Life
The beauty of fire escapes and the vanishing of Edward Hopper's New York
Autumn in New York: they even wrote a song about it that was a great hit 60 years ago. Last…
'My boy was my all': letters from a bereaved mother to a Somme widow
My maternal grandmother (née Clarke) had six brothers, all keen poker players. All six volunteered to fight in the Great…
Why won't the law go after the terror of my park?
What is the point of the Dangerous Dogs Act when there is a man marauding with an illegal pit bull…
The only good thing about Halloween is that it makes people hate bats
I always dread Hallowe’en. It may have originated in Europe as a Christian celebration for remembering the virtuous dead and…
Maybe Mrs Oakley is right: all my tips will come in second
The novelist Anita Brookner once declared that in real life hares always beat tortoises: ‘Every time. Look around you. And…
Bridge
Every obituary written about Tony Priday, who died recently aged 92, said what a class act he was. I would…
Winning hand
Tension has always existed between games of skill, such as chess or draughts, and games seemingly based on chance, like…
No. 338
White to play. This is from Hebden-Mannion, Isle of Man 2014. White’s next move completely destroyed the black position. What…
Two hander
In Competition No. 2871 you were invited to submit a dialogue in verse between man and God. The tone of…
2186: From the off
Unclued lights (two of two words and one doing double duty), singly or paired, reveal some that are to be…
To 2183: Group theory
Extra letters in clues plus 1A give ‘the separation of philosophers into sages and cranks’, an extract from a quotation…
I swam up to a beautiful girl on the beach, and my life changed
I’m writing this from Portugal, where I’m staying with my old friend Sean Langan. His family has owned a farm…
Battle for Britain
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Test cricket and the Archers are both in deep trouble
Lions and weasels The Archers and Test cricket: words you rarely find in the same sentence and more’s the pity…
Dear Mary: Is there a tactful way to shorten the guest list for my 21st?
Q. I am organising my 21st birthday party at our family house in Italy. It is a fantastic location, but…
Want to shake hands with your dinner? Beast is your kind of restaurant
Beast is next to Debenhams on Oxford Street and it is not conventionally beast-like; rather it is monetised and bespoke…
Why you might not want corridors in your historical novel
I read C.J. Sansom’s novel Dissolution on the train recently with pleasure. For an historical novel narrated in the 1530s,…
Dining with death
Beast is next to Debenhams on Oxford Street and it is not conventionally beast-like; rather it is monetised and bespoke…
Is Test cricket heading for its last innings?
Lions and weasels The Archers and Test cricket: words you rarely find in the same sentence and more’s the pity…
Second best
The novelist Anita Brookner once declared that in real life hares always beat tortoises: ‘Every time. Look around you. And…
My fury at Fury, a film only a vampire could love
I have always believed that the mission of most movies made after the Fred & Ginger era has been to…
Hello trees, hello sky, hello armoured riot police
What a beautiful day, I thought, as I nodded to the porter in the bowler hat and stepped out of…
Oh no. Where is my iPhone taking me?
After four hours of driving, we should have been in the middle of Dartmoor. And yet we were not. We…
If you don't like this stupid survey, there'll be a contradictory one along in a minute
Perhaps it is because newspapers are going through such hard times that they fill their pages with items that cost…
What happened when I tried to buy back my father's farm
Kenya I perused the brochure produced by Tanzania’s state corporation for livestock ranching, aimed at attracting foreign investors. Under ‘beef…
