Culture Buff
Mark Twain famously said ‘Golf is a good walk … ruined’. Bondi locals possibly think that Sculpture by the Sea…
Turnbull sticks with ‘offend’ and ‘insult’
His refusal to support the Bob Day changes to 18C will further alienate the new PM from conservatives
Australian Notes
If you look up the website of the late Australian philosopher David Stove, you will find the following mysterious announcement:…
Pierre’s progeny
The return of a Trudeau promises the start of a Canadian dynasty, and a lot of bouncing taxpayers’ cheques
Aux bien pensants
If the Turnbull government had been elected in 2013, there can be no doubt that illegal immigration would now be…
Australian Letters
Foraging natives Sir: Simon Collins is right about England supporters’ world class barracking [Spectator. Oct 24th]. Having wasted my youth…
In Other Eyes
Someone to trust with parcels, because he’s ‘always in’; the character who locks the gate at night and lingers to…
Bone Scanning
Perhaps like Superman I will see through walls now that I’ve tanked up on isotopes lighting bruise-blue veins and sparking…
The Lake District
Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling is the best thing in the Lake District. I lived near Wigton, just north of the…
Bone Scanning
Perhaps like Superman I will see through walls now that I’ve tanked up on isotopes lighting bruise-blue veins and sparking…
Doctor Hou
Hou Yifan has won what must be considered one of the strongest, if not the strongest, all-women chess tournaments ever…
No. 385
White to play. This position is from Koneru-Zhukova, Monaco 2015. How did White quickly exploit the constricted position of the…
Fictihew
In Competition No. 2921 you were invited to write a clerihew about a fictional character. The clerihew is a comic…
Dear Mary: How can we make our dinner guests go?
Q. Many of our best and oldest friends have done so well they have stopped work. Meanwhile my husband still…
The Pit of hipsterdom
Penny is an all-day café in the former Pit Bar in the basement of the Old Vic, a famous and…
The Australian example
For many years, Australia has been turning away boats filled with migrants. From a remove, this looks cold–hearted — a…
High life
To Cleveland, Ohio, where middle America’s middle class begins its great Midwest sprawl. I’ve always wanted to visit Cleveland because…
Long life
The Metropolitan Club in Washington is so close to the White House that President Obama chose to walk there for…
Long life
The Metropolitan Club in Washington is so close to the White House that President Obama chose to walk there for…
Low life
The fag end of October. Dark evenings. My smelly old Barbour. Chopping and splitting wood. Uncanny stillnesses. Psychedelic maple trees.…
Low life
The fag end of October. Dark evenings. My smelly old Barbour. Chopping and splitting wood. Uncanny stillnesses. Psychedelic maple trees.…
Fulsome
It’s funny that two much misused words end in —some: fulsome and noisome. Noisome is the less often used at…
Real life
‘This is a two Voltarol day,’ I thought, as I popped another pill and settled into the bath after Darcy’s…
