Society

Thursday

Mary Killen

Dear Mary: What is the etiquette of responding to save-the-dates?

Q. I have a problem with a much older friend who is slightly insecure and super-sensitive to criticism and I don’t know how to tell her an uncomfortable truth about her guest lavatory. The lavatory shaft has a coating of thick brown limescale, inches deep. She is not short-sighted so clearly both she and her cleaner think the lavatory is perfectly presentable. I am going to stay with her in London and you might think I should just buy limescale remover but, were I to do so, she would notice the transformation and would then feel she had been foolish not to have known that such a product exists. She

Tanya Gold Tanya Gold

Everything Ottolenghi should be but isn’t: Delamina Townhouse reviewed

Delamina Townhouse is on Tavistock Street in Covent Garden. It is an Israeli restaurant, and a very fine and subtle one, though Israeli restaurants are rebranding as ‘eastern Mediterranean’ these days due to growing Jew hate on London’s streets, which fills me with rage. (I am not talking about criticism of Israel. I welcome all criticism. I am a critic. I am talking about demonisation, and the glib urge to annihilation. Plenty of restaurant critics have a line on the war. I have checked.) But not enough rage to stop eating. I ate for Ukraine at Mriya in Hammersmith: now I eat here. If you think I am decadent, well,

Robin Oakley

My ones to watch this season

With racing there is always a little history involved. One of the few top races John Gosden has never won as a trainer is the one-mile 2,000 Guineas, and many of us hoped that after a scintillating performance in the Craven Stakes his Field of Gold was going to fill the most significant hole in his trophy cabinet. That eye-catching run had ensured that, like his Gosden-trained sire Kingman, Field of Gold started favourite. Sadly, just like his sire, he finished half a length second in the Guineas last Saturday, narrowly failing to catch the Charlie Appleby-trained winner Ruling Court. Gosden doesn’t do sour grapes and few would contest his

Dot Wordsworth

How do you pronounce ‘mayoralty’?

‘Six!’ cried my husband, waving his notebook as he monitored the by-elections. He wasn’t counting Reform wins but the ways of pronouncing mayoralty. The most inventive seemed to be Jonny Dymond on Radio 4, who called them mayoralities, introducing an i, as in words such as realities or moralities. Although mayoralities wasn’t exactly the required word, it sounded much better than the popular but hideous method of basing its pronunciation on mayor as if it consisted in two syllables, may and or, with the second stressed. It is not as though mayoralty was invented in the 21st century along with the vogue for elected mayors, beginning with poor old Ken

Janet de Botton

Bridge | 10 May 2025

Counting, counting and counting are the three most important things to consider, whether you are playing in your local bridge club duplicate or the Bermuda Bowl. Counting declarer’s tricks when you are defending is hard when you are very busy counting your own hand and, when dummy goes down, you can start to work out partner’s  point count and distribution until you have enough information if you have a critical decision to make. This deal from the European Transnational Championships in Budapest earlier this year saw one declarer do everything possible to prepare for his ‘crucial decision’. He forgot only one thing: he was playing against one of the strongest

Luke McShane

Back to winning ways

Vasyl Ivanchuk was at the centre of a heart-rending scene during the tenth round of the World Blitz Championship in New York in December. The former world no. 2 could certainly have won his dramatic game against Daniel Naroditsky, but he lost on time after his nerves let him down at the critical moment. Overcome by emotion, Ivanchuk broke down and sobbed at the board. The Ukrainian grandmaster is a true chess obsessive, loved by fans for his disarming eccentricity as well as his brilliant play. At 56, he had recently dropped out of the world’s top 100 players, but his passion for chess and creative spark appear undiminished. Recently,

Luke McShane

No. 849

White to play. F. Olafsson – Tal, Alekhine Memorial, Moscow 1971. Tal’s last move, attacking the queen, was a huge mistake. How did Olafsson win the game? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 12 May. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Re8! wins, as Rxe8 2 Bxd5+ Nc6 3 Bxc6 is mate. Last week’s winner Bernard T. Golding, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside

Victoria Lane

Spectator Competition: That’s your cue

Competition 3398 invited you to submit a poem about snooker as the world champion-ship was under way. The entries poured in! There were many excellent poems in both camps (snooker being either the best or the most boring thing ever). Among others, Anna Cox, D.A. Prince, Nick Syrett, Kavanagh Millard, Ralph Goldswain and Helen Baty deserve a nod, as does Philip Riseborough: A one-four-sevenWhat heaven, what heaven! The £25 voucher prizes go to those below. When TV’s snooker balls were greyTed Lowe would help us follow playwith, ‘First he’ll take that easy green(mid-grey, near pocket, centre-screen).But that could leave him very tightbehind the red (third ball from right).Though after that

Fieldfare

2702: Some beef

Nine unclued lights form three triplets, each related in a different way to the tenth. Across 1    Cartoonist has formerly captivated Spain (5) 10    Swayed and quit, sick in the stomach (10) 14    Handles fine fish (5) 15    Have a few days at skate park (5) 16    As support, use skinny leg (4,2) 20    Dancer for one popular in scarlet always (8) 21    A lamb chop? (7) 22    Former army head smokes (4) 25    Coal say in chimney left to the end (4) 29    Manage what deli may supply (4,4) 33    Sea having a unifying motif (6) 34    Teenager cleaned out in pathetic fiddle (5) 35    Transport apparently good army

The Spectator

Britain’s decline is a threat to democracy

Democracy was born in the public square. The Athenian agora was the central meeting place of an engaged citizenry where business was transacted, social life flourished and a common direction for the people was determined. The idea of a public square – where individuals operate in a relationship of trust and shared endeavour – is embedded in the life of our democracy. But today, increasingly, our public squares are squalid, lawless, derelict spaces, as Gus Carter records in our cover piece. Shoplifters go unpunished, fly-tipping is unpursued, drug-taking and dealing are commonplace. The busy commercial and social life of the high street a generation ago has been supplanted by rows

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Reform party’s victories, Duke of Sussex’s defeat and Deliveroo’s takeover

Home In a day that upset the apple cart of party politics, Reform won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes, with 38.72 per cent of the vote, compared with Labour’s 52.9 per cent last year. Of 1,641 wards in England up for election, Reform won 677. The Tories lost 676, winning only 317. The Lib Dems gained 163, winning 370 in all. Labour lost 186, winning 99. Reform won control of ten of the 23 councils in contention. The Liberal Democrats won three councils. The Tories lost all their 16 councils. Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a former Tory minister, was elected Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire; Luke Campbell, the

James MacMillan

How silence makes music

‘What!? But they won’t let you in!’ and ‘What!? But they’ll detain you at the border!’ and ‘What!? But they’re all nuts over there!’ were just some of the responses from friends and colleagues at my announcement that I was heading to the US for three and a half weeks’ work. But my visa was valid and accepted at passport control, I wasn’t thrown in jail, and the people whom I met and worked with were perfectly sane, perfect hosts and a perfect delight. First up was the Minnesota Orchestra, where I conducted two concerts of my own music and more well-known works by Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov. Also on the

Wednesday

The Spectator

Coffee House Shots Live: The local elections shake-up

As a subscriber-only special, get exclusive access to The Spectator’s local elections live post-match analysis with host Spectator editor Michael Gove, former Conservative minister Jacob Rees-Mogg and Chairman of the Reform party, Zia Yusuf, deputy political editor James Heale and political correspondent Lucy Dunn.

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Starmer used Kemi’s words against her at PMQs. It worked

Kemi Badenoch tried two ambushes at PMQs. She lambasted Sir Keir Starmer for cutting the winter fuel allowance and leaving old folks to shiver through the coldest months of the year. But Sir Keir claimed that he was merely trying to stabilise the economy. Kemi accused him of balancing the books ‘on the backs of pensioners.’ Sir Keir Starmer blamed his favourite cavity at PMQs, the ‘black hole’ Good start. Kemi has waited a long time to lead on this issue and the clamour of dissent grows daily. She read out a list. The mayor of Doncaster, the Welsh first minister and various grumble-bunnies on Labour’s backbenches are united against

Mike Pitts

How Cornwall led Europe into the Bronze Age

The first smiths worked with copper and gold. Only when tin came to be added routinely to copper to make bronze did metal replace stone for tools and weapons. The innovation transformed Europe and Asia, creating new classes of makers and traders, and new ways to accumulate wealth and express power. And now a surprising study reveals that most of the tin – archaeologists estimate hundreds of tons a year – came from south-west England. Now a surprising study reveals that most of Europe’s Bronze Age tin – archaeologists estimate hundreds of tons a year – came from south-west England Although tin made up only a tenth of bronze, it

Matthew Lynn

Goodbye Warren Buffett

It was a mark of respect. After Warren Buffett, who can lay claim to the title of the greatest investor of all time, told his army of loyal shareholders over the weekend that he was finally stepping down from the Berkshire Hathaway empire he has built over the last six decades, the firm’s shares fell 5 per cent when trading opened on Wall Street. Buffett, however, is 94. It should not have come as a surprise to anyone that he was retiring. In fact, the fall proves once again the central insight on which Buffett has built his remarkable career – the markets are not as efficient as they think

James Tidmarsh

France is quietly tightening its citizenship rules

Bruno Retailleau, the hardline French Minister of the Interior, has issued a confidential circular to regional prefects with a simple instruction: tighten the rules on naturalisation. For decades, France has handed out its passport to people who may speak French, but have little understanding of French history or values, and, in some cases, entered the country illegally. That era may finally be coming to an end. Retailleau has revived the principle that nationality is not a right, but a privilege Retailleau is hardening the assessment of who deserves French nationality, instructing regional prefects, who take the decision as to who gets a passport, to be considerably more tough. No more

Sam Dumitriu

How long can Scotland’s nonsensical nuclear ban last?

Just outside Dunbar, a short drive from Edinburgh, sits Torness nuclear power station. In its 40 or so years of operation, it has produced more than 300 terawatts hours of zero-carbon electricity – enough to power every single home in Scotland for 36 years. Torness was set to close in three years, but received a two-year stay-of-execution from the nuclear regulator. There are hopes that a further extension is possible, yet most industry experts expect Scotland’s last nuclear power station to close before 2035. When that eventually happens, Scotland will be without nuclear power for the first time since 1959. And when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t

Thomas Edwards

Catholics are praying for a speedy conclave

The Conclave, which meets in the Vatican today to elect a new pope, is likely to be brief. For the past hundred years, no conclave has exceeded four days, with two days being the most common. It seems unlikely that this one will be an exception. Many Catholics, at least, hope as much. The cardinals will not wish to expose the divisions within the Church to the world through a prolonged and fractious conclave. Taking their time would suggest a Church paralysed by competing factions. Convening quickly would project unity and resolve. The cardinals – mindful of both history and optics – will not wish to let ideological divisions harden