Mighty Magnus
The world champion is back on form. After winning the overall laurels in last year’s Grand Tour, and taking first…
No. 395
White to play. This position is from Van Wely-Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2016. Carlsen had a lucky escape in this…
Now we are rich
In Competition No. 2934 you were invited to submit a poem suitable for inclusion in Now We are Rich. You…
Your problems solved
Q. I recently rediscovered a wonderful 22-year-old godson. He came to shoot for the first time and was a marvellous…
Game show
A few years ago, a distinguished cove in the diplomatic service was made High Commissioner to Australia. To prepare himself…
Flying doctors
A few months ago, paramedics were on the brink of industrial action. They had legitimate grievances. Ambulance services were being…
High life
Gstaad I had the rather subversive idea of offering a six-figure sum to Oriel College, Oxford. On one condition: that…
Long life
I am sure that the Queen disapproves of litter as much as anyone else, but she’s hardly ever exposed to…
Long life
I am sure that the Queen disapproves of litter as much as anyone else, but she’s hardly ever exposed to…
Low life
The hotel reception was lit by three gloomy low-wattage light bulbs. It should have been six but the management was…
Low life
The hotel reception was lit by three gloomy low-wattage light bulbs. It should have been six but the management was…
Beware
My husband pointed with his stick, which he carries not to steady himself but to cudgel pedestrians out of his…
Real life
After the £1,100 quote from the vet in London I drove down the A3 and out the other side of…
Would I break my neck for a bit of TV fame?
Not long ago I was asked if I wanted to participate in a Channel 4 reality show called The Jump.…
Would I break my neck for a bit of TV fame?
Not long ago I was asked if I wanted to participate in a Channel 4 reality show called The Jump.…
Tax me more, but don’t touch my dishwasher
There was a big fuss a year or so ago about a book by a French chap called Piketty about…
Wild life
Nairobi Nairobi’s old avenues were designed to be wide enough for a wagon and several span of oxen to U-turn…
Cleisthenes and the EU
One feels that Sir Stuart Rose, leader of the EU referendum ‘In’ campaign, should really try a little harder. First…
Barometer
Matters of life and death Lord Lucan is now officially presumed dead. How do you have someone declared dead? In…
Diary
While browsing in Barter Books, the wonderful secondhand bookshop in Alnwick that is fast becoming a national institution, I came…
France in ruins
From ‘Marching through France’, The Spectator, 12 February 1916: Finally we came to the trenches themselves, and all around was…
Australian letters
Promoting Kevin Sir: I agree with Neil Brown that Kevin Rudd’s narcissism, activity without achievement etc. make him the perfect…
Letters
What’s best for Europe? Sir: It seems that the British negotiations in Europe have produced little, and even at this…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that if Britain left the European Union, France could stop allowing British officials…
Whodunnit?
On 7 February 1506, Albrecht Dürer wrote home to his good friend Willibald Pirckheimer in Nuremberg. The great artist was…
