‘Where are the Rambos?’
James Delingpole talks to comic-book writer Mark Millar about the joy of Catholicism, our sorry lack of male action figures and his childhood superpower
Dear Mary
Q. I am placed in a social dilemma due to a proposed visit on the last weekend of June by…
Real life
‘You’re meant to be having your dental appointment now!’ barked the receptionist, bringing my lie-in to an abrupt end. Very…
Time to dust off my old records
In the introduction to an anthology of his jazz record reviews, the poet Philip Larkin imagines his readers. They’re not…
Shame on you!
As his tweed jacket flapped open to one side of his stomach, my husband stood up unsteadily and arched his…
Return to Alsace
Freedom approaches. Should we be humming ‘Va, Pensiero’ or ‘O Welche Lust’ — perhaps both. Thinking of Fidelioreminds me of…
Diary
By the time you read this you may know if the Tories triumphed in the Hartlepool by-election — or if,…
The tech trap
Back in late 2019 I met someone from Zoom who was visiting London. The company, then as now, offered free…
Low life
The only thing left for me now is to embrace humility and take up basket weaving. In our dog and…
Portrait of the week
Home ‘I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre-plus from 21 June,’…
High life
New York With the Karamazovian hangover now only a weekly occurrence, the healthy life rules supreme. Well, most of the…
Puzzle no. 652
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Revd Ernest Clement Mortimer, The Problemist, 1942. Answers should be…
Data, not dates
A slogan can come back to haunt you. For Boris Johnson, the words ‘data not dates’ sounded powerful at a…
Dead brain cells
As round 14 of the Candidates tournament unfolded, I had the feeling of watching an anti-climactic post-exam bender. Ian Nepomniachtchi…
Wild life
Laikipia Until I promised to slaughter a fat-tailed sheep with a goat thrown in for a feast, the farm cowhands…
2505: Endgame
The unclued lights (one hyphened) are of a kind, confirmed in Chambers. Elsewhere, ignore one accent. Across 1 I…
Inside stories
Prison-based podcast Banged Up, now in its second series, is far more uplifting — and less soapy — than its…
to 2502: Nay-sayers?
The unclued lights are HORSES. First prize Bob Toland, Ramsey, Cambs Runners-up Gareth Davies, Langstone, Gwent; Catherine Knox, London SW4…
Exclusive: Biden admin practically begging DoD employees to volunteer for border detail
The Biden administration has twice extended the deadline for federal employees to volunteer for months-long deployments at the US-Mexico border,…
Does the UK’s ‘green list’ for travel make sense?
International travel is back on the menu, in theory. From 17 May the ‘stay in the UK’ restrictions are lifting…
Liz Cheney must go
Liz Cheney is bad for the Republican party, which is why the pro-Democratic media is so obsessed with her. What…
Merkel is right to reject Biden’s vaccine patent plan
She handed the vaccine procurement process over to the European Union. She didn’t invest much in new production. And she…
Hartlepool meltdown: best of the left round-up
Oh dear. Labour’s loss of Hartlepool on a 16 point swing to the Tories has not gone down well with…
Boris shouldn’t take the red wall vote for granted
There are two popular reactions to the Hartlepool by-election, which one you favour depending largely on your political tribe. The…
