Life
Aussie life
I’ve just watched Senator Fatima Payman’s performative ‘I quit but not really, I’m moving to the crossbenches’ media conference. It…
Language
Angry people keep chanting ‘Free Palestine’ on our streets. They shout that ‘Palestine’ should stretch from the Jordan River to…
48 hours of food in Andalusia
In Spain, you can eat all day – and we did. Earlier in the summer, I spent two days in…
Murray shouldn’t have relied on injury-prone Raducanu
Talk about raging against the dying of the light: Andy Murray and President Biden both. Murray because he is no…
Dear Mary: is it rude to listen to sport at a wedding?
Q. We live in the countryside, where the door is always open. Last week when it was sunny we had…
Next time, I’m swimming to Calais
Friends in Calais invited me to their baby’s birthday party. He’s a year old. They suggested an overnight stay and…
Drama on the London Underground
The girl lay slumped against a wall in front of me and someone ran to push the emergency button. I…
Politicians have to be gamblers
Politicians pretty well have to be gamblers. You give up a promising career in, say, dentistry, teaching or accountancy for…
How to make perfect scones
I am evangelical about scones as a gateway bake – they are the perfect entry point for the nervous baker.…
What Labour could learn from Australia and New Zealand
I’m just coming to the end of a four-week speaking tour Down Under and have spotted some worrying signs of…
Aussie life
For most of China’s 1.4 billion population, 2024 has been the Year of the Dragon, which makes it, according to…
Language
I’ve been searching through the language used to describe the train wreck of a presidential debate between Joe Biden and…
Can a home really be forever?
Graham Norton’s latest novel ‘blends dark humour and emotional weight with ease’, says the Radio Times. That may well be,…
Dear Mary: can you leave a party without saying goodbye?
Q. Often at parties strangers bear down on me looking excited and are then offended when I don’t recognise them.…
The key to dealing with this election? Wine
An old friend phoned. Normally cheerful, he was fed up. One of his business partners was being more than usually…
How Elon Musk could solve the housing crisis
People sometimes ask me why I don’t go into politics. Why on earth would I do that? No, if you…
My nights with the eagle owls
Provence Summer has arrived. The evenings are warm enough to sit out on the balcony terrace and watch the lights…
