What’s the point — or indeed charm — of a classic English country house if it’s not at least 300 years old, drafty, slightly moth-eaten and in permanent need of renovation? Well, quite a lot, argues architect George Saumarez Smith in his new book The Romance of Classicism: Designing the English Country House for Today, the subject of this piece by Victoria Woodcock. Saumarez Smith extols the virtues of building a classical-style country house from scratch and makes a strong aesthetic case for doing so. To appease traditionalists, he does some suitable hand-wringing: “The idea of a new country house is one that elicits a ‘certain reticence’. It is a particularly English reticence, one that is uncomfortable about too much newness. I even feel it myself, loving as I do the worn, lived-in look that is such an important part of English taste and of old-fashioned country-house style.”

His shabby-chic credentials established, he then enumerates the delights of the new build: among them being more energy efficient, less of a hassle when it comes to regulations and — irresistible surely — “zero-rated for VAT”. The piece calls to mind a long-lost documentary, The Englishman’s Home, for which the poet Sir John Betjeman did the voiceover in 1969, where he spoke of Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire: “the grandest Elizabethan House of all, but look at the date, 1837, Victorian Elizabethan, but just as genuine-looking as the real thing and, I think, as impressive”. Who’s to argue?

Do you play chess? The game has never been so cool or its global following so large. The website chess.com now has a quarter of a billion members, and the industry is predicted to double in value to $7.66bn by 2034. In New York, the Guggenheim and MoMA have seen mass pop-up events; you’ll find chess nights in jazz clubs, speakeasies, “rinky dink” bars and street corners; there’s a chess-themed private members’ dating app called Checkmate; everyone from Ai Weiwei to England international footballer Eberechi Eze is playing. Thanks to Ella Mansell’s report on the phenomenon, I’m almost tempted to try my hand again.

Another thing that seems to have cycled back in fashion – smoking cigarettes. Celebs are at it, after two decades of the habit being relegated to the naughty step. Beyoncé and Alexa Chung, Madonna and Charli XCX have all been photographed lighting up, models are sporting cigarette packets on the catwalk and smoking is back on mainstream TV and cinema. When I gave up six years ago, aged 49, I felt like an outlier. My friends had long ago stopped. Not even Keith Richards smoked any more. Younger generations vaped, but they’d never be stupid enough to take up the real thing, would they? Turns out they would. We asked Jude Jones to explore the new draw.

Finally, it’s the FT Weekend Festival at Kenwood House in Hampstead on Saturday 5 September and we’d love to see you at the HTSI stage for a day of lively discussion and debate across fashion, food, wellness and more. It’s the perfect way to spend a late summer’s day and Jo, Louis, myself and the team look forward to welcoming you.

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THREE MORE STORIES TO READ THIS WEEK

Why everyone wants a one-carat ring Demand for solitaire diamonds is booming. And not just for proposals The world’s best ice cream stores: readers vote again Additions to our dessert compendium, as chosen by you Chava, a temple to shirts in Mexico City A men’s shirting obsessive tailors her love of womenswear and more at this store

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