Family

How to date a widower

25 November 2023 9:00 am

Letter From Santiago

14 October 2023 9:00 am

The simplicity and joy of recorded conversations

23 September 2023 9:00 am

The simplicity and joy of audio recordings

Why on earth did The Spectator support Brexit?

12 August 2023 9:00 am

The temperature has hit 40°C in Crete, where I am writing this, and although there have been no fires, nothing…

Dear Mary: how can I make my untidy twin look better?

12 August 2023 9:00 am

Q. I have a public profile and have always looked after my personal presentation, but my identical twin has never…

Why I had to let go of my late sister’s house

5 August 2023 9:00 am

Why I had to let go of my late sister’s house

The dangerous cult of ‘toxic parents’

5 August 2023 9:00 am

Complaining about ‘toxic parents’ has been a viral hit on TikTok with videos on the topic racking up several billion…

The making of a poet: Wilfred Owen’s ‘autobiography’ in letters

5 August 2023 9:00 am

How, between 1911 and 1917, Owen became the dazzling poet we know and love is the story told in Jane Potter’s new edition of his selected letters

Barometer

29 July 2023 9:00 am

Diary

15 July 2023 9:00 am

The root of the problem

20 May 2023 9:00 am

The novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo is attracted by the freedom a New York job promises, but misses the young daughter she has left behind in London

Why British women are turning to Danish sperm donors

13 May 2023 9:00 am

How the import of Danish sperm has become big business

Why Britain needs more marriage

10 April 2023 11:17 pm

Hungary is something of a bête noire in the international community. Viktor Orban and his government have had much-deserved condemnation…

Why I donated a kidney to a stranger

27 August 2022 9:00 am

Why I donated my kidney

My Icelandic holiday with Kevin and Perry

30 July 2022 9:00 am

I’m currently on holiday in Iceland. I say ‘holiday’, but I’m with my three teenage sons so it’s more like…

Where does a mother’s history end and a daughter’s begin?

23 July 2022 9:00 am

Where does a mother’s history end and a daughter’s begin?

Parenting matters. It's about time we were brave enough to say so

19 June 2022 7:04 pm

The Duchess of Cambridge has been out and about hosting roundtables with very important people, discussing what can be done…

The close friend I never really knew

28 May 2022 9:00 am

I have just read an extraordinary new book. It’s by a close and old pal whom I’d count as one…

The tragedy of being a QPR fan

23 April 2022 9:00 am

Normal families spend the Easter holidays by the seaside or in the Mediterranean. But not the Youngs. My three boys…

Elegy in a country churchyard

2 April 2022 9:00 am

‘I love this old watering can,’ said my sister, sprinkling the miniature rose. ‘Though I do worry about soaking Mum.…

When did brothers and sisters become ‘siblings’?

2 April 2022 9:00 am

I never cared much for the word sibling, though I hardly knew why. The reason must be that it was…

Dear Mary: How do I stop my husband spying on me?

26 March 2022 9:00 am

Q. My husband has developed an irksome habit whenever he goes abroad without me. We have cameras outside the house…

What really happened when my wife left me in charge

12 March 2022 9:00 am

I’m currently standing at the top of Brownie Point Mountain, having spent the past two weeks looking after our three…

Howard Jacobson superbly captures the terrible cost of becoming a writer

26 February 2022 9:00 am

Howard Jacobson, who turns 80 this year, published his first novel aged 40. Since then he has produced roughly a…

Why a church in Jerusalem is the model for all family-owned holiday homes

12 February 2022 9:00 am

Malindi, the Indian Ocean When I lived in Jerusalem a long time ago, I often visited the Church of the…