Life
Any true English cricket lover has to acknowledge that Steve Smith is a great hero
During the World Cup (remember that?), Virat Kohli, the very model of a modern major cricketer, appealed to Indian fans…
Dear Mary: How can I deal with overly demonstrative colleagues?
Q. A friend constantly walks around with his bootlaces undone. His wife declines to nag him on the grounds she…
Lunch on Leonard Cohen Island: The Pirate Bar reviewed
The Pirate Bar is an oddity, even for this column: a bar and restaurant themed in homage to a pirate,…
Where did Boris Johnson’s ‘gloomsters’ come from?
When Boris Johnson hit out at ‘the doomsters and the gloomsters’, I was willing to believe that the word gloomster…
Chatting to Bob Geldof about Boris and Brexit
Coronis We are steaming on Puritan towards the private isle of Coronis for a long Pugs weekend and the…
A trip to Dartmoor Prison with my grandson and his cousin
My grandson Oscar (nine) shares a bedroom with his cousin Lucas (eight) and sits next to him at school. Before…
The village fête has been cancelled due to an ‘unauthorised incursion’
The village fête had to be cancelled because of what they called an ‘incursion’ on to the green. The way…
Saturday’s King George was the finest contest I have ever seen on a racecourse
It is stupid to become attached to inanimate objects but when modern technology finally forced me to ditch the Olivetti…
Bridge
TGR’s Bridge Club in Paddington is the daily home to those of us who want to play bridge but cannot…
Game plan
What distinguishes the expert from the amateur in chess is partly tactical fluency, but also the ability to map out long-term…
no. 565
White to play. This position is from Capablanca-Lasker, Havana 1921. Capablanca was another great champion famed for his ability to…
To bee or not to bee
In Competition No. 3109 you were invited to submit a short story entitled ‘The Last Bumble Bee’. The buff-tailed bumblebee,…
2419: Figures in place
The unclued lights (individually or one pair) are of a kind. But, before entry into the grid, all but one…
to 2416: Silence
Each unclued light contains a SILENT letter (with 11 containing two). First prize P.L. Macdougall, London SW6Runners-up Sir Graeme Davies,…
I’m considering joining the police – they need me
I was driving to Gunnersbury Park last Sunday for my weekly 10K run when I caught the tail end of…
The Battle for Britain
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Is the future of work flexible?
Today we suffer disillusion, not because we are poorer than we were — on the contrary, even today we enjoy,…
A wine of Boris’s vintage
My host twinkled sardonically. ‘We’re bound to be discussing Boris. So what’s the right wine?’ I suggested a bunker-busting Australian…
Is the term ‘Esquire’ U or non-U?
‘I’m a learned doctor,’ cried my husband, pulling at the hems of his tweed coat and doing a little jig.…
Dear Mary: What can I do about the vexatious racket of windchimes?
Q. I took an old friend to Bellamy’s for lunch. We were just settling in for a proper gossip when…
![Greece’s new Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promises higher growth and lower taxes [Getty]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Getty_Greek_PM.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
No ‘cool’ people here: the joys of Serifos
Serifos He went away to fight and the war lasted ten years. He missed his wife but he didn’t worry…
A literary lunch that hits an unforeseen buffer
‘So what are your plans?’ said our gentle, civilised Airbnb host over a tray of tea and cake to welcome…
My boy Rider’s circumcision ceremony brings back memories of my childhood in Samburu
Laikipia All across the north the ritual bulls have already been slaughtered. I am waiting for the invitation from…
Nut jobs like me can’t process misfortune in a calm way
‘Ah well, it can’t be helped,’ said the builder boyfriend. I call people who talk like that civilians. Nut jobs…
Bridge
Bridge isn’t a game you can get good at quickly. It takes years to reach a reasonable standard — far…
