Least said, soonest mended
Early on in Tim Finch’s hypnotic novel Peace Talks, the narrator — the diplomat Edvard Behrends, who facilitates international peace…
The coronavirus catalyst
‘The normal grease of politics is not there,’ bemoans one sociable cabinet minister. Certainly, the whispered conversations in corridors that…
A grand tour of the globe
When the wealthy young Joseph Banks announced that he intended joining Captain Cook’s expedition to Tahiti to observe the Transit…
Making a killing
What happened in the rites of Eleusis is a mystery. So are all the unwritten parts of human history. Our…
Cricket’s Faustian pact
Imagine an archetypal English scene and it’s likely you’re picturing somewhere rural. Despite losing fields and fields each year to…
How far should we go?
Modern advances in communication technology, computer power and medical science can sometimes be so startling as to seem almost like…
The poet of self-discovery
To describe a new book as ‘eagerly awaited’ is almost unpardonable. Yet Mark Doty’s What is the Grass: Walt Whitman…
Swan song
This is Roger Scruton’s final book. Parsifal was Wagner’s final opera. Both works are intended to be taken as Last…
Wild life
I keep thinking what I’ll do when we regain our liberty — and I picture that beer at the end…
Nature fights back
Adrian Woolfson explains the essence of pandemics – and how we can expect many more of them
Bridge
This weekend should have been the Schapiro Spring Foursomes, sponsored by Helen S., widow of the legendary Boris. Held in…
Puzzle no. 603
Black to play. Ding–Nakamura, Magnus -Carlsen Invitational, April 2020. The position appears sterile, but Nakamura spotted a clever winning move.…
Spot the thing you can do under lockdown
You can find the answers here Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Anyone for a self-isolation Olympics?
In Mr Alton’s absence, I thought readers might want a column about sport. The problem is that I’m largely indifferent…
2456: So American
Unclued lights (five of two words) are of a kind, singly, three pairs and a trio. Across 11 Ban on…
Pasture
‘We can now see the sunlight and the pasture ahead of us,’ said Boris Johnson on our escape from a…
Magnus wins Magnus Carlsen Invitational
‘I haven’t felt this kind of tension in a long while. This was real!’ Those were Magnus Carlsen’s words, after…
Diary
Never have I stared at my own face so much. Not because I want to, it’s just always there now,…
Ten reasons to end the lockdown now
Writing in this magazine a month ago, I applauded the government’s stated aim of trying to follow the science in…
Get back to where we once belonged
‘Want to go to the footy? Download the app.’ tweeted Health Minister Greg Hunt on 2 May, speaking to Australians…
Latham’s law
Feral Abacus versus Godzilla Paul Keating christened him the Feral Abacus but now John Hewson has become a Doomsday Clock.…
