Dogs

Why compulsory microchipping is bad for caring dog-owners

9 April 2016 9:00 am

Compulsory microchipping of dogs will hurt caring pet owners – but help busybodies

Dear Mary: Must I have name badges for guests at my wedding?

6 February 2016 9:00 am

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

14 November 2015 9:00 am

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?

19 September 2015 8:00 am

Q. Some years ago, while appearing as a barrister before a bench of three magistrates in the youth court, I…

The face of a film: Charlotte Rampling is hypnotic in ‘45 Years’

A film in which nothing happens — yet everything happens: 45 Years reviewed

29 August 2015 9:00 am

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

27 June 2015 9:00 am

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

9 May 2015 9:00 am

Last night I saw a woman dancing with a pit bull terrier. It was about 9 p.m. and her curtains…

How (not) to poison a dog

14 March 2015 9:00 am

Deadly to dogs An Irish setter was allegedly poisoned at Crufts, using beef containing slug pellets. Some other substances with which dog-show rivals…

It’s dark days for dogs and their owners

14 March 2015 9:00 am

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)

14 March 2015 9:00 am

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?

10 January 2015 9:00 am

Q. We enjoyed the Christmas University Challenge series featuring mature graduates, some of whom were more in the public eye than…

Three glamorous guests, 1921

A miracle: French hotels actually like dogs

22 November 2014 9:00 am

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

25 October 2014 9:00 am

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

25 October 2014 9:00 am

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

18 October 2014 9:00 am

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

11 October 2014 9:00 am

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

5 July 2014 9:00 am

The former proprietor of this magazine, Conrad Black, is in London at the moment with his gorgeous wife Barbara, and…

The Dickin Medal is a morally dubious piece of nonsense

3 May 2014 9:00 am

Apparently, mice think that women are useless. I don’t mean that they think women mice are useless — they’re keen…

Spectator letters: Interpreting Islam, and Spectator-reading thieves

5 April 2014 9:00 am

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

29 March 2014 9:00 am

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

15 March 2014 9:00 am

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?

15 February 2014 9:00 am

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’

15 February 2014 9:00 am

The ostensible subject matter is misleading, as is any conflation with his lesser relatives’ wassailing peasants and roistering village squares.…

What nannies know

14 December 2013 9:00 am

Soon after moving to London at the age of 20, Nina Stibbe wrote to her sister Vic saying, ‘Being a…

A dog mess or two is not too high a price to pay for an owner’s happiness

2 November 2013 9:00 am

A month ago I was reporting complacently that peace and calm had returned to Stoke Park after a series of…