Life
Who’s really down under?
This weekend is the final round of the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship, the best tournament outside the World Cup and…
Dear Mary
Q. Towards the end of last year, I began three months of treatment for a knee replacement. During one consultation…
Is this really a pub?
The Wild Rabbit is a pub in the Cotswolds, that small corner of Britain full of evil grinning cottages; if…
Bare ruined choirs
I am shocked to find that William Empson, famous for his technique of close reading, was no good at reading…
Is this really a pub?
The Wild Rabbit is a pub in the Cotswolds, that small corner of Britain full of evil grinning cottages; if…
Who’s really down under?
This weekend is the final round of the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship, the best tournament outside the World Cup and…
High life
Gstaad The Swiss canton of Ticino is holding a referendum on a burka ban, and it is about time, too.…
Low life
I woke up in the foetal position, on my back, on Trev’s tiny sofa, with an old curtain over me.…
Real life
Walking the spaniel on Tooting Common, I was apprehended by a man on a bike. He was ashen-faced. His young…
Long life
My brother John’s great book sale, about which I wrote on this page a couple of weeks ago, finally took…
Towering Ivory
Trainers used to come into racing with Aunt Agatha’s legacy after a short service commission, having probably worn a trilby…
Bridge
This week I’m tackling one of the great unmentionable subjects of bridge: the fact that players so seldom go to…
Max Fuller
I am sorry to hear that the Australian master Max Fuller has died in Sydney at the age of 68.…
No. 285
White to play. This position is from Fuller-Sorensen, Copenhagen 1980. The Black king has been driven out into the open.…
Let’s twist
In Competition 2816 you were invited to submit a short story with an ingenious twist at the end. I was…
2132: Ricochet
The unclued Across lights, when correctly paired with the unclued Down ones, are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. …
to 2129: DUMPYNOSE
The unclued lights (1A, 1D/36, 4/31D, 5/27, 15/16A, 16D, 25A/40, 42 are each the PSEUDONYM (anagram of ‘Dumpynose’) of a…
Welcome to fishmageddon
I should never have agreed to buy Sasha fish for her tenth birthday. But it seemed like such a modest…
Dave
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High Speed 2’s no-fly zone
From Edinburgh airport there are more than 45 flights a day to London. And, I imagine, the same number back.…
Dear Mary
Q. I am working on becoming a member of the Chipping Norton set. Should I be pronouncing the excellent open-air…
Death of an imperial survivor
I was praying for a miracle, but it seemed unlikely. There had been one already: the bottle’s very survival. A…
Blazer
‘It’s not right, is it?’ said Veronica, pointing to a poster for H&M women’s blazers at £17.I agreed. But she…
Death of an imperial survivor
I was praying for a miracle, but it seemed unlikely. There had been one already: the bottle’s very survival. A…
Towering Ivory
Trainers used to come into racing with Aunt Agatha’s legacy after a short service commission, having probably worn a trilby…
