‘Above all else, fun’
Alexander Chancellor’s ‘Long Life’ is over; but it was not nearly long enough. I was feeling rather gloomy last Friday,…
Jaipur Notebook
Did Winston Churchill, like Donald Trump, also like to ‘grab them by the pussy?’ Last week at the Jaipur Literary…
Abandoned to their fate
Another day in northern Nigeria, another Christian village reeling from an attack by the Muslim Fulani herdsmen who used to…
The man from nowhere
Before the horrified gaze of its militants, the French Socialist party — which has been a major force in French…
British placenames
British placenames are so good you can read the map for entertainment rather than navigation. Hardington Mande-ville, Bradford Peverell, Carlton…
Surviving Trumpworld
While he was on the campaign trail, Donald Trump was asked an intriguing question by Bob Lonsberry of WHAM 1180…
Bridge
Not surprisingly, Reykjavik has become a tourist destination again. Delicious restaurants, all those geysers and, if you’re lucky, the Northern…
Serendipity
My two previous articles dwelt on Richard Réti’s introduction of the so-called hypermodern systems. Characterised by the double fianchetto of White’s…
no.442
White to play. This position is from So-Wojtaszek, Wijk aan Zee 2017. White has only one move to win. Can…
Creature discomfort
In Competition No. 2983, an assignment inspired by W.W. Jacobs’s macabre mini masterpiece ‘The Monkey’s Paw’, you were invited to…
2295: Juicy
An unclued light is a name shared by two persons, one of whom is fictional. Remaining unclued lights give names…
to 2292: Discovery
Thematic names are 1A/22 and 25/34, author of The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure…
Dear Mary
Q. My granddaughter has asked to use our barn for her 21st birthday dance in June. We can only sleep…
Vanity project
The Waverly Inn is the house restaurant of Vanity Fair magazine in New York City. It is part-owned by Graydon…
High life
When I saw an email from Lucy, the lady who has the unenviable task of editing my copy each week,…
Low life
Dr Mindlin called. I needed cheering up? If I fancied a week in Antigua as his guest I should be…
Italianglish
Waiting for my husband in a Rome hotel, I was reduced to reading some of the weekend newspaper supplements. The…
Real life
As if by magic, a sign that I am doing the right thing by moving out of London arrived in…
Should Many Clouds have been racing last Saturday?
Few things in sport are more thrilling than a great racehorse giving its all. That’s why the death of that…
Rebel with a dodgy cause
I feel conflicted about Jon Platt, the parent at the centre of the court case about unauthorised school absences. On…
The turf
Away from frosty Britain, lecturing my way across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro, life has been dominated more by…
Nero’s tips for Trump
A Washington Post interview with ‘senior officials’ in the Trump White House reveals that ‘Trump… feels demoralised that the public’s…
Barometer
Trump’s rivals More than 1.7m people signed a petition on Parliament’s website demanding that Donald Trump’s state visit be cancelled,…
Diary
‘A Bill to confer power on the prime minister to notify, under Article 50(2)…’. When it comes to the House…
