Hypnosis?
Various champions have been accused of hypnotising their opponents, including Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal and, not least, the reigning world…
no. 491
White to play. This position is from Goriatchkin-Bosiocic, Gibraltar 2018. How did White finish off? Answers to me at The…
Presidential patter
In Competition No. 3033 you were invited to take as your first line ‘I am the very model of a…
2344: I’m away
A word suggested by the title can either precede or follow each of the unclued lights to form phrases listed…
to 2341: Durum, durum
The unclued lights are varieties of PASTA. First prize J Cookson, Cheltenham, GloucestershireRunners-up Margaret Shiels, Edinburgh; D King, Leeds Got…
My dislike of Blue Peter made me into the man I am today
When I tell my children about my own childhood, they often express disbelief about how wretched it was. No Xbox?…
Let’s face it: the Presidents Club was on to something
There exist in the annals of salesmanship certain ideas that are both highly immoral and wickedly clever. Before P. T.…
Dear Mary: I keep needing the loo during formal dinner parties – help!
Q. My wife and I have been invited to a small but formal dinner in the presence of some impressive…
Tasting the true island spirit: single malts from the Isle of Arran
Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, is an island whose charms vary with the seasons. In summer, the hills are…
How did the same word come to describe the activities of stable lads and sexual predators?
Grooming is a horrible phenomenon of modern life when it happens to abused children. Yet a magazine such as GQ…
Australian letters
Onward Christian soldiers? Sir: Hal Colebatch contemplates the revival of the religious military orders to protect Christianity from the attacks…
Thatcher’s lefty
Chris Patten claimed many of the glittering prizes in British politics and society: cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and John…
Brown study
I have been thinking about the wash up from the same-sex marriage issue and what we can learn about the…
The feminist two-step
Feminism is in crisis. It’s in a crisis of its own making because it’s been an echo chamber for so…
Latham’s law
One of the strange reactions to the 17th Century Enlightenment was the concept of the Noble Savage. In the backlash…
Morning Star, 2017
President Macron is lending the Bayeux Tapestry for exhibition in the British Museum; the medieval tapestry masterpiece The Lady and…
Balhatchet job
Just when you think the cowardice of those highly-placed in the West (with the exceptions of Trump and Netanyahu) can…
Australian notes
18C for Tarneen? Last Friday marked the 230th anniversary of a penal colony being founded on the shores of Sydney…
Classic whodunnit
How many readers know the answer to the question, ‘After the Bible and Shakespeare, who is the biggest selling author…
OK, I’m a conservative comedian
Whenever I meet a fellow conservative—at the Opera, or at the Latin Mass, or at the hush hush child-sacrificing soirées…
Shorten’s integrity trick
Now that same-sex marriage is out of the way, the banking royal commission hastily agreed to, and the Australia Day…
Ex-govvie furniture – quality checked
Canberrans are used to buying ‘ex-govvie’, from houses (not much on the market now) to pre-used chairs, desks, PCs, whiteboards and filing…
The AMA’s double standard on standards
The Australian Medical Association is a very curious beastie. It is like a three-year-old child. It only hears what it…
Stop funding schools, start funding students
For some time now, debate over educational funding has revolved around the Australian Labor Party promising schools more money, and…
