Life
The glory of German wines
I have had three recent conversations, all lively if unrelated – and all well lubricated. The first concerned Anglo-Saxon England…
Will I ever get my HRT?
The novelty of living in a place where a policeman called Ambrose lives in a house whose door you can…
My father’s greatest act of kindness
I’ve been busy planning a trip to New Zealand and Australia. I’ll be gone for about five weeks from mid-June,…
There are three sides to every story
The psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who died last month aged 90, was perhaps most famous for his dictum that: ‘Nothing in…
Dear Mary: should I encourage guests to strip their beds?
Q. Our son, 17, who is generally a credit to us, has started eating with his mouth open. It’s the…
We ought to banish more words
Why do people say: ‘You might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment’? Are they using it as they…
Bridge | 13 April 2024
I’ve been waiting for what feels like decades to make a contract by means of an intra-finesse. And not just…
My life of genteel poverty
Every year at the beginning of April, I tell myself I must top up my Isa before the 5 April…
Is New Zealand past the point of no return?
Given that New Zealand has now entered into a recession, in spite of record migration levels and population growth, many…
Language
Raymond from Nedlands, WA, asks for the meaning of ‘identity politics’. Searching through various sources, I can provide a one-word…
‘Can’t help but exude warmth’: Paper Moon at the OWO, reviewed
Paper Moon is the Italian restaurant inside the Old War Office on Whitehall, now a hotel called Raffles London at…
Tricky but delicious: how to make the perfect pretzels
My husband is obsessed with pretzels. The joy that a slightly warm, soft baked pretzel brings him is disproportionate. And,…
Could J.K. Rowling be Oxford’s next chancellor?
Among my generation of Oxford graduates – late fifties, early sixties – there is currently a great deal of talk…
County cricket needs Bazball
It’s freezing cold and everywhere is flooded, so it must be the start of the county cricket season. Surrey, last…
Bridge | 6 April 2024
Easter always zips by if you’re a bridge player and enter the EBU’s Easter Festival. There are four events to…
