Notes on a scandal
Girls went wild after Scheherazade and Rite of Spring, dressing in peacock colours and turbans. Plus: William Byrd may not have been a very nice person
Pensioner passion
Plus: A Swedish film about young men dying of Aids proves love doesn't run out when life runs out — it's the other way round
The President’s devotions
Every day for six years, Joshua Dubois has sent a devotional email to the President, and they have little to do with politics — review
Collision course
An exhibition at the Science Museum makes you feel like a particle in those tubes at Cern that are changing our understanding of life, the universe and everything
High life
New York I’m in an extremely happy state as I write this because a young Englishman flew over the ocean…
Low life
It’s a disgrace! I went up to London from Devon, a hick up from the sticks, to Annabel’s in Berkeley…
Real life
Emmylou Harris and the McGarrigle sisters wrote a song called ‘All I left Behind’. My version is called ‘All They…
Long life
John Thompson, who died last week at the age of 93, could have been editor of The Spectator if he…
Dirty rotten scoundrels
In one of those old Mae West films a girl admires her friend’s jewellery: ‘Goodness, what lovely pearls,’ only to…
Bridge
One of the most dramatic events of the Spanish American War was the sinking of the cargo ship Merrimac. Early…
London classics
This year’s London Classic tournament, organised by the indefatigable Malcolm Pein, who also heads up the charity Chess in Schools…
7 December
Black to play. This position is a variation from Evans-Staunton, London 1845. Can you spot Black’s fine finish to the…
Winter’s tale
In Competition 2826 you were invited to submit nonsense verse on a wintry theme. The line between sense and nonsense…
2142: Wintry
Each of seventeen clues comprises a definition part and a hidden consecutive jumble of the answer including one extra letter.…
to 2139: Separated
The key word is BUTTERMILK (8), which can be separated into words defined by 15, 27, 40; 4, 23, 25;…
How I lost the battle of the cards
Which would you rather receive — cards from my kids' primary in Shepherd's Bush, or cards from the West London Free School? I know which I'd rather send
More Grand Theft Auto, less crime
Data suggest computer games have brought about a fall in crime levels — are those who seek to ban such games being too utopian for society's good?
Dear Mary
Plus: Using the Spectator, here's how to deal with gossipy passengers on the train (provided the passengers aren't savages)
Claret’s class war
Mouton is now classed as a first growth, though some oenophiles — and not only from Lafite — still dispute this claim
Push back
It's now in vogue, is popular with academics and denizens of the Westminster bubble — and sometimes has no meaning
Say it ain’t so, Joe
Under which particular pillow does Joe Hockey hope to find a lazy trillion dollars lurking? That’s the estimated investment Australian…
Brown Study
I have just spent several wonderful days watching the unfolding of a magnificent drama about dragons, crazy sisters, narcissists, misfits,…
End of McTernanism
The upshot from the Gonski drama is that Tony Abbott has killed his own inner spin doctor
