Threadbare brain-teaser
The Forest is the latest thriller from the French dramatist Florian Zeller, translated by Oscar winner Christopher Hampton. It’s a…
Cringe benefits
The tagline of This is Dating, a new podcast from across the pond, is ‘Come for the cringe, stay for…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Three weeks ago I banged my head on the lower branch of our near neighbours’ tree, which I couldn’t…
Refugees from Moominland
Spoiler alert. The last words in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen come from a child playing a frog. The story…
Looking as haggling
Two markers: ‘Cottages at Auvers-sur-Oise’ (c.1873) is a sweet especial rural scene of faintly slovenly thatched cottages with, at its…
Mexico is no country for journalists
I’m writing this on my last day in Mexico City, having accompanied my 18-year-old daughter here for the first week…
Solution to 2541: Beastly
The unclued lights form a quartet of three-word terms, each of which has the letter count of (6,6,6) which is…
Single-minded
In Competition No. 3237, you were invited to submit a short story using words of only one syllable. This challenge…
Nakamura the wildcard
Hikaru Nakamura justified his wildcard invitation by taking first place at the Fide Grand Prix in Berlin this month. The…
Diary
Yet another east European tragedy is unfolding before our eyes. We have watched this movie for more than 80 years.…
God’s first draft
Readers familiar with Sheila Heti’s work, most notably How Should a Person Be? and Motherhood, in which she examines both…
A figure of shame or pity
Virginia Giuffre may well be a heroine among all those abused in their youth. Ancient reactions compare interestingly with ours.…
Ignoble ambitions
This is the gripping story of the ever-fluctuating fortunes of three generations of the Dudley dynasty, servants to — and…
Barometer
Blow by blow Did Storm Eunice really set a new record for wind speed in England? A 122 mph gust…
Real life
‘A diary?’ said the lady in the chintzy gift shop, pronouncing the word very much as Edith Evans said ‘handbag’…
Liberty restored
Shortly after Covid emerged, our civil liberties were suspended. The government took control of when and for how long we…
High life
Was it Socrates who said that chaos was the natural state of mankind, and tyranny the usual remedy? Actually it…
Terry the truth teller
Last week the LNP member for Longman in Queensland, Terry Young, did something few politicians do. He told the truth.…
Why can’t the right build its own Twitter?
Cockburn isn’t a great fan of social media. He prefers it to social distancing and social-justice warriors, but would much…
Are Russians turning against Putin?
One of the reasons why I judged — wrongly — that Vladimir Putin would not order an all-out invasion of…
Macron’s posturing as a global statesman will get him re-elected
It is bordering on tasteless amidst the horror of war in Europe to question the political impact of the conflict…
