Who cares about reality?
Activists wish to change the name of a school in north London because it is named after a road which…
High life
Island of Serifos Let’s get one thing straight: island life is not for me. Island life off a boat, jawohl,…
Real life
The whole of Surrey and south-west London seem to have gone abroad on holiday so I’ve got my sanity back.…
Low life
Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur Until January the foreign correspondent lived in a late-18th-century house with a vineyard, olive grove and vegetable garden…
Nobody should be forced to shield
The best way (and with politicians sometimes the only way) to know whether people are aware they’ve made a mistake…
The turf
It was to have been, if not a glorious return, at least an encouraging one. On the Stewards’ Cup day…
Bridge
Stuart Wheeler was a true original. I was lucky enough to be a friend (we met playing bridge), and will…
Crossword 2469: Breadth
Unclued lights are anagrams of Shakespearean characters. These lights are defined by surplus words in eight clues. Across 1 Recreational…
Puzzle No. 616
Black to play. Studer–Naiditsch, Biel, July 2020. White intends to meet 1…Bxb5 with 2 Bxe7 Qxe7 3 Qxb5, with an…
The Spectator’s Notes
Juan Carlos, ex-King of Spain, behaved foolishly in relation to money and sex, and so his decision to leave Spain…
To 2466: Gender bender
The author was GEORGE SAND (19/26), whose original name was AMANTINE LUCILE AURORE DUPIN (25/40/5/16). The perimetric works are INDIANA,…
Short story
In Competition No. 3160 you were invited to supply a short story whose opening sentence is ‘I have no idea…
The view from on high
‘Cabin crew, ten minutes to landing!’ Are there any more exhilarating words? Soon, for a few precious minutes, one can…
What’s on the agenda?
Donald Trump has been tight-lipped about his second-term agenda, preferring to speak about the past accomplishments of his administration when…
Spain’s bizarre mask policies
Spain has a reputation for having some of the strictest policies on masks in Europe, with the public even encouraged…
What’s up with Macron’s Lawrence of Arabia stunt?
President Macron neither lacks chutzpah nor a lust for drama. His walkabout yesterday amid the devastation of Lebanon’s Beirut, following…
Evening Standard sacks nearly half its journalists after Covid crunch
Last Friday, Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Independent and the Evening Standard, was celebrating his nomination for a peerage. But…
Palmerston’s retirement leaves Larry as top cat
Power struggles at the heart of government continued today, with a key member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office announcing…
The mindblowing cost of lockdown: we hope it was worth it, quarantine workers
Out today: the latest figures for the cost of lockdown in Danandrewstan. Mindblowing. $15 billion for the Jobkeeper extension. $12…
The real Covid-19 threat
Daniel Kahneman called it anchoring; I call it tunnel vision. It’s when we depend too heavily on our pre-existing ideas…
What’s woke this week (or racist)?
In racism news, the woke word police have been all atwitter this week, bless them, fluttering about racist bird names;…
