Humour
How a grumpy llama became the third person in our relationship
Gussie is the name of a grumpy and ill-natured llama, her coat largely white and somewhat unkempt, and much given…
Dear Mary: My doctor keeps asking me for advice on selling furniture
Q. I know it’s a gaffe to ask a doctor for medical advice at a party, but what is the…
From Jekyll back to Hyde: the changing face of Begbie
Irvine Welsh’s 1993 debut novel Train-spotting flicked a hearty V-sign in the face of alarm-clock Britain. ‘Ah choose no tae…
Dear Mary: My husband leaves all cupboards and drawers open
Q. Re. your letter from F.C. about the boyfriend leaving lids off (20 February), I have a similar problem. My husband…
Dear Mary: new neighbours want me to provide a ready-made social scene
Q. Former colleagues, with whom I got on very well in the context of the office, are buying a house…
Dear Mary: How can I teach my boyfriend to put the lids back on?
Q. I love my boyfriend but he has a terrible habit I was unaware of before he moved in. If…
Dear Mary: Our granddaughters are giving money away to a cause we do not support. Should we cut off their funding?
Q. We have two granddaughters working hard and happily at university. It is our pleasure to give them some cash…
Dear Mary: What do you do when too many people accept a party invitation?
Q. What can be done when more people than you can cater for accept an invitation? We are giving a…
Dear Mary: On a troublesome festive invitation
I have been alone in the country this festive season as my adult children and most of my friends are…
Osbert Lancaster: a national treasure rediscovered
True to his saw that ours is ‘a land of rugged individualists’, Osbert Lancaster, in his self-appointed role of popular…
Dear Mary: How to stop someone from giving my tiny children expensive clothes that they never wear?
Q. Is there a tactful way to deter certain people from buying clothing for one’s tiny children as Christmas presents?…
Nick Robinson’s diary: What dog will donate its vocal cords to me?
Scientists are experimenting with growing replacement vocal cords in the lab, as well as transplanting them from dogs. That was…
There’s a right way to lose at the Oxford Union. I did the wrong way
The way not to win a debate at the Oxford Union, I’ve just discovered, is to start your speech with…
The secret brilliance of Prince Philip’s ‘gaffes’
I’ve just been on the receiving end of a Prince Philip gaffe, of sorts, and I loved it. It was…
Patrick deWitt is a literary original but he needs to BE MORE FUNNY
Patrick deWitt is a Canadian writer whose second novel, a picaresque and darkly comic western called The Sisters Brothers, was…
Woody Allen: a life of jazz, laughter, depression —and a few misdemeanours
Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg), the prolific, Oscar-winning auteur, New Orleans-style jazz clarinettist, doyen of New York delicatessen society,…
Harry’s Homer — a humorous history
It was a certain unforgettable ex-girlfriend, Harry Mount confesses — named only as ‘S’ in his dedication — who came…
A crime novel so incompetent it might have been written by a child
First, a quote from the novel under review. The context: it is a flashback scene of the behaviour of a…
Dear Mary: Someone told me their extraordinary life story, but I tuned the whole thing out
Q. After a recent dinner I found myself on a two-seater sofa enjoying the restful company of a woman who…
The 10 best loo books of 2014: why we sing so much better in the shower and what became of Queen Victoria’s children’s milk teeth
Nancy Mitford would not call them ‘toilet books’, that’s for certain. Loo books? Lavatory books? One or two people I…
Was John Cleese ever funny?
Like many of my generation I was enchanted by the surrealistic irreverence of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, until I overheard…
Should I report my boyfriend to the police?
We’re now so eager to take offence that humour is almost impossible
Samuel Beckett walks into a nail bar
It isn’t very often that a writer’s work is so striking that you can remember exactly where and when you…
Dear Mary: What can I do about guests who don’t know how to wash up properly?
Q. I have three spare bedrooms in London and I welcome friends to come and stay. Unfortunately, some of these…
Dear Mary: How long must I wait to tuck in?
Q. I am always making or receiving phone calls which get cut off. When I ring the person back their…
