Life
Hot Candy
Cape Peron was my easiest choice for our Twelve to Follow. When Henry Candy smiles his gentle smile, as he…
A mansion tax that monkeys would understand
I am surprised no more attention has been given to Martin Vander Weyer’s suggestion in The Spectator two weeks ago…
Taki: perhaps Obama should read All Quiet on the Western Front
I used to see him in El Morocco, the most famous nightclub of its era during the late Fifties and…
Jeremy Clarke: War games on Polzeath beach
We picked up the key to the caravan, let ourselves in, ascertained the phone signal situation (none) and went to…
Melissa Kite: hands off my single occupancy discount, Lambeth Council
Some call me paranoid, but I don’t think one can be suspicious enough when it comes to the activities of…
Alexander Chancellor: what’s wrong with the word ‘toilet’?
I am embarrassed not by people using ‘non-U’ expressions but by people who still care about such things
Bridge
Holiday over – and I hopped on the plane home dribbling with excitement. I was going straight to Young Chelsea…
Anon anon sir
Nowadays it is standard, when publishing a chess game, to give the names of both players. This was not always…
No. 282
White to play. This is from Johnson-Anon, internet game 2013. Black’s problem is that his king is marooned in the…
Poetic pitch
In Competition 2813 you were invited to submit an application in verse, from the poet of your choice, for the…
2129: Dumpynose
The unclued lights, individually (each of two words), or paired, are of a specific kind, verifiable in Brewer 17th Edition…
To 2126: Word Building
The chain of anagrams is as follows: 40, 8, 18, 25, 22, 23, 21D, 19, 1A First prize Robert…
Toby Young: I'm thinking of going into politics
The Hammersmith Conservative Association will shortly be looking for a candidate to run against the sitting Labour MP in 2015…
Battle for Britain – 7th September 2013
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Sport: Nigel Lawson on the Ashes
Those of us who watched the last day of the final Ashes Test of the present series enjoyed a rare…
Dear Mary
Q. In response to correspondence re. wedding gifts: there is no need for a couple to have a list at…
A Roald Dahl tea? It reminds me more of Jimmy Savile
One Aldwych, an Edwardian grand hotel near Waterloo Bridge, is serving a Jimmy Savile tribute tea. It is not explicitly…
Dot Wordsworth: We've been self-whipping since 1672
Isabel Hardman of this parish explained after last week’s government defeat that a deluded theory among the party leadership had…
Jimmy and the chocolate factory
One Aldwych, an Edwardian grand hotel near Waterloo Bridge, is serving a Jimmy Savile tribute tea. It is not explicitly…
A phoenix from the Ashes
Those of us who watched the last day of the final Ashes Test of the present series enjoyed a rare…
Taki: Stephen Fry and the gay lobby should cool it over the Winter Olympics
Gstaad I’ve met Stephen Fry twice in my life, both times long ago. The first time at a dinner given…
Jeremy Clarke: The day I walked into a postcard
This time last year the postman delivered a picture postcard depicting a village square in Provence. The photograph on the…
Melissa Kite: Warning. I gallop
What is the point of living in a free country if you cannot do dangerous things every now and again?…
Alexander Chancellor: Why was Bradley Manning ever allowed to join the army?
I have been puzzling about why the United States authorities ever thought that Bradley Manning, who was jailed last week…
Most of the racing crowd were saddened that Godolphin was dragged through the mire
Driving to Newmarket through a biblical-style deluge that had sheep, cattle and horses queuing in twos in case Noah had…
