Life
The timing of Channel 4’s cricket highlights show is an outrage
Hardly any men can hit a tennis ball on clay better than Dominic Thiem. Unfortunately he ran into one who…
Dear Mary: Is it ever acceptable to blow my own trumpet?
Q. A friend of 30 years moved abroad three years ago. He then was diagnosed with throat cancer but mercifully…
An alternate reality in Heathrow’s Terminal 5: Fortnum & Mason reviewed
I am obsessed with Fortnum & Mason, and the jams of the England that never was but could be. It…
How many words were coined by Thomas Browne?
‘How many words will you use today, first used by Thomas Browne in the 17th century?’ asked a trailer on…
The joy of my grandson’s baptism
They were putting the finishing touches to the giant tent as I drove up to Schloss Wolfsegg after an hour’s…
Why being poor is always more expensive in the long run
Of course the varifocals I bought online were a waste of money. When they came in the post and I…
The builder b and I are engaged in a toilet war
No sooner had the builder boyfriend finished digging for no good reason in the basement than his attention turned to…
Why the Derby is the ultimate test
There is a danger that memories of the 2019 Epsom Derby will be swamped by statistics. By training his seventh…
Bridge
Stefan Skorchev, young Bulgarian international, has given us another top tier annual pairs tournament to put in our diaries —…
Spirited
An unusual tournament has taken place at the Lindores Abbey Whisky Distillery in Scotland, namely a double-round competition between four…
no. 557
White to play. This position is from Ding Liren-Anand, Lindores Abbey Stars 2019. Here White played 1 Rb8 which lost…
New ‘New Colossus’
In Competition No. 3101 you were invited to compose a contemporary take on ‘The New Colossus’, the 1883 sonnet by…
2411: Left out
Clues for ten thematically linked entries (all single words) have been left out. Across 9 Hot-rod awry? — fancy…
to 2408: End of the Line
Unclued lights are TSAR (12) NICHOLAS (5A), his son ALEXEI (33), and his predecessors PETER (3) and CATHERINE (20) THE…
Budweiser flags up how Pride has been taken over by woke corporations
Maurice Bowra, the flamboyant warden of Wadham College from 1938 to 1970, once argued against the legalisation of homosexuality on…
The Battle for Britain
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It’s easy to sex up the business of paying tax
To fund the war against Napoleon in 1813, Princess Marianne of Prussia invented an ingenious tax-raising scheme. Wealthy Prussians were…
Dear Mary: How do I stop people cadging cigarettes off me?
Q. My mother died a few months ago. Her collection of colourful clothes, hats, shoes and an immense amount of…
The tangled roots of ‘artichoke’
My husband has been growling: ‘You cross-legged hartichoak.’ He tries it on obstructive pedestrians hypnotised by their mobile phones. He…
In an era of illusion and fantasy, let the wine do the talking
We had all said everything there was to say about Brexit a hundred times over. So the conversation took different…
The softer side of Hemingway
I didn’t like it, and then I did like it. But a writer’s job is to tell the truth, as…
What my mother’s death means for Brexit
Considerate to the last, she had her order of service arranged in her mind. I sat close with my notebook.…
The NHS clearly wishes I would just naff off
The receptionist fixed me with a withering stare. I had just filled out a repeat prescription form and politely inquired…
The true saviours of African wildlife
Laikipia, Kenya A cheetah perched in the front seat of your gold-plated Lamborghini. Stick that on Instagram in Saudi…
Bridge
I’ve recently been reading Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca to my children, and while it’s every bit as enjoyable as…
