Melissa Kite

Melissa Kite writes The Spectator's Real life column.

To be jabbed – or not to be jabbed?

31 July 2021 9:00 am

The doctor’s receptionist was adamant. ‘If you had not had the vaccine you would have been even more ill with…

I enjoy making a nuisance of myself for a good cause

24 July 2021 9:00 am

The scaffolding pole across the public footpath led to a farcical conversation with the local council. I had been walking…

We have incurred the wrath of the shoot boys

17 July 2021 9:00 am

Since telling the shoot we won’t let them use the land we rent, we have been beset by a series…

Why I’ve gone off country sports

10 July 2021 9:00 am

‘Oh, I do so love to see all the lovely pheasants running around the place,’ said the lady walking the…

The National Trust delinquents strike again

3 July 2021 9:00 am

The woman sat alone and stony-faced in the passenger seat of the car as it blocked the road. She was…

I’m gypsy and proud

26 June 2021 9:00 am

Exciting news from my father’s cousin in Canada. ‘You asked about our grandfather, there is much to tell,’ he writes.…

My medical embarrassments are my business and no one else’s

19 June 2021 9:00 am

While we were looking forward to Freedom Day, the National Health Service was busy planning something extra special to coincide…

The truth about Surrey’s obsession with horse masks

12 June 2021 9:00 am

A saloon car pulled up opposite our fields and a man sat there looking at the horses with a bewildered…

Why I finally succumbed to my musclebound osteopath

5 June 2021 9:00 am

‘You’ll come back when you’re in enough pain,’ said the osteopath as I walked out of his door. That was…

How can we feed our horses when there’s no hay?

29 May 2021 9:00 am

‘We’re closed for lunch,’ said the farmer, sitting behind the counter of his farm shop with a scowl on his…

Crunch time: why has Walkers changed its salt and vinegar crisps?

29 May 2021 9:00 am

Henry Walker might never have got into the crisp business were it not for the fact that his Leicester butcher’s…

Just how far will the NHS go to get me jabbed up?

22 May 2021 9:00 am

More threatening letters from the NHS demanding I let them jab me up with two Covid vaccinations. Or as the…

Our local councillors who’ve lost their seats must be sighing with relief

15 May 2021 9:00 am

An angry text exchange between me and a former Tory councillor after she lost her seat has got me thinking.…

Why do hygienists self-sabotage?

8 May 2021 9:00 am

‘You’re meant to be having your dental appointment now!’ barked the receptionist, bringing my lie-in to an abrupt end. Very…

Why the Tories won’t let me display a local election poster

1 May 2021 9:00 am

Being told by the Tories not to put a local election poster in my window because it will only remind…

When people say ‘do your bit for your country’ what they mean is ‘do your bit for my holiday’

24 April 2021 9:00 am

Trying to get hold of HRT in the time of Covid is like trying to score crack. Possibly, scoring crack…

Our doctor’s surgery is beginning to look like a Category A penitentiary

17 April 2021 9:00 am

When the time came for the nurse to ring me to take my blood pressure, the phone simply didn’t ring.…

‘Protect the NHS’ is all very well, but when will the NHS protect us?

10 April 2021 9:00 am

After refusing to issue my HRT without a blood pressure test, the GP surgery rang to offer me an appointment.…

How not to walk a dog

3 April 2021 9:00 am

Watching a woman driving a dog past my house like a carthorse is just another ‘new normal’ of lockdown. This…

The ugly truth about natural horsemanship

27 March 2021 9:00 am

The rope riders came down the driveway slowly, their horses veering this way and that, side to side, forwards a…

Why I’ve gone right off the police

20 March 2021 9:00 am

‘Welcome to Victims First. Please leave your name and number and we will return your call. Beeeeeeeeeeeep!’ I had rung…

Lockdown is making a criminal of me

13 March 2021 9:00 am

‘Have you had your jab, Margery?’ said one Surrey lady to another in the queue for take-away coffee at the…

The curse of semi-invisible road signs

6 March 2021 9:00 am

‘We’re sorry your experience with us has not been a good one,’ said the press officer at Surrey Police. ‘You…

Beware the hobby bobby

27 February 2021 9:00 am

‘Anything you say may be given in evidence. Do you have anything to say?’ I looked at the baby-faced police…

The mystical power of the word ‘unsafe’

20 February 2021 9:00 am

The street light as bright as the Dog Star was fitted with a shield, and I was assigned my own…