Primary notes
My heart sank when I read the PM arrived in Washington, DC just a few days after I left. God…
Culture buff
If your backyard is good enough to have been considered for inclusion in the Open Garden Scheme then I’m sorry…
Pink ball diary
As a lover of cricket and history, the chance to witness the first-ever day-night Test match was something I was…
Kerr’s curse
Here it is, yet another book on the Dismissal. The fall of Gough Whitlam in 1975 has created quite a…
Culture defeat
Could somebody please disband the miserable committees whose ‘job’ it is to select the so-called ‘Australian of the Year’? No…
Islamic extremism, Nazism and modernity
Exposure to the liberal, modern, progressive world may not be enough to stem the lust for unthinkable barbarism
Australian letters
Punishing failure Sir: Once I finished chuckling at Neil Brown’s words on Christopher Pyne’s NPC plan for encouraging innovation in…
Sharing the Dog
The Dog share didn’t work out well in the end. For a start, Dog — no mean manipulator — cadged…
Siftings
And we awake like children to tiny snow sprinkled on shed and car roofs, thinking, Will it last, will it…
Another Slice
All the books stored above our heads, all the books there aren’t enough hours to read again, and still we…
The Venice Accademia
The Accademia is one of the smallest of the world’s great art galleries, and picture for picture perhaps the most…
Another Slice
All the books stored above our heads, all the books there aren’t enough hours to read again, and still we…
Keres scene
This week I conclude my homage to the great Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres, who was born a century ago this…
No. 393
White to play. This is from Keres-Mardle, Hastings 1964. How did Keres ignite his attack? Answers to me at The…
Doublespeak
In Competition No. 2932 you were invited to submit up to 16 lines of verse that are the fruit of…
Your problems solved
Q. For the past two New Year’s Eves we have ducked an annual party given by some acquaintances, who are…
Border spirit
There has been a gastronomic revolution in London. For some years, the Boisdale restaurants, often mentioned here, have featured Macsween’s…
‘In’ trouble
David Cameron wants to get the European Union referendum over with quickly — and understandably so. Things are still going…
