A true maverick
Art That Made Us is an ambitious new series, firmly in the ‘history of something in a load of different…
The truly disadvantaged group in Britain
I’m not sure what to think about the BBC’s announcement that it wants a quarter of its staff to be…
Rewriting history
Historians in Russia have a long and craven record, now going back centuries, of being economical with the truth about…
The Wolseley
I was sitting alone at a small table in the Wolseley, Piccadilly, waiting for my supper and feeling a sense…
How to lose elections
I have remarked here before about our era’s tendency to accept election results if your side wins but to reject…
Pep and Klopp, kings of England
It’s a game for the ages all right, City againstLiverpool on Sunday as the Premier League moves to its most…
Dirty rotten tricks
In 2010, Mark Kennedy, a tattooed social justice warrior, was exposed as an undercover police officer. In this guise he…
Be your own bank
There was a time when you could read a book to keep up to date about a subject. Well, that’s…
Who’s story is it?
‘Whenever you see a character in a novel, let alone a biography or history book, reduced and neatened into three…
The kids aren’t all right – and the grown-ups are to blame
I think it’s time we stopped scaring the children. I think they’ve had enough. They’re at breaking point now, every…
Puzzle no. 697
White to play. Duda-Anton Guijarro, Charity Cup, March 2022. Black’s last move, 21…Qe7-b4 was an unforced error. Which move did…
2550: Shorties
The unclued lights and eight clued without thematic definition are of a kind, expressly confirmed in a section of Chambers.…
Barometer
Palm substitutes Palm Sunday was so-called because of the palm fronds thrown before Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem. But…
Diary
Strasbourg Europhobes will never have a better argument against European integration than the seat of the European parliament in…
Lost and found
In Competition No. 3243, you were invited to submit a poem about the recent discovery of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance.…
Career moves
Sergey Karjakin won’t be playing much chess for a while. Last month, the Russian grandmaster’s Twittering jingoism in support of…
