Life
Carmageddon: the electric vehicle boondoggle
A couple of years ago I thought seriously about buying an electric car. Not a hybrid, but the full monty.…
We survived the worst drought in a generation
The Farm, Laikipia I realised the worst drought of this generation was at last over this morning when two Samburu…
Why do people assume I am posh?
If we cram any more doctors into our spare rooms we can put a sign outside advertising NHS accommodation. We…
Aussie life
The Melbourne Comedy Festival’s continuing refusal to apologise for not closing this year’s festival with a tribute to its co-founder…
Language
The word ‘gender’ has been part of the English language since at least 1390. It appears to have started at…
The joy of real beer
England. Despite being a Scotsman, partly brought up in Ulster, I have taken so much Englishness for granted over so…
The case against koalas
There was a reason 18th-century rulers were eager for their subjects to grow and eat potatoes: the miraculous tuber offered…
I’ve ridden my last rollercoaster
I was in Canada last week, travelling across British Columbia on a luxury train called the Rocky Mountaineer. It was…
Kitty’s Light is the horse of the year
John Trotwood Moore, one-time State Librarian of Tennessee, was a racist and defender of the Ku Klux Klan. But in…
The pros and cons of kissing
Marketa stands on one side of me, Catriona on the other. Marketa is Czech and my carer. Catriona is my…
Aussie life
One of the few survivors of Gough Whitlam’s Camelot, that legendary cultural icon and eminent Australian diplomat, Sir Les Patterson,…
