Life
Gambling tax hikes could kill British racing
Back in the days when politicians were real flesh and blood rather than social media pushovers, I sat down with…
Down to the wire
The momentum augured badly for Fabiano Caruana in the final match of the Grand Chess Tour, held in Sao Paulo…
Spectator Competition: Virtue-signalling
For Competition 3420 you were invited to submit a poem or short story incorporating that sentence of Emerson’s: ‘The louder…
No. 871
White to play. Cmiel – Leitner, European Senior (50+) Championship, October 2025. The situation looks hopeless, but White found a…
Aussie life
The tendency of Australian politics to shadow British politics is never more conspicuous than when both countries are led by…
Language
Writing in the Daily Telegraph James Morrow has coined the expression ‘pulling an Albo’, meaning ‘looking busy while doing nothing’.…
Drink early, drink often
As readers will be aware, and without sounding too immodest, this column is absolutely committed to diversity. In an earlier…
What we can learn from Singapore
I was in Australia last week, having been invited to give the annual oration by the Robert Menzies Institute, and…
Spectator Competition: what day is it?
For Comp 3419 you were invited to write a poem to mark National Vodka Day (4 October) or another spurious…
To win, the Tories should be the party of motorists
The path to electoral success at the next election is straightforward. Just follow what I call the Channel 5 strategy.…
Nutrition is a bogus creed
Time to think about my diet. A test kit arrives from the NHS screening team who want to inspect a…
The search for a Kenyan Stonehenge
Cradle of Mankind Paleoanthropologists tried to kill me a few days ago. Luckily I was saved by Max Mutkin, a…
Dear Mary: do my AirPods make me look like an imbecile?
Q. My printer is broken, so I asked my neighbour to print off a letter for me. It was from…
Bacon and egg pie, the perfect throw-it-together, please-the-whole-family dish
There are a handful of elements that make me nervous about tackling particular classic recipes. First, if it’s a dish…
Why are vegans so philosophically confused?
The solar panel fitter was eating his fried breakfast when the talkative vegans came into the kitchen. They surveyed his…
