Life
Spectator competition: Marking time
Competition 3349 invited you to write a poem riffing on the line ‘I have measured out my life with coffee spoons’,…
‘Terribly chic’: how to make chouquettes
I have become obsessed with the French idea of goûter, the time in the afternoon when French schoolchildren have a…
How a hitchhiker gave me a glimpse into my past
On the mantel shelf of the cave there’s an invitation to my middle daughter’s wedding in August. This happy event…
Aussie life
As the terrible events in Bondi Junction last month reminded us, fortune doesn’t always favour the brave. Indeed, the courage…
Language
Speccie reader Terry writes to ask when and where did ‘non-binary’ come into the language – and who applied it…
Do voters really prefer Starmer?
Rishi Sunak has been widely ridiculed for trying to spin the local election results as bad news for Keir Starmer.…
How to solve ‘range anxiety’
In ‘The Adventure of Silver Blaze’, Sherlock Holmes mentions ‘the curious incident of the dog in the night-time’. ‘But the…
Dear Mary: what should I do if a fellow passenger is reading porn?
Q. On a recent short-haul flight, I had the misfortune to be seated next to a much older man who…
Do sparks really fly?
‘Sparks,’ said my husband, after a short pause. I had asked him what one could spark. His answer was true…
How to become an old soak
Drink and longevity: there seems to have been a successful counter-attack against the puritans, prohibitionists and other health faddists. Indeed,…
My battle with the dreaded ‘black cotton’
Laikipia, Kenya By the time I set off from the farm before dawn we’d had 22in of rain in the…
Do charities really deserve my mum’s data?
A letter from Archie Norman, chairman of M&S, popped into my inbox after I complained that I had run over…
My vote winner? Banning ‘fun’ runs
One of us must once have told a political pollster: ‘I really have no idea at all who I’m going…
Aussie life
From a nation that gave us riot police, rude waiters, baguettes and non-negotiable submarine contracts we have a new word,…
Language
The expression ‘non-racist’ is still missing from most of the world’s major dictionaries (Oxford, Merriam-Webster, Collins, Macquarie) but perhaps this…
Who decides which politicians are liars?
This week the Welsh parliament has been debating a law that would ban politicians from lying. Assuming it ends up…
