Lilacs out of the dead land
April is the cruellest month, but May is shaping up quite pleasantly and the daylight streamed in through the east…
Playing chicken with your conscience
Jade Goody appeared on Big Brother in 2002. She was a short, loud, blonde-haired woman who broadcast her every thought…
2557: Heroes
Clockwise round the grid from a point to be determined run the names of four knights (2,5,5,5,5,8,5,3) followed by what…
On the money
In Competition No. 3250, you were invited to submit a sonnet to Mammon. It was ‘Epigram for Wall Street’, attributed…
Puzzle No. 704
Black to play. Bacrot-Anand, Bastia Rapid 2001. A spectacular blow from Anand prompted Bacrot to resign. What did he play?…
Don’t mess with my Neighbourhood Watch
‘Apocalyptic’ food shortages, gas and electricity bills soaring, wages not keeping pace with inflation… it’s beginning to look like we’re…
Getting things mended
‘Sides to middle’, that’s the cry. When your foot goes through the flat sheet in the night, there’s only one…
Real life
The dynamics of the village can only be understood with reference to what’s happening to the parking. Unless you study…
Bridge
For those of us who are prone to anxiety before playing in big tournaments, there are plenty of self-help books…
Airport officials are on a power trip
On my 2 p.m. arrival for a week-long work trip to South Africa a fortnight ago, an immigration agent flapped…
Along comes monkeypox
I hate to be one of those columnists who says ‘I told you so’. But I told you so. Looking…
Could Putin be toppled?
The former head of MI6 on where Russia has gone wrong – and what happens next
‘China is all-out against us’
Lithuania’s foreign minister on Ukraine, Taiwan and the principle of sovereignty
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My wife’s father, who she adored, has died and she is to be his sole beneficiary. She intends to…
On the same page
In the West End of London there is an alley which insinuates its way between the Charing Cross Road and…
End of the road
When my daughters learned to drive, I suggested they take their tests in automatics as driving manual cars would soon…
Mind your language: Stations
In Kyiv they have voted to changethe names of some metro stations. Heroes of the Dnieper is to become Heroes…
The Spectator’s Notes
I wrote recently elsewhere about Jeremy Hunt’s good new book examining unnecessary deaths in the NHS. Someone should write a…
High life
A couple more weeks in the Bagel and then on to dear old London. I’ve had a very good time…
Soldiering on
Given Putin’s less than triumphant operation in Chechnya, where the Russian army suffered catastrophic losses, it is hardly surprising that…
