Life
The case against conkers
Trying to work in my garden shed at this time of year is tricky. I will be crouched over my…
Real life
Queueing behind a young woman in the supermarket I became fascinated by the items she had placed on the conveyor…
High life
Gstaad The Speccie arrived just in time for me to read about the rudeness of one Lyndon Johnson, then vice-president,…
Real life
‘They’re going to have to stop cows,’ said my mother, looking doubtfully down at her plate as we tucked into…
The turf
Top owners are quitting horse racing because bookmakers nervous of a government and a Gambling Commission that know remarkably little…
Aussie life
There was a time when Australians prided themselves on their nose for bulls–t and for their willingness to call it…
Language
One of the powers of language is that it can give us the words (the tools) to think about our…
My brush with the Dangerous Dogs Act
Not everyone welcomed Rishi Sunak’s announcement last week that he would ban the XL Bully under the Dangerous Dogs Act.…
The Battle for Britain
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
How to save time
Imagine you are choosing between two proposed road-improvement plans, but have the budget for only one. Both of the roads…
Dear Mary
Q. Scrolling through my WhatsApp contacts, I have found a name I don’t recognise but when I click on the…
Burgundian beneficence
Paris has enough great restaurants to maintain its claim to be the world capital of gastronomy. That said, Parisian residents…
Push-bike
Books that one often used to see in secondhand bookshops, when there were such things, were the World’s Classics editions…
Bridge
The great Bob Hamman, in his heyday the best player in the world, was once asked what the biggest mistakes…
India’s rising stars
The former world champion Vishy Anand has described the current crop of young Indian talents as a golden generation. At…
Puzzle no. 770
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by C.G.S. Narayanan, K. Seetharaman, 2017. Answers should be emailed to…
Spectator competition winners: why you should never open a novel with the weather
In Competition No. 3317 you were invited to provide an opening to a novel that bears out Elmore Leonard’s tip…
2623: Half-day closing?
29 29-36’s 14 13 31 25 1D 2 24, in which 1 Down and 24 are each non-words that concatenate…
Solution to: 2620: The right name?
8A/31D, 23A/19D and 36D/7D are eponymous 29D/12A characters. 7D originally suggested D’Urberville, which needed to be changed to DURBEYFIELD, making…
Aussie life
Seven Days in May, a novel written in 1962 and turned into a film in 1964, concerns a planned coup…
Language
I need to loudly lament (once again) the deceptive misuse of the word ‘mistake’ by people who have a black…
