Family

Dear Mary: How can I stop friends staying after a 21st?

24 January 2015 9:00 am

Q. A neighbour is hosting a party for his daughter’s 21st birthday. Adequate provision has been made for anyone who…

Penelope Lively’s notebook: Coal holes and pub opera

13 December 2014 9:00 am

I have been having my vault done over. Not, as you might think, the family strong room, but the place…

Pacific-sized love

29 November 2014 9:00 am

Flying from Hawaii and my grandfather

Life is full of little endings. We should pay them more attention

22 November 2014 9:00 am

Life is full of little endings. We should pay them more attention

Alexander Masters’s diary: The idea that could unlock dozens of new cancer drugs

15 November 2014 9:00 am

Two million pounds can buy you consideration for a place on a medical trial! Every year untold numbers of potential…

Why there’s no such thing as an Etonian

11 October 2014 9:00 am

Finally, just in the last few years I’d say, we’ve all begun to accept the role of nature in the…

My boy the radical Muslim

4 October 2014 9:00 am

Reckoning with my stepson’s turn to radical Islam

Today’s Disney princesses look like Russian mafia wives. This is their café

4 October 2014 9:00 am

The Disney Café is a gaudy hell on the fourth floor of Harrods, Knightsbridge. It is adjacent to the Harrods…

Rextail: a restaurant for billionaire children

20 September 2014 9:00 am

Rextail is a restaurant for billionaire children, such as Richie Rich. Its owner, Arcady Novikov, has already opened a restaurant…

My amazing dad has found the secret of a happy life

13 September 2014 9:00 am

This week I wanted to tell you about my amazing dad. He hasn’t died or anything. I just thought I’d…

Countries shape character (so get ready to like Scots less)

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Is national character real? If so, how is it formed?

I know that Richard Dawkins is wrong about Down’s syndrome, because I know my son

6 September 2014 9:00 am

I know that people with Down’s syndrome are not better off dead, because I know my son

Dear Mary: Is it an insult to be given anti-ageing cream?

30 August 2014 9:00 am

Q. When someone gives you anti-ageing cream as a present, is that an insult or a compliment? — A.O., Provence…

Dear Mary: Show me the tactful way to pay for a lift

23 August 2014 9:00 am

Q. My neighbour is really lovely and always helps me chainsaw trees. He used to be the herdsman at the…

Dear Mary: What do we do with a teenage guest who hogs the bathroom?

16 August 2014 9:00 am

Q. We have taken a flat in Edinburgh for a month and a young girl, temporarily homeless and a friend…

What’s the point in being married if I can’t feel superior to my single friends?

9 August 2014 9:00 am

I’m due to speak at an Intelligence Squared debate on Saturday and I’m worried that I might be on the…

Want to be a neglectful parent? Come to a festival and learn

2 August 2014 9:00 am

I spent last weekend at Port Eliot in Cornwall. This is supposed to be a literary and music festival and…

Dear Mary: How can I tame my brother’s savage table manners?

26 July 2014 9:00 am

Q. I live far away from my brother and his family, but went to stay with them recently for the…

I used to think I was a Nietzschean superman. Now I know I'm just a dad

7 June 2014 9:00 am

In The Wolf of Wall Street, there’s a poignant shot towards the end in which we see an FBI agent…

Yes, Britain is a Christian country

26 April 2014 9:00 am

I can’t say it was a great surprise to read a letter from a group of well-known authors, academics, comedians…

For my family, the Vikings exhibition was about as much fun as being raped and pillaged

12 April 2014 9:00 am

Have you managed to book tickets to the Viking exhibition at the British Museum yet? If you haven’t, my advice…

Dear Mary: My teenager insists on an NHS operation. What can I do?

12 April 2014 9:00 am

Q. Our son, aged l6, has a medical condition which, although not life-threatening, requires surgery by a specialist to pre-empt…

Why working class grandparents are better than middle class ones

22 March 2014 9:00 am

When I told a friend that my nine-year-old son was staying with his grandparents for the whole week of the…

Why Boris is wrong to say that the children of jihadis should be taken into care

8 March 2014 9:00 am

Do your children have a bleak and nihilistic view of the world? It’s hard to tell, really, when they spend…

Agitprop for toddlers: the oddly strident politics of CBeebies

25 January 2014 9:00 am

The oddly strident politics of CBeebies