Life
Dear Mary: How do I tell my neighbours I’m too busy to stop for a chat?
Q. My parents are abroad for two months and as my flatmates in London are all, like me, working from…
Should you really pair Pimm’s with oysters?
Imagine a camel train, crossing the great desert. The remaining water is rancid; the beasts’ humps are shrunken. Death looms.…
What do ‘catcalls’ have to do with cats?
‘A law against catcalls?’ asked my husband sceptically. ‘What next, criminalising booing and hissing?’ He often gets the wrong end…
The Battle for Britain | 6 August 2022
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Aussie life
New US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy had them at her first media conference interjection: when the white, stale male journalist (the…
Language
It was Will Self (writing in The Speccie) who drew my attention to the new word ‘uberise.’ He says he…
Escaping the memory of Liz Truss: Noci reviewed
Sometimes this column has a guest reviewer: a dining companion. It was Liz Truss in late summer 2011, for the…
The etymological ingredients of ‘flageons’
‘Don’t you know the answer?’ asked my husband with mock surprise, throwing over to me from his armchair a copy…
Heavy is the head
On International Chess Day, 20 July, Magnus Carlsen announced that he will not defend his world championship title next year.…
2566: Somewhere XII
Somewhere in 23D 30 July is important. Remaining unclued lights (including two pairs and a trio) give the place’s capital…
Spectator competition winners: A Kentish Lad
In Competition No. 3259, you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘A(n) [insert county of your choice] Lad’. There…
I’ve seen the future of motor racing, and it’s quiet
Are petrolheads’ days numbered? I only ask because having just been introduced to the quiet, petrol-less world of Formula E,…
My Icelandic holiday with Kevin and Perry
I’m currently on holiday in Iceland. I say ‘holiday’, but I’m with my three teenage sons so it’s more like…
2563: Areas for development - solution
As suggested by 11 across, the other unclued lights were anagrams of capital cities: 23A Nairobi, 25A Nassau, 29A Lima,…
The Battle for Britain | 30 July 2022
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No. 713
White to play and mate in two. Composed by Henri Rinck, La Strategie, 1892. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk…
Dear Mary: How do I stop a mutual friend giving my contact details to a man I don’t like?
Q. Everyone was divine at a very jolly lunch I attended in the Cotswolds with the exception of one person,…
I’ve been bitten by the TikTok bug
In theory TikTok knows nothing about me. I have posted two videos: one of my grandsons kicking a football in…
How Monte Carlo went to hell
I now find resorts more fun out of season. Civilised tourists are as rare as an intelligent Hollywood movie, so…
There are almost no animals left – but we’ve been here before
Laikipia You know things are bad when the zebras are thin. Even during most droughts, zebras are like matrons at…
The Lycra louts are back
‘That will be £7.50 please,’ said the girl in the bakery to the cyclist in black Lycra after he put…
Bridge | 30 July 2022
The bridge world is coming back to life with a bang. The World Championships were held (live) in March, the…
Aussie life
Sport has always played a big part in Australian life, but in the interests of diversity it would be wrong…
Language
No sooner had the words ‘blue murder’ appeared on the cover of this august journal than a Speccie reader was…
Dear Mary: How do we say no to a neighbour who wants to use our pool?
Q. I was billeted for a party in Norfolk with a couple previously unknown to me. They were more than…
