Low life
In the blue corner, the Ninja. In the red corner, Mr Chops. Slumped in the corner, their poor dad
Long life
Casualties in the Chancellor household so far: two rabbits, and vocal score of White Christmas
Express train
The erratic Ukrainian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk has scored an overwhelming victory in a rapidplay tournament sponsored by the Latvian railway.…
No. 310
Black to play. This is from Kantans-Malakhov, Latvian Railway Open, Riga 2014. Black has achieved a tremendous build-up on the…
Poet’s choice
In Competition No. 2843 you were given a list of poets’ surnames — motion, bridges, wilde, gray, cope, hood, burns…
2158: Late bloomers
The unclued lights (33 with I) are of a kind, all verifiable in Chambers under the appropriate headword. Across…
2155: Poor Billy’s left out
The unclued lights are SIBYLS (the title was an anagram of BILLY’S with L omitted). First prize Judith Bevis, Newport,…
An initiation into anxiety
Some time I may feel more fear than I did ten years ago, in my son's first frightening days. But I hope not
Relaxing with Marcus
Strange goings on at the third corner of Knightsbridge's celebrity-chef triangle
Abbott’s Asia accolades
Abbott-watchers amateur and professional are still having trouble coming to grips with the Prime Minister’s foreign policy. The latest intellectual…
Bob’s your writer
The former foreign minister is being attacked for being a quirky, witty and irreverent diarist
Brown Study
Monday nights are back to normal and I can watch the new season of Game of Thrones, the brilliant dungeons…
Diary
Some years ago, on a flight from Adelaide to Sydney, while putting my hand luggage in the overhead compartment, I…
Australian Notes
Bob Carr’s Diary of a Foreign Minister is further evidence for those who need it. Years ago the late John…
Letting go
We are not, by our nature, a militaristic people, and it is significant that our most well-known military venture was…
The slow death of free speech
How the Left, here and abroad, is trying to shut down debate — from Islam and Israel to global warming and gay marriage
