Mark Palmer

The brutal truth about holiday packing

20 August 2022 9:00 am

The general flying advice this year, with airports resembling cattle markets and when you can’t be sure if you’re ever…

Britain’s travel ban brings risks of its own

3 April 2021 9:00 am

It’s time to get Britain travelling again

The quarantine debacle could cripple Britain’s travel industry

13 June 2020 9:00 am

The quarantine debacle could cripple British tourism

Why Tuscany always beats Provence for me

14 December 2019 9:00 am

A family of peacocks is sunning itself in our villa garden. They all look extraordinarily happy and composed, especially the…

Top flight: A plane lands at London City Airport

The joy of flying from London City Airport

27 July 2019 9:00 am

The late Frank Johnson — former editor of The Spectator — had a thing about London City Airport. ‘I never…

The end is nigh: the rise of middle-class apocalypticism

29 June 2019 9:00 am

There’s a lot of anger about — and it’s not pleasant. But at least it means people are engaged as…

(istockphoto.com)

The problem with TV? There’s too much to watch – and it’s all too good

13 April 2019 9:00 am

Friends in Herefordshire said they were both fit and well but confessed to ‘watching far too much television’. I thought…

The Linz skyline

Tuning up to Linz

5 January 2019 9:00 am

You never know who you might meet on a river cruise. It was my 89-year-old father-in-law, Noel, who first recognised…

Homelessness isn’t a government priority. It should be

1 December 2018 9:00 am

King’s Cross station at 10.30 p.m. is not a happy place. Most commuters have long returned to their centrally heated…

Everything always tastes so much better in a car

The guilty pleasure of the McDonald’s drive-thru

10 November 2018 9:00 am

My wife and I have a set routine after landing back at Gatwick. We collect our bags, clear customs and…

Durban Notebook: a nation in paralysis

20 October 2018 9:00 am

No one likes uncertainty and in Britain we’ve got more than our fair share. But spare a thought for South…

Putin’s World Cup is the most political tournament ever

26 May 2018 9:00 am

Politics and sport should never mix is the hoary old chestnut — but they always do. It’s a thrilling concoction.…

Good grief: Death isn’t something you just get over

5 May 2018 9:00 am

Just over a year ago, my best friend dropped dead. He was in his early sixties and many of us…

No strings: padel is played with a solid racquet

Padel power! But will this crazy new sport ever be a hit?

20 January 2018 9:00 am

When we arrived, we discovered that our villa had a padel court. Few of us had seen one before and…

Low spirits

7 October 2017 9:00 am

You may have noticed that we’re in the throes of a 21st-century Gin Craze. It’s not as serious as the…

Would you prefer useless or expensive? The truth about tooth-whitening

9 April 2016 9:00 am

The booming tooth-whitening business, and what it can’t do for you

Banish the canapé and give me a cocktail sausage!

2 January 2016 9:00 am

Let’s get rid of these ridiculous thimble-sized offerings

On song: Bob Dylan performs at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in 2011; photographers are banned on his current tour

Never again, I told myself last time Bob Dylan was in town

29 October 2015 9:00 am

We were like four hapless contestants on University Challenge. None of us knew the answer. But just like they do…

Palaces and alleyways: Stone Town

The wonders of Zanzibar’s Stone Town

17 October 2015 9:00 am

Mark Palmer explores the Spice Island’s historic heart

Bring back the bungalow!

17 October 2015 8:00 am

We’re not building the right houses for our ageing population

Mario Balotelli (Photo: Jamie McDonald/Getty)

I've loved football for decades. Now I dread the start of the season

8 August 2015 9:00 am

I’ve spent years defending football from middle-class disdain. But I can’t do it any more

Letter from Cuba: The tourists are coming – but don’t expect Walmart just yet

4 April 2015 9:00 am

Sloppy Joe’s — which starred in the film of Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana — was always likely to…

Why I'm proud to have an England flag on my Audi

14 June 2014 8:00 am

Let’s drop the cynicism and support Roy Hodgson’s England team

View of Antibes

My mother's passport to the Antibes good life

3 May 2014 9:00 am

My mother always said she wanted to ‘die tidy’. But I never imagined she would file everything away quite so…