Letters
Divine works Sir: Luke Coppen writes that livestreamed services ‘lack the vital communal dimension of worship’ and ‘are, at times,…
Barometer
TV quizzes An ITV drama told the story of Major Charles Ingram, who was convicted of cheating in the gameshow…
Portrait of the Week
Home The number of people with the coronavirus disease Covid-19 who had died in hospitals by the beginning of the…
Birds of a feather
Philip Hensher describes how Paris became a magnet for literary-minded lesbians in the early 20th century – where they soon caused quite a stir
Alphabetical
In Competition No. 3144 you were invited to submit a poem, six lines at most, containing all the letters of…
Diary
When two members of my family went down with what appears to be Covid-19, I felt concerned. What I hadn’t…
Introverts, your country needs you
Once we’ve flattened the curve of infection with mass self-isolation, the next debate will concern how to soften the restrictions…
Dear Mary
Q. Each day while working from home, I have at least one hour-long meeting via Zoom. One of my colleagues…
The big success of small shops
From time to time, usually when things are quiet, the government brings on the dancing girls. David Cameron made Carol…
The turf
Sport may well be ‘the great triviality’ as Timeform founder Phil Bull once put it, and racing as trivial as…
Bridge
While chatting on the phone to my friend Alex Hydes a couple of weeks ago, I asked whether he was…
Low Life
In a cave once used as a stable and now abandoned, I found a wooden crate containing a dozen tiny…
Stinky Malinky is growing on me
Since the beginning of the lockdown, Caroline has been congratulating herself for having bought a puppy ‘just in time’. She…
High Life
Gstaad So the days — and months — drift by. This once peaceful Alpine town is packed with rich refugees…
Real Life
The toad who lives at the bottom of the garden in the pile of bricks beneath the potting table was…
Meet the Mozarts
It’s 1771, you’re in Milan, and your 14-year-old genius son has just premièred his new opera. How do you reward…
I have herd immunity
I am a type. I don’t like groups. I maintain few memberships. I question and resist authority, especially enforcement of…
Form, dogs, kids and jam
Whee-ooh-whee ya-ya-yang skrittle-skrittle skreeeek… Is it a space pod bearing aliens from Mars? No, it’s a podcast featuring aliens from…
2453: All right?
Unclued lights, five of two words and two pairs, have something in common. Elsewhere, ignore one accent. Across 1 Keep…
There’s nothing equal about this virus
Filthy germ-laden townsfolk were out and about on the footpaths near my home on Easter Sunday, dragging with them their…
Old wine, new bottles
‘Old wine in new bottles’ must be the most protean idiom in the English language. I encountered it a few…
