Life
Rugby referee Craig Joubert is just the man to sort out Syria
Not since Walter Palmer, a cudddly Minnesota dentist, put down his drill and vanished off the face of the earth…
Dear Mary: How can we make our dinner guests go?
Q. Many of our best and oldest friends have done so well they have stopped work. Meanwhile my husband still…
The Old Vic’s Pit Bar has fallen to the hipsters – Penny reviewed
Penny is an all-day café in the former Pit Bar in the basement of the Old Vic, a famous and…
Should we just stop using ‘fulsome’?
It’s funny that two much misused words end in —some: fulsome and noisome. Noisome is the less often used at…
I’m not surprised that my friend Donald Trump is leading in the polls
As everyone knows, journalists tend to take themselves seriously, especially American journalists, who take themselves very, very seriously. Dan Rather…
Curry and Modafinil with Winston Churchill
The bar at the Special Forces club has the marvellous rule for newcomers that they should talk to the person…
Sabs don’t want to stop fox-hunting; they never did
Devotee of the old ways though I am, I can just about understand why a misguided animal lover might oppose…
To tip or not to tip
As I grow older, I find myself increasingly reluctant to travel, which is why it’s been a few years now…
What Ryszard Kapuscinski airbrushed out of his bestselling book
I once found myself on a lonely road in southern Ethiopia with the famous Polish author Ryszard Kapuscinski. We were…
Bridge
It’s not surprising that so many bridge players feel such a sentimental attachment to The Young Chelsea. The club was…
Ex libris
When I first studied chess I thought it was a golden age for chess literature. There were the classics such…
No. 384
Black to play. This position is from Inarkiev-Salem, World Blitz, Berlin 2015. How did Black conclude the attack? Answers to…
Rocker to writer
In Competition No. 2920 you were invited to submit an extract from a novel written by a rock star of…
2234: A greater measure
One unclued light is the name of a drink which can be measured into three ingredients. Each ingredient has three…
To 2231: On the side
Unclued lights made mottoes around the rim of one-pound coins: (33) NEMO ME (12) IMPUNE (40) LACESSIT, (18) DECUS ET…
There’s too much bunkum talked about the arts and education
At the last minute, a friend invited me to a ‘Distinguished Speakers Dinner’ at the Oxford and Cambridge Club earlier…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Spontaneous recombustion: how vapers have re-invented pipe-smoking in electronic form
A fascinating newcomer on the British high street is the vape shop. These were perfectly described by my friend Paul…
Dear Mary: How can I greet friends without clashing specs?
Q. As an old trout, large in height and breadth, I have taken a leaf out of the documentary Advanced…
Thanks to the rugby the Scots have a real grievance at last
The Scots do not know what to do. For once, they have a justified grievance. In recent years, this once-proud…
Whipsmart: a new cliché that’s beginning to smart
A friend of my husband’s asked me to explain why the usually impeccable critic Francine Stock had recently used the…
Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Ex libris
When I first studied chess I thought it was a golden age for chess literature. There were the classics such…
No. 384
Black to play. This position is from Inarkiev-Salem, World Blitz, Berlin 2015. How did Black conclude the attack? Answers to…
Rocker to writer
In Competition No. 2920 you were invited to submit an extract from a novel written by a rock star of…
