Life
Immigration, not money, will improve Scotland's most deprived schools
I suppose we should be thankful that Nicola Sturgeon has acknowledged there’s a problem with Scotland’s public education system, even…
Battle for Britain
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From Umbrella Man to the Coughing Major, the truth is often very strange
Are you sitting comfortably and wearing your tinfoil hat? If so, open YouTube and watch a full-screen version of the…
What do you do about a friend who cannot make a request directly?
Q. I have a friend with multiple sclerosis. She lives alone in the countryside. There is no bus service and,…
Why soldiers are the funniest people
We were discussing wit. I uttered a self-evident truth which proved gratifyingly controversial. Of all the people I encounter, the…
That annoying ‘likely’ is more old-fashioned than American
What, asks Christian Major of Bromley, Kent, do I think of ‘this new, I assume American, fad for using the…
Wits on parade
We were discussing wit. I uttered a self-evident truth which proved gratifyingly controversial. Of all the people I encounter, the…
From Umbrella Man to the Coughing Major
Are you sitting comfortably and wearing your tinfoil hat? If so, open YouTube and watch a full-screen version of the…
Wild life
Juba I discovered a 1954 Morris Minor parked outside the Catholic mission station in Mopoi, South Sudan. The car had…
Taki’s recipe for the survival of the Greek nation
The good news is that a Greek suppository is about to relieve the EU’s economic constipation. The bad is that…
My initiation into the fellowship of wine (I swallowed)
This month’s wine club lecture was on red burgundy. The members were settling themselves at two large tables when I…
118 000 is, I now realise, the number of the beast
‘Orange 1-1-8 thousand how may I help you?’ said the cheerful voice. Carefree as you like, I asked for the…
The Shading Out of Poetry by Deadline
Like old-time washerwomen floodwater is sousing trees and shrubs out on the drainage. Floating wrack dribbles seaward from their labour.…
This autobiography written by a horse that is not as offputting as it sounds
Banks only lend money to those who can prove they don’t need it and it has not been a happy…
Bridge
There is something decidedly Groundhog Day about the international bridge calendar. The second weekend of January is TGR’s Auction Pairs…
Sixes and sevens
The veteran world championship contender, Victor Korchnoi, has accused the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of hypnotising his opponents. Plainly unimpressed by…
No. 348
White to play. This position is a variation from Nakamura-Topalov, Gibraltar 2015. Topalov has already resigned this game as he…
Your problem solved
In Competition No. 2883 you were invited to cast a well-known writer, living or dead, in the role of agony…
2197: Missing
Chambers 2014 is certainly not recommended this week theme-wise! But Chambers 2011 is. Across 1 Cuckoo born…
To 2194: Joe Green
The unclued lights (including 10/1A) are operas by Giuseppe Verdi (whose name in translation is Joe Green). First prize…
Like Arthur Daley playing Garry Kasparov: why I won’t miss Harry Redknapp
I can’t say I’m surprised by the departure of Harry Redknapp. Since I started supporting Queens Park Rangers in 2008…
Battle for Britain
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We should be grateful for Andy Murray (and Kim Sears)
It wasn’t that long ago when the most exciting event in any British tennis fan’s life was whether Jeremy Bates…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my neighbour pacing the ceiling?
Q. The woman who lives above me has insomnia and walks around all night. I’m also disturbed by her rather…
Rivea: a London annexe to the world’s maddest expensive restaurant
Rivea (stupid name) is in the bowels of Bulgari in Knightsbridge, a hotel which looks like a vast Virgin Upper…
