Low life
A new year and another round of medical treatments in the French health system. On Saturday morning, needing a blood…
We believe what we want to believe
Following his disgruntled supporters’ rampage through the Capitol, Donald Trump’s fate hangs in the balance. But one artefact of this…
Bridge
’Tis better to give than to receive, the Bible teaches us. Well, not if you were me this Christmas, it…
Englishness vs California dreaming
On Archewell Audio, Harry and Meghan’s new podcast, ‘love wins’, ‘change really is possible’, and ‘the courage and the creativity…
A real wild child
Although I can understand why Dana Gillespie might choose to call her memoir after her most famous album, for the…
Brendel the Dadaist
How many people are celebrating the fact that, last week, one of Europe’s most inspired writers about music, modern art…
to 2487: Birthday boys
December 12th was the birthday of Gustave FLAUBERT (1D) and Frank SINATRA (15). Examples of their work are MADAME BOVARY…
‘We knew there was greatness in these songs’
Graeme Thomson talks to Steve Diggle, front man of Buzzcocks, about orgasms, boredom and Pete Shelley
Puzzle no. 636
Gormally–Turner, Caplin Hastings Online 2021. Black looks safe, but Gormally’s next move forced a win of material. What did he…
Missed opportunities
In game 1 of his Airthings Masters Final against Radjabov, Aronian’s pawn push 21 e4-e5 (shown in the first diagram)…
The value of suffering
A death sentence, prison in Siberia, and chronic epilepsy. The death of his young children, a gambling addiction, and possible…
Dark and twisted
Patricia Highsmith’s life was filled with more eccentric, disturbing brilliance than most readers can normally handle; and so the chief…
Letters
Lockdown damage Sir: I am sick and tired of people taking the moral high ground and looking down on ‘lockdown…
Ancestral voices
Despite innovative work by younger writers, there remains a prominent strain in Irish literature of what we might call the…
Barometer
Parliamentary objections The US Capitol was raided by Donald Trump supporters trying to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election…
Easy pills to swallow
Having a breakdown? Try this pill, or that — or these? Built on the 1950s myth of a chemical imbalance…
Words to that effect
In his 37-book Natural History, Pliny the Elder (d. ad 79) wondered why we wished people ‘Happy new year’ (primum…
Flight from reality
The Autumn of the Ace begins in 1945, as the second world war ends, but both Louis de Bernières and…
