Sabs don’t want to stop fox-hunting; they never did
That’s why they dress up in balaclavas and boiler suits and try to thwart a pretend hunt
Boris Johnson’s diary: Amid the China hype, remember Japan
This place was the future once, too. In many ways it still is
The car insurance industry is a disgusting racket
It’s designed so that as many industries as possible can get their snouts in the trough
How far can Bernie Sanders go?
It seems extraordinary, but the socialist senator of Vermont could be on track to win the Democratic nomination
To tip or not to tip
First there was an anti-tipping movement in Britain and now the first crack has appeared in the American tipping culture
The clock towers bigger than Big Ben
Plus: the decline of British steel; and a comparison of prime-ministerial jets
Heathrow’s third runway could still be halted – here’s how
Plus: Why it’s right to welcome Chinese money; and a spot of le French-bashing
What Ryszard Kapuscinski airbrushed out of his bestselling book
He didn’t include the puncture, his travelling companions or his fit about missing tea with Haille Selassie’s relatives
Revenge and Edith Cavell
From ‘Reprisals’, The Spectator, 23 October 1915: The Germans lately executed Miss Cavell, a good and brave English hospital nurse, on a…
The Hinkley Point disaster
Britain’s new nuclear power plant, if it happens, is guaranteed to produce some of the most expesnive energy in the world
Bridge
It’s not surprising that so many bridge players feel such a sentimental attachment to The Young Chelsea. The club was…
Iran’s hidden war with the West – and what we can do to fight back
The nuclear deal makes it more vital than ever that Britain helps hold Iran to its obligations
Ex libris
When I first studied chess I thought it was a golden age for chess literature. There were the classics such…
Anglesey: la dolce vita in north Wales
It’s an outdoors place, with puffins, basalt stacks and beaches of what might be mistaken for Caribbean sand
No. 384
Black to play. This position is from Inarkiev-Salem, World Blitz, Berlin 2015. How did Black conclude the attack? Answers to…
Rocker to writer
In Competition No. 2920 you were invited to submit an extract from a novel written by a rock star of…
2234: A greater measure
One unclued light is the name of a drink which can be measured into three ingredients. Each ingredient has three…
To 2231: On the side
Unclued lights made mottoes around the rim of one-pound coins: (33) NEMO ME (12) IMPUNE (40) LACESSIT, (18) DECUS ET…
The fine art of talking bunkum
Sir Nicholas Serota exaggerates how much the arts have been downgraded in schools and universities since 2010
Spontaneous recombustion: how vapers have re-invented pipe-smoking in electronic form
EU plans to ban all devices except ‘cig-alikes’ will destroy an innovative new industry
Dear Mary: How can I greet friends without clashing specs?
Plus: Directory inquiries for the elderly; how to correct a poor compliment
