Life
Concept
‘It was nothing special, but it was a pub,’ said my husband, looking up from his copy of Bar magazine…
Real life
After a tense two week stand-off, the Balham Airbnb Crisis has been resolved. My upstairs neighbour and I have drawn…
A blueprint for English cricket
No place for the faint of heart, Headingley, and certainly not for some sketchy Sri Lankan batsmen at the back…
The only Eurosceptic in the room
I was in Paris last week to take part in an EU referendum debate at Sciences Po, a French university…
The only Eurosceptic in the room
I was in Paris last week to take part in an EU referendum debate at Sciences Po, a French university…
Numbers game
‘After a few decades of marriage a man ought to be able to recognise his own wife,’ Mrs Oakley observed…
Numbers game
‘After a few decades of marriage a man ought to be able to recognise his own wife,’ Mrs Oakley observed…
Bridge
If you live in (or anywhere near) London, and you enjoy a good teams tournament, you could do no better…
The view from New York tells me that Trump can win it
New York I have never seen anything like it. If Adolf Hitler were running for president, he would match…
The French gym where kissing before a workout is mandatory
A fresh start in a new gym in a foreign country. The serious young gym attendant didn’t speak a word…
I am handmaiden to a foul-mouthed member of the royal family
Some people call their house Dun Roamin’ to sum up their state of mind. After ten weeks ministering to my…
How Nairobi gangsters would vote in the EU referendum
Nairobi The gangsters hadn’t heard of Brexit. ‘What is this “Breaks it”?’ they asked my friend hours after kidnapping…
Bridge
Sometimes Janet teases me that this should be called the David Gold Column, as I mention his name so frequently.…
Cyrus the Great
I think I hold the world record for the greatest number of chess books written (or co-written) and published. At…
No. 409
White to play. This position is from Dubov-Yandemirov, Russian Team Championship, Sochi 2016. How can White exploit the unfortunate placing…
Wild thing
In Competition No. 2948 you were invited to step into the skin of a species of your choice and provide…
2261: Long jump
Six unclued lights are examples of ‘3/4/18’ (four words in total, ignore an apostrophe), a quotation (in ODQ) whose author’s…
To 2258: Perimetrical jigsaw
The perimeter quotation is from L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between, in which Leo, Marian and Ted are the main characters. First…
Meet Leo... my soppy, dopey, affectionate, deadly predator
Leo, the Hungarian Vizsla my wife brought home unexpectedly last year, is approaching his first birthday and not getting any…
Battle for Britain
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Warning: rationality could be bad for your health
Almost every popular commercial product owes its success to two different qualities. First, it does the job it is ostensibly…
Dear Mary: why have all my friends given me scented candles?
Q. My super successful son kindly gave a birthday dinner party for me in a glamorous London club. I have never…
Nicholas Soames’s Twitter account is a miracle (and so is his diet)
Miracles are not ceased. A few years ago, a kindly educational therapist took pity on John Prescott and set out…
Are exclamation marks still vulgar? Yes!
‘Like eating in the street,’ said my husband. Astonishing! He’d said something not only coherent in itself but also connected…
Battle for Britain
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