Books & arts
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Mississippi hospitality
Driving into Greenwood after dark, we pull into a gas station and ask directions to a late-night grocery store. ‘Sir……
Gamesters of Triskelion
I first encountered the Triskelion, the traditional coat of arms of the Isle of Man, when I saw Laurence Oliver’s…
No. 430
White to play. This position is from Mamedyarov-Kramnik, Moscow 2016. White’s next concluded the game. What was it? Answers to…
Autumnal
In Competition No. 2969 you were invited to submit a poem about autumn in the style of the poet of…
Dear Mary
Q. My father has been on the warpath to eradicate Tineola bisselliella, the common clothes moth. He told me to…
Some like it posh
Daphne’s serves Italian food in South Kensington. (I like the name because Daphne was the name Jack Lemmon chose for…
Universities challenged
On the face of it, this year’s Nobel Prize awards have been a triumph for British scientists. No fewer than…
High life
New York This is a good time to be in Manhattan, the weather’s perfect, the park and foliage still…
Long life
Monty Don, the television gardening presenter, always comes across on screen as irrepressibly cheerful and enthusiastic, but this is a…
Long life
Monty Don, the television gardening presenter, always comes across on screen as irrepressibly cheerful and enthusiastic, but this is a…
Low life
Six months ago Sally was living in a third floor flat in Glasgow. Then she was thrown into the back…
Low life
Six months ago Sally was living in a third floor flat in Glasgow. Then she was thrown into the back…
Polari
Of the contribution to English that Polari is claimed to have brought, perhaps naff is the most current-sounding. An older…
Real life
Against all odds, I almost got through an entire Brexit dinner with dignity, and without opening the valve in my…
The waning of Wayne
As the final chords of the Wagnerian epic that is ‘The Dropping of Wayne Rooney’ fade away, we can leave…
Sorry, Shami, but you’re wasting your money
I’ve been thinking about poor Shami Chakrabarti and the drubbing she’s suffered since it was revealed she’s sending her son…
Sorry, Shami, but you’re wasting your money
I’ve been thinking about poor Shami Chakrabarti and the drubbing she’s suffered since it was revealed she’s sending her son…
The master of Ballydoyle
The only downside about going racing is irritation born of encountering pig ignorant people who talk through their pockets. Beside…
The master of Ballydoyle
The only downside about going racing is irritation born of encountering pig ignorant people who talk through their pockets. Beside…
Diogenes vs Theresa May
‘If you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere,’ proclaimed Theresa May in a speech…
Barometer
Fears of a clown Professional clowns complained that the current craze for scaring people by dressing in clown outfits was…
Sea strategy
From ‘Decisive victory at sea’, The Spectator, 7 October 1916: The only excuse for changing our views of the magnificent rightness…
Letters
Cathedral going Sir: While I enjoyed much of Simon Jenkins’s analysis of why England’s cathedrals are thriving (‘Why cathedrals are…
