Dogs
Why compulsory microchipping is bad for caring dog-owners
Compulsory microchipping of dogs will hurt caring pet owners – but help busybodies
Dear Mary: Must I have name badges for guests at my wedding?
Q. My husband-to-be and I both work full time. We are getting married from his family HQ and his kind…
Dreaming of bringing your favourite pet back to life? Soon it could be reality
The super-rich are already bringing beloved dogs and horses back to life. Soon the rest of us will be able to do it too
Dear Mary: How do I address a magistrate of indeterminate sex?
Q. Some years ago, while appearing as a barrister before a bench of three magistrates in the youth court, I…
A film in which nothing happens — yet everything happens: 45 Years reviewed
Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years stars Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as a long married couple whose relationship is disturbed by…
Pampered middle-class pooches are in charge of their owners
Why won’t the middle classes shout at their dogs any more? My suspicion is that the bleeding heart liberals, having…
In praise of the pit bull terrier
Last night I saw a woman dancing with a pit bull terrier. It was about 9 p.m. and her curtains…
It’s dark days for dogs and their owners
So who is poisoning all the doggies, then? I assumed, when the first horrible reports came through from Crufts, that…
A dog to remember (and the wine he inspired)
Meeting to taste wine, we started by talking about dogs. Roy Hattersley is good on the subject, which ought to…
Dear Mary: How will Joan Collins introduce herself now she’s a dame?
Q. We enjoyed the Christmas University Challenge series featuring mature graduates, some of whom were more in the public eye than…
A miracle: French hotels actually like dogs
The first time I checked in to a French hotel with a golden retriever — his name was Gregory, predecessor…
Griff Rhys Jones’s diary: I am now less of a celebrity than my daughter’s dog
In order to promote the Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia festival, I am trying to persuade Jason Morell, the director, that…
Dear Mary: Learning to love a man who whistles through his nose
Q. What can you do when disorganised friends say they would love to come to a concert with you but…
Spectator letters: In defence of the GMC and Ukip members, and how Rachmaninov spelled Rachmaninov
Nothing to fear Sir: So long as we are not breaking any law, we have nothing to fear from the…
I’ve spent years in war zones. And the most terrifying moment of my life just happened in Norfolk
I’ve spent years in conflict zones. But the scariest thing that’s happened to me involved two bull terriers on a Norfolk beach
From jailbird to social butterfly – the return of Conrad Black
The former proprietor of this magazine, Conrad Black, is in London at the moment with his gorgeous wife Barbara, and…
Spectator letters: Interpreting Islam, and Spectator-reading thieves
Chapter and verse on Islam Sir: Irshad Manji’s generally very sensible article on ‘Reclaiming Islam’ (29 March) suggests using the…
Spectator letters: Bereaved parents against press regulation, and a defence of Tony Benn
Why we need a free press Sir: As bereaved parents and (to borrow from some signatories of last week’s advertisement)…
The battle against the dog police
Feral bureaucrats are banning dogs from places they’ve been walked for generations. But now owners are fighting back
We buy dogs to reflect ourselves. So who’s buying all these killer pitbulls?
I’ve called the doggie hospital three times now to find out how Jessie’s getting on. She’s just come round, at…
A spirit to warm Bruegel’s ‘Hunters in the Snow’
The ostensible subject matter is misleading, as is any conflation with his lesser relatives’ wassailing peasants and roistering village squares.…
What nannies know
Soon after moving to London at the age of 20, Nina Stibbe wrote to her sister Vic saying, ‘Being a…