DINNER PARTY INTEL: UK golf faces a tricky hazard

1. Caught in a trap

The latest gossip doing the rounds in the UK is that the government is considering whether to stage a future Open at Turnberry in Scotland. It is up to the sport’s governing body, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, to make the call. One reason for the speculation is that the club is now known as Trump Turnberry and its owner has repeatedly asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer to support it as an Open venue. Starmer hasn’t commented.

2. Snakes on a train

One of Japan’s Shinkansen, or bullet trains — known for their speed and punctuality — had its schedule disrupted last week by a snake. The train between Tokyo and Osaka was delayed by about 90 minutes when the snake became entangled in a power line, causing an outage. Such incidents are rare, but in 2024 a 40cm snake was found in a passenger carriage on a train between Tokyo and Nagoya, causing a 17-minute delay.

3. Homicide, life in the bush

It’s not quite a murder docket that police in Kleinmond, Western Cape, have opened but they are treating it as such. The victim is a Pringle Bay baboon, Aramis, whose carcass was discovered with several bullet wounds. The perpetrator faces a possible R10,000 fine or jail term (or both) and some locals have offered a reward of R51,600 for information leading to arrest and conviction.