Cream of the crop
Theatres can open if they want to. That’s the current position. The only factor keeping a playhouse dark is a…
What America needs
It is remarkably uncommon for a US president to fail to be re-elected. It has happened just twice in the…
Bog bodies
Some believe that All Hallows’ Eve is adopted from a much older Celtic holiday, Samhain, that marked the change from…
The morality of free school meals
The main problem with the government giving in over free school meals during the holidays — other than that it…
Letter from Bangkok
Three years ago I sat down to write a novel set in my adopted home city. Placing its claustrophobic action…
Now We Are Six
In Competition No. 3172 you were invited to submit a poem about the government’s coronavirus messaging. Many of you, nudged…
Election notebook
Earlier this summer left-wing activists announced a ‘semi-autonomous zone’ in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. Denuded of law enforcement…
Puzzle no. 628
White to play. Wade–Korchnoi, Buenos Aires, 1960. Bob Wade’s next move prepared a surprising and decisive breakthrough. What did he…
The turf
With or without the crowds, nowhere does racing like Cheltenham. The four winners, including her first Group One shared equally…
Letters
Ask the English Sir: Toby Young rightly criticises the juvenile posturing of the devolved governments of the Union over Covid-19…
What will post-pandemic politics look like?
A few days ago, I came across a group of Tory MPs in a House of Commons corridor looking rather…
Shiny blacks, fierce greys, strange whites
Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) should be an inspiration to all late starters. It was not until he had passed the age…
Born of the moment
It’s quite a title sequence. Puccini swells on the soundtrack and words flash before your eyes. ‘Ecstatic!’ ‘Spellbound!’ ‘Passionate!’ ‘Dazzled!’…
A fiasco from the start
In carefree days which now seem so distant we used occasionally to take the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry. Docking after a long…
Ordinary but extraordinary
How hard must it be to make music that sounds like no one else? And how unrewarding, often, as well?…
Cut out and keep
William Burroughs was introduced to a British readership in November 1963, and the welcome he received was ‘UGH…’ The headline…
Dear Mary
Q. I would welcome your advice on a tricky family matter. For my 70th birthday earlier this year my brother…
2481: Octet
19 across (two words) is commonly associated with an octet. Each member of the octet defines one further unclued light.…
A tissue of lies
Kiss Myself Goodbye. It sounds a bit like a William Boyd novel. It looks likea William Boyd novel, too: the…
