Life
Admit it – Italian food is rubbish
Every year I’m summoned to a gathering which I strive to avoid. My first cousin, who loves a boozy party,…
Why are doctors blaming my birth for my mother’s tumour?
A curious letter has been sent to my mother blaming the tumour in her neck on my birth. An NHS…
The real reason Ofcom has gone after GB News
I don’t envy the people who run Ofcom. On the one hand, they’re under enormous political pressure to sanction GB…
Harris Tweed, the miracle fabric
To understand the development of technology, you may be better off studying evolutionary biology rather than, say, computer science. A…
Spectator Competition: Beg to differ
In Comp. 3350 you were invited to write a refutation of a well-known line from literature. Ian Jack once imagined…
The myth of the global majority
‘You make the cotton easy to pick, Mame,’ sang my husband with execrable delivery. ‘No,’ I said, ‘You can’t sing…
Dear Mary: how do I stop our cousins’ dog peeing on the curtains?
Q. I have a friend whom I see quite often who keeps asking me if I will ‘get her invited’ for…
Kiwi life
Is it possible to be simultaneously entertained and depressed? Well, yes. Just try living in New Zealand in 2024. The…
Language
If your younger acquaintances start referring to you (or anything you do) as ‘mid’ they are not being polite. For…
‘Great restaurants can’t thrive in Hampstead’: Ottolenghi reviewed
Ottolenghi is an Israeli deli co-owned by Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli Jew, and Sami Tamimi, a Palestinian Muslim. They met…
The early tragedy of the flat season
The Flat season proper has opened with an almighty shock and a cruel tragedy. First City of Troy, the latest…
Is pro-golf eating itself?
Spare a thought for Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag. He’s got a fairly crummy, injury-hit team who appear to have…
Confessions of a catnapper
As Christopher Snowdon recently pointed out, the past few governments have had a habit of passing laws that are either…
Dear Mary: how should I thank a friend for dead flowers?
Q. I left fashion school last year and since then I’ve spent most of my time applying for jobs and…
Can you ‘go gangbusters’?
‘Is it anything to do with cockle-picking?’ asked my husband, confident he was on the right track. Naturally he wasn’t.…
I feel for my Jewish friends
‘So what you’re telling me,’ said the priest to the builder boyfriend, ‘is that you were brought up by Irish…
