcasting
Reading the speech Tony Hall gave to the Edinburgh Television Festival, I was struck by his upbeat, confident tone. The…
Dear Mary
Q. For professional reasons it is important that I am not fat. However I have put on more than a…
High life
Gstaad The jokes about keeping a mistress are old and I’ve yet to hear a truly funny one (‘The difference…
Real Life
After driving around the hospital grounds in concentric circles until I was surely down a wormhole, I found the scanning…
The Battle for Britain
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Bridge
I have not played a single hand of bridge for about a month, neither have I kibitzed online. Ergo I…
Steak at stake
Pandemic has brought many truths, the most minor of which is: I can’t cook steak. I thought I could. I…
Solution to 2469: Breadth
The unclued lights were: 12 CORNI, anagram of Corin (As You Like It); 23 MANDIRA, Miranda (The Tempest); 27 LARDOON,…
In short
In Competition No. 3163 you were invited to submit well-known poems encapsulated in four lines. Now that the internet has…
Wild life
Kenya I stood under huge skies in the open country of our farm in northern Kenya and, after months of…
Reticent
Anna Massey had no dramatic training before appearing on stage in 1955 aged 17 in The Reluctant Debutante by William…
Puzzle No. 619
Nakamura–Carlsen, August 2020. Carlsen has just advanced 40…g6-g5+, laying a nasty trap. Only one move gives White a fighting chance…
2472: All-inclusive
An 11-word quotation (in ODQ) reads clockwise around the perimeter from square 1. Other unclued lights are names of a…
Carlsen vs Nakamura
Facing Magnus Carlsen, you have two problems. The first is obvious — he’s the best player in the world. The…
Kiwi Life
‘Trustworthy, accurate and reliable news stories are more important now than ever. Support our newsrooms by making a contribution.’How wonderfully…
Low life
The Moulinards had inhabited the old stone hilltop house for centuries, ekeing out a hard living among the sun-baked boulders.…
High life
Gstaad Birthdays at my age are for the birds, but always a good excuse for a party. Messages of…
The real losers of the A-levels fiasco
Three years ago I was contacted by an official at the Department for Education to see if I was interested…
Real life
‘Hallo! You was callin’ us about appoint…MENT!’ said the lady at the scanning unit of my local hospital in broken…
Dear Mary
Q. My son is having his 30th birthday next weekend and has invited 50 friends to a garden party. We…
A tale of six graces
‘The Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day’: surely one of the most beautiful images…
the vs The
I complained mildly seven years ago that the Court Circular, the official source for the doings of the British monarchy,…
Bridge
There are some experts — like my friend Sally Brock — who think Blackwood is an overrated convention, and that…
