Life
The Battle for Britain
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Lord’s next week is the place to be
Good for Ed Smith. The new national selector can’t just rock a fine pair of sunglasses, he can make bold…
Dear Mary: How can I explain the cushion I must take everywhere to sit on?
Q. I have incurable, inoperable back pain that severely hinders my ability to sit and necessitates my taking a cushion…
Here’s where you come to eat dreams – for £95 a head: Ollie Dabbous’s Hide reviewed
Hide is a £20 million restaurant at the Green Park end of Piccadilly, on the three lower floors of a…
Is Donald Trump really bonkers?
John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff, has a way with words. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003…
Did Jared Kushner punish Qatar because of a building on Fifth Avenue?
New York Talk about high life this is not. I smelled a rat long ago, but then the scent got…
The critics may have liked The Death of Stalin but the French certainly don’t
Should I or shouldn’t I go and see The Death of Stalin, showing at the French village cinema last Sunday…
The women who are turning horses into dogs
The first time I saw a woman leading a horse down the lane on a lead, both she and it…
There is no escaping the O’Brien factor
I suppose, given the income and the opportunity to indulge, you could eventually tire of even Meursault, Mauritius and Mrs…
Bridge
This year’s Schapiro Spring Foursomes, England’s best tournament by a mile, wasn’t held in the usual Stratford-upon-Avon venue but in…
Biblical
Matthew Sadler was the star of the evening on the night of the Royal Automobile Club annual dinner which I…
no. 505
White to play. This is from Sadler-Speelman, 4NCL 2017. White is two pawns down in this endgame but all Black’s…
Between the lines
In Competition No. 3047 you were invited to supply an imaginary testimonial for a high-profile figure that is superficially positive…
2358: Poem IV
Unclued lights are words from a poem, its author and a relevant location. Elsewhere, ignore two accents. Across 7 …
to 2355: A Poet Skylarking
13 1A 23 22 is from SHELLEY’S ‘Ode to a Skylark’. Other unclued lights had ‘a poet hidden in the…
What the education system needs is more marketisation, not less
Towards the end of 2009, shortly after I announced my intention to set up England’s first free school, I debated…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Forget your data – it’s your DNA privacy you should be worried about
Nearly ten years ago, a lorry driver known only as ‘Michael Harry K’ adopted an extreme response to combating what…
Dear Mary: How can I pin down flakey party-goers?
Q. My 50th birthday is looming and I am hosting a small dinner in a restaurant. This has proved challenging…
How I found curry heaven in deepest Mayfair: Indian Accent reviewed
Indian Accent is an Indian restaurant in Albermarle Street, deepest Mayfair, on the site of Rohit Khattar’s Chor Bizarre (‘thieves…
Paranoia and The Woman in White
I sat up with a jerk, after contemplating the wallpaper in the television dramatisation of The Woman in White, when…
The rise – and rise – of Trump Derangement Syndrome
New York ‘What do we do with these men?’ thundered a New York Times headline. It was followed by a…
On giving and taking offence
‘Slight prick,’ she said. The nurses all say that before they slide the needle in the upstanding vein in the…
Why suburban ladies really play tennis
Because my mother is always telling me everything will be all right if I join a tennis club, I’ve joined…
Tripping in the African bush
Laikipia, Kenya Neighbours Tom and Jo came by with a bucketful of wild African mushrooms, which they had collected in…
