Life
Language
We missed it! Back on January 18 we should have been celebrating National Thesaurus Day. Mind you, the day is…
The Reagan effect on wine lists
Let us indulge in a slight paraphrase. What rough beast slouches towards the White House to be reborn? The inauguration…
The Trump I (barely) know
I can’t say I know the new President of the United States very well, but during the five years I…
The case for ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Ugliness’
I was leaving the car park of my local shop yesterday – a manoeuvre which involves a hair-raising reverse on…
Hunter’s chicken: the ultimate cheer-me-up-quickly recipe
Pub food in Britain has had a mixed reputation over the years. For a long time, the most a pub…
Like my father before me, I’ve found comfort in yoga
Malindi, Kenya In 1967, Tanzania’s socialist rulers seized all my parents’ property – their ranchland, their home and their cattle…
Marriage is corny and pointless – but we’re doing it anyway
The one question the priest did not ask me, thank goodness, was why I wanted to get married. That might…
Learning is a lifelong joy
‘I love learning about things’ (Amelia, aged nine). Not all children do, but many who have not experienced the pleasure…
Aussie life
As if Hollywood’s elite didn’t have enough to be worried about, the Governor they elected, and whose homelessness laws and…
Language
It is easy to miss the fact that a good deal of slang has a long-forgotten rhyming component (and is…
Dictator dining
The Savoy Hotel is a theatre playing Mean Girls with a hotel attached to it, so you can expect it…
2686: Poem VIII
Clockwise round the grid from 1 run the final words (3,6,4,3,6,3,8,4,3,4,2,6) of a poem. Two unclued lights (one of two…
The highs and lows of Dry January
The first week of Dry January was relatively easy. Not falling asleep in front of the television was a pleasant…
Dear Mary: How do I ensure that splitting the bill is fair?
Q. A Belgian couple (a baron and baroness, no less) are regular visitors to the Highlands and I have come…
The unnecessary complexity of the World Test Championship
Have you booked your tickets for the World Test Championship yet? Did you even know it’s on? What seemed like…
