Life
Low life
My sister has a new man in her life: Henry, 60. He lives in a gay hotel. Or rather, it…
Is ‘female’ still an insult?
‘More deadly than the male,’ said my husband archly. He was knowingly quoting Kipling, though I don’t know why he…
Real life
By the time you read this I will have delivered my long-awaited speech to the World Horse Welfare annual conference…
Seb Coe is a fine man… but his roasting over the Russian athletics scandal is justified
So Smiley was right all along: the bloody Russians were the baddest of the bad. The Pound report on the…
Meet Leo, the youngest member of our household
I’m pleased to announce an addition to the Young household — a ten-week-old Vizsla. For those unfamiliar with this particular breed…
Meet Leo, the youngest member of our household
I’m pleased to announce an addition to the Young household — a ten-week-old Vizsla. For those unfamiliar with this particular breed…
Triumphant Twelve
Three personalities dominated the Flat season: Gosden, Dettori and Golden Horn. Victories for the trio in the Derby, the Irish…
Triumphant Twelve
Three personalities dominated the Flat season: Gosden, Dettori and Golden Horn. Victories for the trio in the Derby, the Irish…
Bridge
The EBU’s Premier League takes place over three weekends and decides who will represent England in next year’s Camrose (home…
High life
I have finally moved into my new flat, a jewel of a place in a pre-first world war Park Avenue…
Low life
She was dying for a mad night out, she said, so where was I going to take her? I know,…
Real life
A letter has arrived summoning me to parents’ evening to discuss Cydney’s progress. Yes, I am aware that Cydney is…
Long life
The last time I was in New Orleans was during the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico when…
Bridge
Congratulations to my old pal Lou Hobhouse, who has just been appointed the new editor of the English Bridge Union…
Winter of discontent
The two great Soviet world champion Russians, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, have almost always taken divergent paths. Karpov was…
No. 386
White to play. This is from Kasparov-Karpov, London/Leningrad (Game 16). Kasparov saw this conclusion many moves in advance. White would…
Fashion
In Competition No. 2922 you were invited to invent new garments and provide definitions. Thanks to the reader who, inspired…
2236: Alphabetical jigsaw
This week’s puzzle breaks away from the traditional thematic puzzle. Instead, here is an alphabetical jigsaw for solvers to tackle.…
To 2233: Clutching at straws!
The unclued lights are CHEESES. First prize M. Taylor, Eskbank, Midlothian Runners-up D.G. Page, Orpington, Kent; Katherine Griffin, Winchester, Hants…
Nature beats nurture nearly every time
I’ve been doing some thinking recently about the findings of behavioural geneticists and their implications for education policy. For instance,…
Battle for Britain
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Hayek was right: you can’t understand society without evolution
In December the controversial satellite TV channel ReallyTV launches its Christmas season with a flagship reality show called From Homs to…
Dear Mary: I always end up subsidising my greedy friend’s lunch
Q. I have lunch once a month with an old university friend. Over the years we have both thickened out…
We celebrated a birth with a wine that will last decades
Good Saturday, 2015, stepping westward. Autumn sunshine: autumn leaves, almost comparable to New England: pumpkins everywhere, very New England. We…
How we ended up ‘cisgender’
‘That’s not how you spell “system”,’ said my husband triumphantly, pointing with his whisky glass at a placard inveighing against…
