Life
Threesome
In Competition No. 2918 you were invited to submit a poem composed entirely of three-letter words. ‘This is the most…
Dear Mary: How can girls avoid freezing in cold marquees?
Q. What do you do when you are so cold at a party that you cannot enjoy it? At a…
Manchester has marvellous wines, and it’s not finished yet
It will seem an ungrateful comment after the lunch which I am about to describe, but Manchester has some way…
Blood, sand and tragedy in Papa Hemingway and Ava Gardner country
Let’s take it from the top: Seville is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The capital of Andalusia,…
Oh, how I will miss the plastic bag!
It has taken years, but finally England has joined the rest of the United Kingdom and other countries around the…
Oh, how I will miss the plastic bag!
It has taken years, but finally England has joined the rest of the United Kingdom and other countries around the…
Happiness is a chainsaw and a maul in the rain and the mud
It rained all day long last Friday in Provence, and it rained all night, and on Saturday morning it was…
Happiness is a chainsaw and a maul in the rain and the mud
It rained all day long last Friday in Provence, and it rained all night, and on Saturday morning it was…
The weird truth about the word ‘normal’
‘Is Nicky Morgan too “normal” to be the next prime minister?’ asked someone in the Daily Telegraph. That would make…
I rode my own racehorse and was changed for ever
‘The last owner who tried to ride his own horse got tanked,’ said the trainer, looking up at me as…
What I learnt trying to buy lunch for an anti-Tory protestor
The mood at the Conservative party conference this week was a little subdued, and no wonder. As those who watched…
What I learnt trying to buy lunch for an anti-Tory protestor
The mood at the Conservative party conference this week was a little subdued, and no wonder. As those who watched…
We let programmers run our lives. So how’s their moral code?
A few years ago, in the week before Christmas when supermarket sales are at their highest, staff at one branch…
Bridge
There’s no doubt about it: I’m an addict. A BBO addict. Since the Bermuda Bowl began, nearly a fortnight ago,…
High life
If cheating is the cancer of sport, losing has to be its halitosis. I stunk out the joint in Amsterdam…
Real life
At least two insurances are going to have to go, as I grapple with fear of penury, I have decided.…
Fair minded
One of Alan Bennett’s characters once lamented, ‘We tried to set up a small anarchist community …but people wouldn’t obey…
2231: On the side
Unclued lights (three of two words; ignore one apostrophe) may be grouped to form a related triad. Across …
To 2228: Unfair
GRASSHOPPERS (9) of ZURICH (30) is a team that plays football — not cricket, as indicated by corrections of misprints…
The vision of Steve Jobs
Last week I went to a screening of Steve Jobs, the new biopic about the co-founder of Apple directed by…
Give Robshaw a break
Pity poor Chris Robshaw. England’s sturdy captain might have a knockout girlfriend and exceptional skills on the cappuccino machine, but…
Low life
Every morning for the past two years, on waking, I’ve reached out for the white plastic tub on the bedside…
Long life
When Robert Peston, the economics editor of the BBC, interviewed George Osborne on television in an open-necked shirt with collar…
Bridge
The 42nd Bermuda Bowl has kicked off in Chennai, and after several weeks of cheat-busting Boye Brogeland (‘The Sheriff’) has…
Homer nods
Paul Morphy, in a strange prefiguration of the later career of Bobby Fischer, was often described as ‘the pride and…
