Life
A Soho House restaurant in Television Centre is as ghastly as it sounds: The Allis reviewed
The Allis is a restaurant inside the new Soho House at White City — it is called White City House…
When ‘activist’ used to mean ‘Nazi supporter’
Rudolf Eucken had a beard and a way of tucking the ends of his bow tie under his collar that…
50 years after Bobby Kennedy’s murder, the ‘deep state’ still reigns supreme
New York This week 50 years ago saw the assassination of Robert Kennedy, a man I met a couple…
Why did a Ukrainian oligarch invite me to his party in Paris, and pay for me to get there?
On Monday night I went to a party at the Crazy Horse nightclub in Paris thrown by the oligarch Vitaly…
Turmeric is the hero herb – an all-natural, vegan alternative to common sense
Dear customer, we are invading your privacy and sending you this unsolicited email in order to tell you that you…
The thoroughbred exists because of a piece of wood: the winning post of the Epsom Derby
In the previous 17 runnings of the Derby this century no fewer than nine had been won by horses trained…
Bridge
Talk about Custer’s Last Stand. My poor old team has been knocked out of all this year’s main tournaments —…
Title background
Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will be contesting their World Championship match in London in November. As I mentioned last…
no. 509
Black to play. This is from Pillsbury-Lasker, St Petersburg 1895/96. Black has sacrificed two rooks for a bishop to drive the…
Royal treatment
In Competition No. 3051 you were invited to supply an entry by a well-known diarist describing the wedding day of…
2362: Men of note IV
The unclued lights are of a kind. Ignore all accents and diacritical marks throughout the puzzle. The fifth letter of…
to 2359: Down
The unclued lights can be preceded by BLUE which was hidden at the start of the third row and had…
How to cope with unsold tickets and empty halls: my advice to Owen Jones
My heart goes out to Owen Jones. The left-wing journalist is one of the headliners at a Labour party fund-raiser…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Why human nature means most economic models are doomed from the start
History records many well conceived and apparently logical grand plans for the betterment of mankind. Sadly such ideas almost always…
Farewell to a bottle and a half per day – I have finally embarked on a diet
Are there still travelling fairs? In many villages, they used to be part of the annual round. For weeks, the…
Unconscious bias: is Starbucks like the old Met Police?
Starbucks closed its 8,000 American coffee shops for half a day to give staff unconscious bias training. Training is to…
Were all those young lives lost at Normandy in vain?
I’m back in New York and digesting the five glorious days spent in Normandy. What was the fighting all about,…
Was our Airbnb host a closet toreador?
We were standing in the tiny hall: me, Catriona, Annette and her toy Yorkshire terrier, Ahmed. It was our first…
Now I know how the Karate Kid felt
Now I know how the Karate Kid felt. Two hours after I began oiling the newly laid deck in my…
The joys of early rising
Laikipia I wake at 4 a.m. these days. At that time you might hear a lion or a braying zebra,…
Bridge
Not many players can pull a fast one on Gunnar Hallberg. The seasoned Swede, who came to live over here…
Sherpa
My Great Predecessors is an indispensable guide to the achievements, style and best games of the former world chess champions.…
no. 508
Black to play. This is from Paulsen-Morphy, New York 1857. Having sacrificed his queen to expose the white king, Morphy continued…
2361: Snoot
Unclued lights are anagrams of eight words which are of a kind. Across 1 Result of hooker’s foul work?…
