Venit, vidit, vicit
India is quite possibly the birthplace of chess, with the four branches of the ancient Indian army, infantry, cavalry, chariots…
no. 551
White to play. This position is a variation from Vitiugov-Duda, Prague 2019. How does White exploit the greater activity of…
Praise be
In Competition No. 3095 you were invited to submit an elegy by a poet on another poet. The prompt…
2405: Satanic
Doc writes: welcome to Smurf as our third new compiler joining our team. One unclued light, the heart of which…
Solution to 2402: Test Pilots
BOYCOTT (24), GOWER (25), MAY (40), GRACE (2), STRAUSS (23), HAMMOND (27), CLOSE (34), and ROOT (36) have all held…
What would a Corbyn victory mean for me?
Until now, I haven’t been too worried about Jeremy Corbyn. True, he exceeded expectations two years ago, but that was…
Finding hope in poetry, politics – and white Burgundy
During the Middle Ages, some of the monastic halls which evolved into Oxbridge colleges allowed their younger inmates to indulge…
In defence of inaction: why it’s usually best to do nothing
I recently came across the Small Robot Company, a British agricultural robotics start-up. Their vision is that with smart, autonomous…
Did ‘haggis’ steal its name from thieving magpies?
Someone on The Kitchen Cabinet remarked that sambusa, as samosa is known in Somalia, came from Arabic. Perhaps it does,…
Dear Mary: how can I tell my chatty masseur to stop talking?
Q. Like many of his profession, Manolo, my most-proficient masseur, has the gift of the gab and maintains a garrulous…
How can Shorten still be in the lead?
How is it that Labor, no longer the party of the worker but the voice of inner-city elites and millionaire…
The Curate’s NEG
It’s been all the fun of the fair as a 10-day long weekend gave voters a chance to observe the…
Brown Study
Our serried ranks of interstate and overseas readers may not be aware that in the last two weeks Melbourne has…
Galileo wins court case
‘Vindicated. The score is 17-nil, the judge’s findings were damning. It could not have gone better,’ Professor Peter Ridd explains…
Business/Robbery etc
Tell him he’s dreamin’. There is no way Bill Shorten’s 50 per cent hike in capital gains tax will raise…
Do Labor intend to ‘recognise’ a terrorist state?
The designation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a terrorist organisation would have major implications for Australia’s foreign policy and…
Stanislav Kochanovsky
![[Photo: Marco Borggreve]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Stanislav_Kochanovsky.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
The Melbourne Symphony was really on to something in 2017 when it engaged a young Russian conductor for a Rachmaninov…
The dambuster
Even after 52 years I can still vividly recall Dr Barnes Wallis, inventor of the ‘skipping’ bombs which breached the…
Barry did a naughty thing
It is a truth that ought to be universally acknowledged that the one thing missing from modern comedy festivals is…
Australian Notes
Golden transparency of surrogacy secrecy? How many times have you met a person and wondered if they could talk under…
Our lady of Paris and our man Folau
Is it too much to hope that in our multicultural society there might still be found space for the culture…
Return of the Hollow Man
Week one of the election campaign marked the return of Opposition leader Bill Shorten in a much-loved role — the…
Joe Biden is already under Trump’s skin
During his speech today at the NRA convention in Indianapolis, Donald Trump shot himself in the foot. ‘Now we’re going…
How bad will the local elections be for the Tories?
Next week, the Tories will face their first big electoral test since failing to deliver Brexit on time. On Thursday,…
