Taipei is obsessed with food… and it’s so cheap you can try everything
The Taiwanese seem besotted with food. The National Palace Museum in Taipei has almost 700,000 objects in its collection, but…
El Salvador and Honduras: Fabulous scenery, colourful murals and smiling hospitality
Roberto the guide had promised us the most spectacular church in Central America — so why had he brought us…
Exploring the hippo highway and a watery wilderness in Botswana
There is a distinct nip in the air as I slide quietly from the riverbank into the water. November may…
The wild and wintry wonders of Lapland
As Sini harnessed up the huskies they were all yelping with excitement, but once we set off and the forest…
Spending 23 hours in economy class will cure anyone’s wanderlust
For some reason, I decided to go to the other side of the world for Christmas. I may never do…
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s little house of horrors on the prairies
In 1932, the Daily Plainsman of Huron, South Dakota, ran a feature about a local woman convalescing in hospital. Grace…
Six of the best short story collections
While the short story is currently under-going one of its periods of robust, if not rude, health, its two dominant…
How could anyone possibly want a Roundhead ancestor?
The late Michael Foot used to say that the first thing he needed to know about a new acquaintance was,…
Photographing the extraordinary ordinariness of 1950s America
The career of the photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank stands in direct antithesis to the characteristics of his native Switzerland.…
Nan Shepherd’s lonely uphill struggle
‘It’s a grand thing to get leave to live’, perhaps the most famous line Nan Shepherd wrote, is carved in…
Describing the indescribable: news from the Western Front
At the close of the 1970s, I found a selection of postcards in an antique shop which had been sent…
Debussy, Tippett and Wagner: the musical treats of 2018
Claude Debussy died on 25 March 1918 to the sound of explosions. Four days earlier, the Kaiser’s army had deployed…
Indulgent rather than stinging satire: Brad’s Status reviewed
Brad’s Status is a midlife crisis film starring Ben Stiller as a nearly 50-year-old man whose status anxiety is through…
Podcasts have a long way to go to catch up with radio
It’s racing up the UK podcast charts, overtaking (as I write) the established favourites such as No Such Thing as…
As a musical, it’s overwhelming – politically, it’s an outrage: Hamilton reviewed
It’s all about the rhythm. Hamilton is a musical that tells the story of America’s foundation through the medium of…
I wish the BBC made more dramas like McMafia – but it’s too busy virtue-signalling
My third most fervent New Year wish — just after Litecoin goes to £20,000 and Jacob Rees-Mogg becomes PM —…
Taki: The truth about Ernest Hemingway
Gstaad When the snow finally stopped, the sublime, silent stars above made for dramatic viewing. Against silhouetted Alpine peaks, starry…
Jeremy Clarke: How I lost an afternoon to two magnums of mid-range champagne
As I stood there, I was reminded of the man of no fixed abode who, several years back, aged 68,…
Melissa Kite: Could I live without an MRI scan of my head?
Reluctantly, I decided I would have to throw away the MRI scan of my head. I’ve hung on to it…
Robin Oakley: Why Jeremy Clarkson should stick to cars
Jeremy Clarkson wrote recently about a day at Newbury. He declared: ‘Claiming that horses are different is like saying ants…
Why Jeremy Clarkson should stick to cars
Well, I had a very merry Christmas thank you — and I hope you did too — but as usual…
Game of the year
It is traditional that in my first column of the new year I review the previous 12 months and select…
no. 487
Black to play. This position is from Kasparov-Navara, St Louis 2017. How did Navara deal with Kasparov’s check? Answers to…
Best foot forward
In Competition No. 3029 you were invited to provide a new year’s resolution (or more than one) in verse. …
2340: Booboos
3 1A (eight words in total, one apostrophe) and 41 23 32 36 (seven words, including two accents) give two…
