Life
The great train robbery
Outside mathematics, the word ‘commute’ can mean two things. Mostly it refers to the act of making a daily journey…
Dear Mary
Q. When my mother-in-law visits, she puts newspaper on a dining chair before sitting down. I’m so speechless that someone…
A toast to Roger Scruton
In clubs and other admirable locations throughout the civilised world, glasses have been raised and toasts proposed. But this was…
Hyphenated names
When Francis Hurt inherited the Renishaw estate in 1777, he changed his surname to Sitwell. His eight-year-old son and heir…
Two books that made me forget everything else
Gstaad I’ve been hitting the books rather hard lately, the ritzy-glitzy crowd having gone the way of natural snow. There’s…
War has broken out between me and my siblings
Last night I watched a boxed set. Parade’s End is a small box set as box sets go, and quite…
How to catch a thief
My tech guy Andy appeared on the doorstep in a puff of smoke. I had just texted him to ask…
My narrow escape from a burning aircraft
Addis Ababa airport This morning I caught a connecting flight via Addis Ababa’s Bole airport. For me this place…
Bridge
2019 was a big year for Alex Hydes. HUGE in fact. He won, almost consecutively, three major international titles and…
12 rules for chess
As backhanded Christmas gifts go, a copy of 12 Rules for Life, must be up there with wrinkle cream or a…
no. 587
Sanguineti–Najdorf, Mar del Plata 1956. White to move. White played 1 Kd8?, to threaten 2 Qe7#. Black resigned, overlooking 1…Rxg4…
You must remember this
In Competition No. 3131 you were invited to submit a poem beginning ‘Yes. I remember…’ This challenge was suggested by…
2440: Dizzy tiny blonde
The unclued lights (as four pairs and a singleton which includes an abbreviation and apostrophe) are of a kind. 36…
Magical mystery tour
The Journey of the Magi (38A and 39A), by T.S. Eliot, was based on an earlier sermon by Lancelot Andrewes,…
The delusion of the born-again Brexiteers
As 31 January looms, I’ve been thinking about how to bring the country back together again after we’ve left the…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Sport needs more men like Vincent Kompany
Anyone still vaguely tempted to subscribe to that lazy and stupid cliché about footballers just being overpaid idiots should have…
Dear Mary: How can I stop other diners eating my chips?
Q. My husband and I are committed Brexiteers. For many years we have regularly enjoyed friendly bridge evenings with a…
Fairy food for fairy wives: Julie’s Restaurant reviewed
Julie’s is a 50-year-old restaurant in Holland Park, London, newly emerged from three years of closure as plushly renovated as…
Pansexuality has been around longer than you think
When an MP announced she was pansexual I didn’t know what she meant. Indeed I didn’t know what she could…
The Middle East for dummies
Gstaad The French have a saying: ‘Il n’y a rien de plus bête que le sourire du gagnant.’ In…
The death of my desert-island fantasy
I was on the back seat of a golf buggy being driven down to the marina from my beachside villa…
How my new pony swept me off my feet – literally
‘This is the one I was thinking of for you,’ said the lady I might feasibly call my mother-in-law, in…
The battle for the future of Flat racing
The master plan in acquiring our flatcoat retriever puppy Damson was that as folk no longer with full-time jobs we…
Bridge
The new year is a daunting prospect in terms of the sheer amount of bridge taking place. Rather like buses,…
