Life
High life
Porto Cheli Nothing is moving, not a twig nor a leaf, and I find myself missing the cows, the mountains…
Low life
I live in south Devon. Last week I went up to north Devon, to visit a friend who was renting…
Real life
The problem with not getting married, I am increasingly realising, is that you cannot get divorced. There is no mechanism…
Long life
It’s August in Tuscany, and the market towns are eerily quiet, presumably because most of their inhabitants are off on…
Bridge
Some bridge hands are so sad that they make you want to cry. At least, that’s how my friend Lou…
Olympiad
The Tromsø Olympiad finishes on Thursday 14 August, too late for any definitive conclusions to be drawn here as to…
no. 327
White to play. This is from Kasimdzhanov–Kramnik, Tromsø Olympiad 2014. How did White blast through? Answers to me at The…
Pet sounds
In Competition No. 2860 you were invited to submit a short ode on the death of a pet in unusual…
2175: Elated grunt
Across unclued lights combine with down ones to form anagrams of the titles (one of two words) of four works…
Solution to 2172: Para
Gerry Goffin, popular LYRICIST (40), died on 19 June 2014. He wrote the perimetric songs IT MIGHT AS WELL RAIN…
The high price of public service
I feel some sympathy for Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP who’s resigned as a minister and is stepping down at…
Battle for Britain
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How oneupmanship ruins things for everyone
‘There’s a little bit of a fascist in all of us. For some, the tragedy of human want may provoke…
Dear Mary
Q. We have taken a flat in Edinburgh for a month and a young girl, temporarily homeless and a friend…
Escape to Burgundy
There have been some splendid rumours about my health. According to the most exotic, I was cas-evacked from a hill…
Stand
‘Boris Johnson broke cover yesterday to declare that he will run for parliament,’ the Times reported last week. The Mirror…
Escape to Burgundy
There have been some splendid rumours about my health. According to the most exotic, I was cas-evacked from a hill…
How oneupmanship ruins things for everyone
‘There’s a little bit of a fascist in all of us. For some, the tragedy of human want may provoke…
High life
Porto Cheli I have been thinking about my children and my own strange boyhood as I gaze up at the…
Low life
I’ve might have no testosterone. (My production is currently being stopped by injection once every three months.) But what I…
Real life
A parcel has arrived addressed to ‘Cydney Kite’. The spaniel is ecstatic. She has never received her own mail before,…
Long life
It’s much more stressful to live in the country than in a town. There are always threats of one kind…
Bridge
Two very exciting tournaments drew to a close last week. The first was the Spingold, the main teams event in…
It is glorious at Goodwood
If I get to choose where to spend my last day on earth it will probably be at Glorious Goodwood.…
Two’s a crowd
The British Championship, which finished in Aberystwyth last week, has been shared by international master Jonathan Hawkins and the defending…
