The first Clive Palmer
When former Liberal Prime Minister, John Howard, was finishing off his autobiography Lazarus Rising in 2010 I asked him whether…
Parmenion
Athens The air-raid siren howls Over the quiet, the un-rioting city. It’s just a drill. But the unearthly vowels Ululate…
Fiuggi
L’acqua di Bonifazio This spa town sparkles on its hilltop: hydros, park For ballo liscio; stands For…
Country house opera
I stole a blanket last night. Rather a nice one, in fact. I feel bad about it, of course, but…
Fiuggi
L’acqua di Bonifazio This spa town sparkles on its hilltop: hydros, park For ballo liscio; stands For…
Dark lord
A new book, Opening Repertoire: The Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian by Christof Seilecki (Everyman Chess), focuses on the ever popular Nimzo-Indian…
No. 367
Black to play. This is from Spassky-Fischer, World Championship, Reykjavik (Game 5) 1972. This is probably the most famous ‘dark-square’…
Howzat!
In Competition No. 2903 you were invited to supply a poem incorporating a dozen cricketing terms. English poets love cricket:…
Your problems solved
Q. I was at the theatre recently and bumped into a well-known Liverpudlian crooner coming out of the disabled lavatory.…
The claret of the gods
I cannot remember a jollier lunch. There are two brothers, Sebastian and Nicholas Payne, both practical epicureans. They have made…
Let Greece go
The campaign to keep Greece in the euro has resulted in five years of groundhog days. The unfortunate country seems…
High life
When I founded the American Conservative 13 years ago — the purpose being to shine a light on the neocon…
Long life
My friend Alan Rusbridger has just given up editing the Guardian after a distinguished 20-year reign that has climaxed, as…
Long life
My friend Alan Rusbridger has just given up editing the Guardian after a distinguished 20-year reign that has climaxed, as…
Low life
Before delivering his sermon, the vicar said we must offer one another the sign of peace. He struck the first…
Low life
Before delivering his sermon, the vicar said we must offer one another the sign of peace. He struck the first…
Speak human
The next Labour leader will have to be able to speak human, said a piece in the Observer. This, it…
Real life
Aren’t the police getting younger nowadays — and ruder, and scruffier and more intolerant of middle-class women? In other words,…
The best way to end the ‘poshness test’
There’s a warning buried in the detail of the new report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission on…
The best way to end the ‘poshness test’
There’s a warning buried in the detail of the new report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission on…
A lightbulb moment at the self-checkout
I spent the last few days in Deal and Folkestone with Professor Richard Thaler at Nudgestock, Ogilvy’s seaside festival of…
Wild life
Laikipia, Kenya Out cross-country running on the farm in Kenya recently, I came face-to-face with a gang of bull…
Aristotle on the Lego chair
So Cambridge University has accepted £4 million from the makers of Lego (snort) to fund a Lego chair (Argos sells…
Barometer
Dropping the Clangers The Clangers made a comeback on BBC television. Some Clanger facts: — The actors doing the voices…
