Aussie Life
Go on, admit it; just when you thought it was safe to go back to the pub, or the office,…
Aussie Language
Andrew Bolt, among others, has been scrupulous in drawing our attention to what he calls ‘race baiting’. For example, Greens…
Cultural notes
Heroes and villains According to a paper published by the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2020, it would seem that…
Bridge
YAY! We won the Gold Cup! We played Tim Leslie’s strong team in the 64-board final and beat them on…
Brace for pain: Danny’s recession forecast might not be so wacko
Does the economist David Blanchflower — who I described as the Bank of England’s ‘resident wacko’ during his 2006-09 tenure…
The dangers of being trans-gressive
I’m accustomed to a sense of urgency in relation to Netflix offerings because the streaming service often buys short-term rights…
If it ain’t broke
At one point in an early Simpsons, Homer comes across an old issue of TV Guide, and finds the listing…
Wild life
Kenya When I was a child in Kenya, the road from the Indian Ocean up to Nairobi was still…
Puzzle No. 676
White to play. Bjerre–Maiwald, Bundesliga 2021. Black has menacing counterplay, so White’s attack needs an accurate conclusion. What did he…
The Spectator’s Notes
Rarely does a piece of journalism bring a tear to my normally cynical eye, but I did find this happening…
Eaten by a bear
I don’t like losing at chess. It feels bad in the moment, whether my position subsides like a failed pudding,…
One for the ode
In Competition No. 3221, you were invited to submit an ode on the Marble Arch Mound. The 25 metre-high artificial…
Solution to 2526: Everybody out!
The unclued lights are preceded by ALL (with the title suggesting that ALL is to be omitted). The paired lights…
High life
New York ‘The City of London is hiding the world’s stolen money’, screams a Bagel Times headline, as bogus…
Real life
We had gone to visit a friend at a stable yard on a country estate on a crisp autumn Sunday.…
The death of the live album
Next week The The release The Comeback Special, a 24-track live album documenting the band’s concert at the Royal Albert…
Painting everywhere
There’s a faint scent of desperation wafting through the Frieze tent this year. Pre–pandemic, this was where you came to…
2529: Formerly
The unclued lights (five of two words which include three apostrophes) can be preceded by the same word, all confirmed…
Too much bawl and shriek
Yaël Farber’s Macbeth sets out to be a great work of art. The director crams the Almeida’s stage with suggestive…
Zero strategy
The commitment to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 is the most expensive government proposal in modern history. Yet it…
Letters
Doom and gloom Sir: The depressing article by Tom Woodman (‘You must be kidding’, 16 October) confirms my growing fears…
