Life
Language
If you haven’t come across it before, let me introduce you to ‘linguistic engineering’. This useful expression has been around…
Watching the Euros final in Italy was a bad idea
There was not a Spaniard in sight, I was pretty sure of that. But I was surrounded by the enemy,…
Dear Mary: How do I keep my phone safe on the beach?
Q. My husband and I have just been on a wonderful long weekend abroad to a friend’s 60th birthday. We…
The intersectional feminist rewriting the national curriculum
The appointment of Becky Francis CBE to lead the Department for Education’s shake-up of the national curriculum is typical of…
Why Keely Hodgkinson is the one to watch at the Olympics
The Olympics have been creeping up on us through the forest of top-class sport this summer. But now they’re here,…
The hidden depths of ‘deep dive’
My husband has taken to crying out or braying ‘Haar, ha!’ at the wireless whenever he hears something particularly foolish,…
Spectator Competition: Pitch battle
In Competition 3359 you were invited to present an account of a historical event as football commentary. There were enough…
My shameful shortcut to perfect pesto
Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been… too long since my last confession. Picture the scene. I…
Has there ever been a jockey like Oisin Murphy?
We are blessed these days with a rare stream of jockey talent including the likes of William Buick, Ryan Moore,…
Me vs the plumber
My one finished bathroom featured a sink so small I could only wash one hand in it at a time,…
Jeremy King has done it again: The Park, reviewed
The Park is the new restaurant from Jeremy King, and it sits in a golden building to the north of…
How to drown your sorrows
Age. At the Spectator party last week, the editor asked me how long I had been attending the festivity. I…
Is Donald Trump a ‘badass’?
Logan Paul, a wrestler with 23 million YouTube subscribers, called Donald Trump’s immediate reaction to his shooting ‘the most badass…
Are the Rees-Moggs ready for their new reality?
I felt slightly anxious for Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg when I read he’d agreed to have a reality show made about…
Dear Mary: Help! My teeth are too white
Q. I ride a bike from Chiswick to the City each morning. It is a ten-mile journey that takes 45…
My father was the best of England
I always think of my father at this time of year. In particular, I go back to the summer of…
