West End wannabe
The Royal Ballet’s other programme, Connectome/Raven Girl, shows that Wayne MacGregor is no better a storyteller than Acosta
Bridge
Congratulations to my old pal Lou Hobhouse, who has just been appointed the new editor of the English Bridge Union…
When escape to the sun — or even to Devon — goes horribly wrong
New crime fiction from Sophie Hannah, Christian Schünemann and Jelena Volic, John Niven and F.H. Batacan
The secret brilliance of Prince Philip’s ‘gaffes’
Having just been on the receiving end of one, I can now see them for the clever conversational gambit that they are
The Church of England’s shameful betrayal of bishop George Bell
This fair, just, brave man deserves the simple justice of the presumption of innocence.
Lush, lyrical, exquisite
This is a film to enter your heart and your bones. And there’s not an Aston Martin in sight
Winter of discontent
The two great Soviet world champion Russians, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, have almost always taken divergent paths. Karpov was…
The fall of a king
In a wholly unforeseen manner the King has suffered like any of his soldiers from the risks of the campaign
Warning: this book only contains strong language
Home is Burning — a son’s tormented memoir of coming to terms with his father’s terminal illness — is crude, obscene, haunting, and very good
Letters
Plus: saving the elephant; what to do about Corbyn; 40 is an issue for everyone; Ingrams on Frost
Christmas markets
Watching the first snowflakes fall on a cobbled square filled with twinkling lights will chase away all festive cynicism
Fantasy on ice
The Tallis Scholars have performed on every continent on the planet except one. Founder Peter Phillips wishes to correct this
No. 386
White to play. This is from Kasparov-Karpov, London/Leningrad (Game 16). Kasparov saw this conclusion many moves in advance. White would…
A chronic case of mass hysteria
Schiff has immersed herself so deeply in the 1692 witch trials that the innocent victims of mass hysteria actually appear to be guilty in some way
Fashion
In Competition No. 2922 you were invited to invent new garments and provide definitions. Thanks to the reader who, inspired…
Frank’s world
Six books published to mark Sinatra’s centenary agree that he was a legend — but wasn’t that desire, passion, despair and heartache always a bit adolescent?
Why most four-year-olds deserve to be sectioned
Plus: a slow-motion version of the 2012 Olympics from Dominic Sandbrook in BBC2's Let Us Entertain You
2236: Alphabetical jigsaw
This week’s puzzle breaks away from the traditional thematic puzzle. Instead, here is an alphabetical jigsaw for solvers to tackle.…
To the ends of the earth
Naomi Williams’s novel Landfalls skilfully recreates Lapérouse’s ill-fated 1785 expedition of discovery, which vanished without trace
To 2233: Clutching at straws!
The unclued lights are CHEESES. First prize M. Taylor, Eskbank, Midlothian Runners-up D.G. Page, Orpington, Kent; Katherine Griffin, Winchester, Hants…
Discover your inner nerd
There’s a curious thing about the bowling green in my Suffolk village. The footpath running alongside it is on a…
Nature beats nurture nearly every time
We all try to improve our children’s life chances but how they turn out is mostly in their genes
Through the eyes of spies
Max Hastings’s Secret War concludes that most secret agents aren’t effective; but Paddy Hayes finds a fantastic heroine in Daphne Park, Queen of Spies
