Life
Low life
On the Saturday morning of the Ascension Day bank holiday, I swung down the stairs and ladder to the little…
Reading between the lines
Scarcely a day passes without a major British institution announcing it is ‘decolonising’ itself. Most recently it was the turn…
A novel approach
The last Saturday of lockdown — inshallah — and we were discussing literature. Specifically, when does a detective story become…
Dear Mary
Q. We have been invited to a virtual wedding. Is it correct form to send a present?— P.F., Barrow Street,…
Level
‘I must level with you, level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones.’ That…
Aussie Life
A recent jaunt through the NSW South Coast town of Bermagui sparked a friendly family rivalry over whose forebears had…
Aussie Language
There is an organisation called ‘Dying with Dignity’. In their most recent newsletter they say, ‘The NSW Parliament looks set…
Dear Mary
Q. I’ve recently been approached by a very good friend who — with genuinely admirable candour and tact — pointed…
Fork in the road
You cannot have cars and dining tables in the same dreamscape: it doesn’t work, unless you think carbon monoxide is…
Its and it’s
An item on the BBC news site didn’t mean what it said: ‘The latest move is part of a wider…
Foreign clash of the English titans
Thank heavens the Champions League final is being played in Portugal, now Turkey’s off the menu (sorry). It will certainly…
I’ve paid the price for the supplementary voting system
Some 114,201 ballots were rejected in the first round of the London mayoral election, approximately 5 per cent of the…
The Battle for Britain
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The turf
Combing through race recordings to try to find some fun horses for Spectator readers this summer, I have been struck…
Bridge
I’m not surprised so many scientific studies have shown that bridge staves off dementia: the game provides a constant workout…
What’s it worth?
The rule of thumb for weighing up piece exchanges says that pawns are worth one, knights and bishops three, rooks…
No. 653
White to play, Jones–Dominguez, New in Chess Classic, April 2021. Gawain Jones was hoping that his rook and pawn would…
Now we are rich
In Competition No. 3198, you were invited to supply an extract from a children’s book that is designed to explain…
High life
New York Orthodox Easter Sunday came late in May this year, and I spent it at an old friend’s Fifth…
Low life
Sally (la Sal, the Salster) is part whippet, part Labrador and part dormouse. She is 16 years old, stone deaf,…
2506: Summer’s voice
Ten unclued lights (including four pairs) are of a kind. Ignore two hyphens and an apostrophe. What could have induced…
to 2503: Applery
The traditional county towns were Chester (misprinted as CHEATER: 27), Durham (DERHAM: 21), Derby (DERRY: 32), Lewes (LENES: 36), Reading…
Real life
An angry text exchange between me and a former Tory councillor after she lost her seat has got me thinking.…
Aussie Life
As a child I had a version of OCD called Just Right syndrome. This doesn’t mean I lived entirely on…
Aussie Language
Brauer College in Warrnambool, Victoria made the news for having required all the boys at an assembly to ‘stand up…
