High life
New York Election night parties are usually dreadful affairs, with the idiot box blaring and hysterical listeners screaming out the…
A deal to be done
It now looks increasingly likely that lockdown will end on 2 December, after all. The decision to impose further restrictions…
The turf
First the company report. Readers who invested a tenner on the nose each time our Twelve to Follow for the…
Boris’s booster shot
The first full week of the new national lockdown had the potential to be very difficult for Boris Johnson. Although…
Marriage of inconvenience
‘We have to stop it now!’ says Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter), smoking another cigarette, obviously. She’s talking about the…
The power of networks
In 1989 I answered my first mobile phone call on Oxford Street using a brick-sized Motorola borrowed from work. Several…
Bridge
It’s been a busy week of bridge. First came the Lady Milne, the women’s home internationals. As the host nation,…
Gifting
Boris Johnson, the Telegraphsuggested last week, is understood to have a personal interest in rewilding, ‘recently gifting his father beavers…
Puzzle No. 630
White to play. Mista–Kloza, Poland 1955 (supposedly). Which move does White play to force a quick checkmate? Answers should be…
Dear Mary
Q. I have a delightful young goddaughter who, thanks to the virus, I have not seen since last year. Her…
Blue notes
This documentary about Billie Holiday is transfixing. Not just because it’s about Billie Holiday — I am not into jazz…
Big Brother is listening – even at home
When Humza Yousaf, the SNP’s cabinet secretary for justice, announced that his new Hate Crime Bill would remove the ‘dwelling…
The spiritual dimension
Dan Pearson is one of the finest of all British garden designers, blessed with sensitivity, a wonderful eye, deep plant…
It’s shameful how we have treated our elderly
There’s a lot I don’t know about care home visits during this pandemic. I don’t know how straightforward it would…
The death of discourse
Liberal values are under attack on two flanks. Those of us who think extensive freedom of expression, universal human rights…
Everest or bust
Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb all 14 of the planet’s peaks higher than 8,000 metres, is probably the…
Diary
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is a useful stop for journalists looking for some rust-belt Americana not too far from New York. The…
From light into darkness
The great Spanish artist Francisco Goya was born in Zaragoza in 1746, the son of a gilder whose livelihood was…
Portrait of the week
Home Pfizer and BioNTech announced a vaccine against Covid-19 of 90 per cent efficacy from two injections three weeks apart.…
Books of the year II
David Crane If nothing else, this has been a good time for catch-up. Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest (translated by Walter…
2483: In my soup
Unclued lights are defined by extra words in ten clues and are anagrams of ten of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore…
Washington State is a worrisome window into the future
Seattle I have seen the future, and it looks much like Washington State. But let’s get there by steps. The…
Can you really blame Trump supporters for refusing to accept the election result?
It’s been a week and a half since Election Day and the results are still not certified — some votes…
Dominic Cummings leaves the building
After a week of infighting in Downing Street which saw the resignation of Director of Communications Lee Cain and senior aide Dominic…
