Cui Bono
The cause célèbre at the Tradewise tournament in Gibraltar, which finished earlier this month, was the extraordinary protest by Hou…
no. 444
White to play. This position is a variation from Hou Yifan-Ju, Gibraltar 2017. Hou lost this game to her compatriot.…
Trigger point
In Competition No. 2985 you were invited to provide a poetic preview of the day Article 50 is triggered. …
2297: Thoroughly
Each of nine clues contains a misprinted letter in the definition part. Corrections of misprints spell a two-word phrase. Clues…
to 2294: Times Square
Perimeter words are names of the most recent GEOLOGICAL PERIODS. First prize J.P Green, Uppingham, RutlandRunners-up Paul Jenkinson, Zollikon, Switzerland;…
American English
Ralph’s Coffee & Bar is in the Polo Ralph Lauren flagship store on Regent Street. It is rare that fashion…
High life
Gstaad One’s unpopularity on account of calling it a night diminishes in direct proportion to the severity of the next…
Low life
A deep frost in the winter of 1821–22 killed the orange trees in Nice. The Anglican minister to the English…
Rocket
‘It is rocket science,’ said my husband waving a pinnately lobed leaf snatched from his restaurant salad. He doesn’t much…
Breathtaking and brilliant
Perfection in sport: unattainable, but sometimes you can come close. Moments, people, actions you never tire of watching: Roger Federer’s…
Can I bear to sack the digital babysitter?
I was astonished to discover in conversation with another dad last week that he and his wife intended to introduce…
The turf
The drumbeats are quickening ahead of the Cheltenham Festival and at this stage there really is no substitute for going…
From Tacitus to Justin Welby
Many are still questioning the enthusiasm with which newspapers have implicated Archbishop Justin Welby, as a young man, in the…
Barometer
Special forces Cathedral constables at York Minister got back their powers of arrest, which they had held from the 13th…
Diary
I’m boning up on conversational Spanish for a trip to the Primera Persona festival in Barcelona with Alexei Sayle. We’re…
War and law
From ‘The confiscation of enemy property’, The Spectator, 17 February 1917: It is perfectly possible to remove German influences without…
Letters
Living room Sir: Sajid Javid is quoted as saying that the biggest constraint on building more houses is the ‘lack…
Portrait of the week
Home The Queen opened a new National Cyber Security Centre in London. Britain’s contribution to Nato has fallen below the…
Tony, Pauline and Cory
The best chance of sound and honest government returning to Australia will be the emergence of, if not a grand…
The refugee fetish
On February 8, the Australian published a full page advertisement paid for by 72 organisations calling for the evacuation of…
Picking judges
President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats in the United States are about to engage in political warfare about who will…
Lapping it up
Last time around they managed to put her in gaol. Now they are rolling out the red carpet. Pauline Hanson…
Book lover’s notes
The hot days of summer inspire two impulses, a good clean up, curiously called a spring clean, and the desire…
