Australian notes
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in Sydney the other day was an entirely different bouilloire de poissons from the presentation…
Australian diary
The Paris climate conference venue is a sight to behold. Over 40,000 people crowd into the temporary venue created using…
Hungarian notebook
Where better to hold a one-day conference on ‘Islamic Radicalism and the West’ than in the Great Hall of the…
Manchester reunion
One of the enduring benefits of emigrating at an early age is that you are not expected to attend school…
Culture buff
It may be the best thing to come out of Belgium after chocolates. Or even the only good thing after…
One of the immortals
I feel I have lost part of myself with the death of Harry Butler at the age of 85. Though…
Letters
Mind altering Sir: I was quite surprised to find the spread of mind altering drugs had reached Wandandian NSW but…
Sweet 2016
There is much to look forward to, and indeed much to be grateful for, as we embark upon the adventure…
Misprint
Stealth is its policy. It lies in wait. It is no respecter of age. It turns up late Or far…
Albania
Seferis’s line about his native Greece, ‘Our country is a closed in place, all mountains’, haunted my mind as I…
Banking on chess
As the new year begins, I pay a final tribute to the city financier Jim Slater, who did so much to…
Chess puzzle
Black to play. This position is from Wright-Keene, Slater Tournament, Southend 1968. Black’s next move destroyed the white kingside and…
No thanks
In Competition No. 2928 you were invited to submit a thank-you letter for a particularly unenjoyable Christmas visit to relatives…
Dear Mary
I have been alone in the country this festive season as my adult children and most of my friends are…
Commanding vintages
As the bottles flowed, the talk ranged, to a serious vineyard, an awesome Field Marshal and a delightful restauranteur. For…
Soggy thinking
As the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, Lord Deben, observed this week, there is a bizarre dislocation between…
High life
This is going to be one hell of a year, hell being the operative word. It will be the year…
Long life
The Egyptian driver of a London minicab said almost nothing during our journey but dropped me off at my destination…
