Life
What the British could learn from the French
If I ran the British government, to promote more heterodox thinking I would employ a small cadre of French people…
Are Queens Park Rangers cursed?
A dark cloud has descended over Queens Park Rangers, my beloved football club. On 22 October last year, when we…
In praise of small racecourses
Mrs Oakley not being a turfista, she rarely joins me on a racecourse expedition. But before we had a dog…
Power-crazed zealots have taken over Surrey AA
‘What’s Bill W. got to do with it?’ said one of the committee members to the others as they discussed…
Could a therapist fix my philandering?
New York Is it poor little ol’ me imagining things, or are Americans becoming stupider by the minute? I’ve been…
Kiwi life
Climate catastrophe? Follow the money Because of the importance of the claim that CO2 has the potential to cause considerable…
Language
Australian journalist Miranda Devine (currently working on the New York Post) has drawn our attention to a new word ‘totting’.…
Eat here now: Darjeeling Express reviewed
Darjeeling Express lives at the top of Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street, which was once the world-famous embodiment of…
Spectator competition winners: poems for Betty Boothroyd
In Competition No. 3292, you were invited to provide a poem to mark the death of Betty Boothroyd. The formidable…
In praise of Sharron Davies
It’s been quite a while since we celebrated any of Sharron Davies’s considerable achievements in the pool – well, a…
There’s no bargaining with my wife
For me, one of the joys of going abroad is bargaining with the local sellers. They name an extortionate price;…
