Nigel’s controversy
British chess grandmaster Nigel Short has form when it comes to provocative statements. When competing in a tournament in France…
No. 360
Black to play. This is from Short-Polgar, Madrid 1995. Judit Polgar is the strongest female -player ever, with an overwhelming…
Eating poetry
In Competition No. 2895 you were invited to submit a poem describing a meal with a well-known poet. Sylvia Fairley…
Dear Mary
Q. Six months ago I invited some old friends to be my guests at a reunion dinner. We all love…
Square meal
The Portrait Restaurant lives at the top of the National Portrait Gallery, London. It is fiercely modern, but likeable. You…
The right choice
Listen http://az592690.vo.msecnd.net/media/channels/viewfrom22/acasts/theelectionwhereeverybodyloses/ALL/ALL/ALL/viewfrom22-theelectionwhereeverybodyloses.mp3 When election day dawns, it’s worth bearing in mind that two million more people will be going to work…
High life
Talk about how the mighty have fallen. Time magazine was for the better part of the 20th century the model…
Low life
Two stylists work at this deeply rural French ladies’ hairdresser. Christelle is a gorgeous 17-year-old point-of-lay pullet, so lithe and…
Quarter
‘No quarter given,’ yelled my husband as he stabbed at a cushion with his stick, spoiling the cavalier effect a…
Come on you blues. Or, er, reds
Here’s an election-winning idea for Dave: forget about Aston Villa (or West Ham) and become a full-on Bournemouth fan. They…
Reuniondues
A couple of weeks ago I returned to my old Oxford college for a ‘gaudy’ — posh, Oxford-speak for a…
Reuniondues
A couple of weeks ago I returned to my old Oxford college for a ‘gaudy’ — posh, Oxford-speak for a…
The real McCoy
At Sandown Park last Saturday an era ended. Twenty thousand of us turned up to cheer on Tony McCoy as…
Start-up culture in Ancient Greece
Honduras wants to establish start-up cities to experiment with alternative economic, regulatory, and legal systems. Could this concept help stop…
Barometer
One-way stretch A study at Louisville University in Kentucky concluded that collisions are twice as likely in one-way streets as…
An empire for Islam
From ‘The Khalifate’, The Spectator, 1 May 1915: It seems that the Ottoman Empire is likely to crumble away, and in that…
Portrait of the week
Home The British economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, the slowest quarterly growth for…
Crowd pleaser
Firstly, a message to all Marvel fanboys: there is nothing for you here. Nothing. No CGI, no endless battles, no…
Mexican wave
Tours that start in Mexico have a nasty habit of repeating on one. Of all the British groups touring in…
Mexican wave
Tours that start in Mexico have a nasty habit of repeating on one. Of all the British groups touring in…
John Eliot Gardiner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner is talented almost beyond measure. His Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and stupidly named Orchestre Révolutionnaire…
John Eliot Gardiner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner is talented almost beyond measure. His Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and stupidly named Orchestre Révolutionnaire…
Sum total
Midnight to dawn adding one more to the serial tally, love and irritation carried over, borrowed and paid back, all…
Only the Tories can meet the aspirations of Ikea’s hard-working families
If Ikea were a constituency, it would be a three-way marginal. That was my thought one morning last week as…
