The extraordinary paintings of Craigie Aitchison
One of the most extraordinary paintings in the exhibition of work by Craigie Aitchison at Piano Nobile (96–129 Portland Road,…
War of the Worlds is as bad as Doctor Who
Edwardian England deserved everything it got from those killer Martian invaders. Or so I learned from the BBC’s latest adaptation…
Ravishing and poignant: ENO’s Orphée reviewed
Billy Wilder, asked for his opinion of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version of his movie Sunset Boulevard, famously replied: ‘Those…
Range and power – and amazingly she sang all her songs: Christina Aguilera at Wembley reviewed
In every respect bar its austere pews, the Union Chapel is one of the best venues in London: beautiful and…
Riveting and beautifully staged analysis of totalitarianism: Arcola’s #WeAreArrested reviewed
When the RSC does modern drama it usually lays on an ultra-worthy yarn with a huge cast, dozens of fancy…
The cops are impotent in lawless New York
New York Things are heating up, in both London and Nueva York, as this place should correctly be called.…
The lessons I learned cycling across Rwanda
The backmarker of the peloton was Eric, a tall, stick-thin Rwandan. Under his cycling helmet he wore a baseball cap…
How you can tell the gender of a thief
My attempt at being Columbo was only taking me so far. In solving the mystery of who raided the barn,…
Cheltenham was the perfect antidote to election politics
I can only be sorry for the 67,496,581 citizens of the UK who were not at Cheltenham last Saturday. For…
Bridge
Well, it has taken 12 years, two relegations, one second place and endless ‘nowheres’ playing the Premier League and we…
A fresh approach
Reimagine democracy. Reimagine capitalism. Reimagine education. For all the reimagining thrown at big ideas, they don’t seem much perturbed. You…
no. 581
Bagi–Zvjaginsev, Montenegro 2019. Black to play. 61… Ke6 looks obvious, but Zvjaginsev preferred 61… Rg6! and White resigned instead of…
First or last
In Competition No. 3125 you were invited to compose a comically appalling first or final paragraph of the memoir of…
2435: A little puzzle
Unclued lights, two of two words, are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. Elsewhere, ignore two accents. Across 12 …
to 2432: Getting dry
The DODO (30) organised the CAUCUS RACE (12) to get dry. Participants included ALICE (2), EAGLET (7), DUCK (17), MOUSE…
Prince Andrew should have married someone like my wife
Like many people, I watched Prince Andrew’s Newsnight meltdown with mounting disbelief. Why had he agreed to do it? It…
No one else has the weird levels of self-regard shown by people who appear regularly on TV
One of the more tedious tropes of recent years is for journalists to bemoan the rise of populism while busily…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my husband eating everything in the fridge?
Q. A friend of a friend has an apartment in Venice. I would like to commiserate with her about the…
Wine that puts politics in its place
In the era of vinyl, lost in one of Bruckner’s longueurs, it could be hard to tell what was stuck,…
From Pliny to poetry: the history of ‘ictus’ and ‘ductus’
‘I know the difference between ictal and icteric,’ said my husband proudly, reminding me of Tweedledum in Through the Looking-Glass.…
William Dobell “Woman in a Salon (Helena Rubinstein)” 1960
She was a girl from Coleraine who became the world’s first self made multi-millionairess. Born in Krakôw, Poland in1872, she…
Science friction
In recent weeks, we have seen yet another public statement from scientists (in the journal Bioscience) prophesying an approaching climate…
Business/Robbery etc
When BHP changes CEO on January 1, and a practical mining man takes over, hopefully the world’s biggest miner will…
Close encounters of the royal kind
Prince Andrew has a dangerous habit of trusting the wrong people. Like Emily Maitlis. Why the prince put his faith…
