Mystery and magic
A review of Harrison Birtwistle: Wild Tracks, a conversation diary with Fiona Maddocks. In search of a composer
A perfect stranger
A review of I Put a Spell on You, by John Burnside. A book about love at its most bewitching, deranging and dangerous
Camera shy
Success came just in time for the award-winning director of Gregory’s Girl but then he walked away from film-making – and never looked back
Dazzling caper
Plus: an adaptation of Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun is upstaged by a Stop the War Coalition talk
Land of Overkill
In their latest offering Disney have taken the best of Sleeping Beauty and put it among the worst
Out of the shadows
The British sculptor is getting the recognition he deserves at two new exhibitions in London
Comic genius
If BBC2 is as smug and pretentious as this genius show suggests, how come someone at BBC2 commissioned it?
Listen and learn
Short story competitions are all very well - but who'll be listening in a decade's time?
Bridge
It is always exciting when a strong new team’s tournament enters the calendar, and the inaugural Balaton Invitational, held outside…
Close run
Although world champion Magnus Carlsen clearly secured first place in the Gashimov Memorial tournament, he did not have things all…
No. 316
Black to play. This position is a variation from Mamedov-Motylev, Gashimov ‘B’ Group 2014. How does Black conclude his kingside…
Lines on the Beeb
In Competition No. 2849 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of the BBC. The entry…
Blank crossword
Solvers must create the barred grid for themselves; the resulting grid is symmetrical whichever side is uppermost. When submitting an…
to 2161: Appellation contrôlée
The unclued lights begin with DOC (the Italian abbreviated equivalent of APPELLATION CONTRÔLÉE). First prize Dennis Cotterell, Carlisle Runners-up…
Gove killed neither mice nor mockingbirds
His critics need to get their facts straight before casting him as a bogeyman
