Life
Bridge
It can be hard to explain to people who don’t play bridge why it’s quite such a beautiful game. And…
Kramnik retires
A notable feature from the recently concluded elite tournament at Wijk aan Zee was the abject failure of former world…
no. 540
Black to play. This position is from Kasparov-Kramnik, Dos Hermanas 1996. Kramnik played 1 … Qh1+ and soon won. But he…
Breaking up is hard to do
In Competition No. 3084 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘Breaking up is hard to do’. From…
2394: Opening time
The first three or four letters of eight unclued lights (including one proper name) form a set said to be…
2391: Stout and bubbly
The LITTLE GENTLEMAN IN BLACK VELVET (4/8/16D) was a Jacobite toast to the MOLE (34) who made the molehill on…
The hypocrisy of Ken Loach’s Eurovision boycott
The Guardian last week published a ‘we, the undersigned’ letter from 50 ‘artists of conscience’ urging the BBC to boycott…
Battle for Britain
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If England play like they did against Ireland, they’ll be formidable at the Rugby World Cup
At the same time as England’s rugby union players delivered a magnificent hearts-of-oak performance to humble a very good Irish…
Dear Mary: How can I deal with an aggressive Big Issue seller?
Q. I wondered if you could advise me on a rather embarrassing situation please. I sing in my local Church…
Eclairs, cheesecake and unhappy women: Cakes & Bubbles reviewed
Cakes & Bubbles is an unhappy woman’s restaurant. I thought it was a child’s restaurant, but I took a child…
Word of the week: Chronograms
Jan Morris in her book Oxford enjoyed the Greek lettering on the floor of the rotunda entrance to Rhodes House,…
Why New York loves John Bercow
‘The British political class has offered to the world an astounding spectacle of mendacious, intellectually limited hustlers.’ This is a…
What Sylvia learned at the constipation clinic
‘The whole of my life I’ve had difficulty.’ I heard Sylvia say this through the door, which was slightly ajar.…
My old horse was tough, ferocious and violent – and I loved her as much as she loved me
Under a blood moon, that was how Tara went down in the end. The old chestnut mare sure knew how…
My miraculous winning streak
Last Saturday morning, Mo Gawdat, former chief business officer at Google, was on the radio explaining his algorithm for happiness,…
Bridge
The Norwegian Bridge Press Association’s annual prize for the best-played hand was a particularly hard-fought contest in 2018. Boye Brogeland…
A tale of two tournaments
The start of the year sees the elite of the chess world divided between Wijk aan Zee in Holland and…
no. 539
Black to play. This is from Howell-Bilguun, Gibraltar 2019. How can Black play for the win? Answers to me at…
Tweet beginnings
In Competition No. 3083 you were invited to submit a poem or a short story that begins ‘It started with…
2393: Monster Mash-up
1D (two words) 15 10 26 né 21 died on 2 February. Most famous for 7A 37 and 14, he…
2390: Tea Shop
The theme word is GRASS (for which the title is a cryptic clue). 1A, 1D, 6 and 37 are informers;…
An inconvenient truth: white children are underperforming everyone else in UK schools
The Department for Education (DfE) published its finalised data on the 2018 GCSE results last week, revealing that, for the…
Battle for Britain
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Why HS2 doesn’t stand up to the test of time
In past years, I have been a critic of HS2. I might now change my mind. One simple tweak might…
