Flock horror
Pity the poor sheep. Every other animal has its champions. There are fox fanatics, dog obsessives, campaigners for cat welfare.…
Let my daughter work
Freud said ‘Love and work… work and love, that’s all there is.’ And ‘Love and work are the cornerstones of…
Star power
The ongoing war between Donald Trump and the Hollywood A-list has entered a new and unpredictable phase. Celebrity criticism of…
Dublin’s Jewish museum
I love small museums, and the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin is a little gem, located in the neighbourhood once…
Back into battle
On 24 June last year, in the Georgian splendour of her official residence in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square, Scotland’s First Minister…
Mr Hundred Per Cent
Nigel Short has distinguished himself by scoring 100 per cent, winning all six games, in the Bunratty tournament which finished…
no. 446
White to play. This position is from Tabatabaei-Vakhidov, Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2017. White has sacrificed a piece for a powerful…
The art of loving
In Competition No. 2987 you were invited to supply a lesson in the art of seduction in the style of…
2299: Pieces of Eight
One unclued light is the origin of the remaining unclued lights (three of two words), individually or as a pair.…
to 2296: Men of note
The unclued lights are seven COMPOSERS whose surnames begin with A to G, along with the eighth beginning with H,…
Dear Mary
My partner has become a recycling fascist. She checks everything I put into the bin. I received two bollockings today alone…
Rich desserts
Ferdi is a café in Shepherd Market; I write about it only to comfort you, because you are not rich,…
Carry on, Major
As Prime Minister, John Major was intolerant of opposition from within the Conservative party over the EU — memorably calling…
High life
Gstaad Back in the good old days a funicular used to take skiers up, bucking all the way and stopping…
Low life
All told, I find that in the last week I’ve slept with a Chinaman, three black women from the United…
Pick
I have long pondered the motive with which Michael Wharton, for long the author of the Daily Telegraph’s Peter Simple…
Real life
Shoot me if I ever let slip I’ve been mucking out with rubber gloves and a dustpan and brush. As…
Three cheers for rugby’s Italian loophole
A friend was at Twickenham on Sunday sitting not far from the Italian coaching top brass, Conor O’Shea and Mike…
Why didn’t I listen to the Old Devil?
When Kingsley Amis won the Booker prize for The Old Devils in 1986, he said that he had previously thought…
Would they rather invite ISIS in for scones and tea? Aunty’s latest
Malcolm Turnbull is best known for ill-considered waffle, but to the ABC his language is too harsh. Way too harsh.…
But science! Greens, GMO and ‘alternative facts’
Last Sunday a post on The Greens (WA) Facebook page took umbrage at Gary Adshead’s article in the Sunday Times…
Blowing smoke: Nanny’s crusade against vaping
There are few things governments enjoy more than protecting the commoners from themselves. It’s the reason why they’re happy to…
Even a broad church needs walls
Whatever internal troubles Malcolm Turnbull and the federal coalition were experiencing, it’s fair to say that Tuesday’s release of the…
Dublin’s Jewish museum
I love small museums, and the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin is a little gem, located in the neighbourhood once…
