Pubs
Give us a pubs tsar – but spare us Tim Martin
More than a third of UK universities are in financial doo-doo: staff cuts, cancelled courses, slashed research budgets and possible…
No tips please, we’re British
I hate tipping, not because I am intrinsically mean but because of the anxiety it induces. You pitch up at…
Fellowship of the Lamb: how we’re saving Tolkien’s pub
How a group of regulars are saving Tolkien’s pub
Why do British galleries shun the humane, generous art of Ruskin Spear?
Where do you see paintings by Ruskin Spear (1911–90)? In the salerooms mostly, because his work in public collections is…
How likely is a false positive from a Covid test?
Positive thinking The government wants us to test ourselves for Covid-19 twice a week, using lateral flow kits which will…
Why it’s a good time to invest in a pub
It’s obvious from the body language of Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey that negative interest rates — much talked…
Is any song more lucrative than ‘Happy Birthday’?
Last orders The new tier restrictions have made life difficult for pubs. How many are closed? — According to the…
How we became a nation of choirs and carollers
Alexandra Coghlan on how we became a nation of choirs and carollers
Wishful drinking: pubs have always been good at bending the rules
Pubs have always been good at bending the rules
Dublin double act: Love, by Roddy Doyle, reviewed
Far be it from me to utter a word against the patron saint of Dublin pubs, Roddy Doyle. Granted he’s…
Hats (and knickers) off to the hosts: The Naked Podcast reviewed
I spent half an hour this week listening to a woman make a plaster cast of her vulva. Kat Harbourne,…
Leicester has a history of lockdowns
Leicester lockdowns Leicester was forced to impose the first local lockdown, in response to a reported surge in cases of…
Letters: Our churches bring comfort – they must reopen
Is ‘the Science’ scientific? Sir: I hope that those in the highest places will have read and will act upon…
How do Britain’s pubs get their names?
An easy one: what links Jack Straw’s Castle, The Labouring Boys and The Jolly Taxpayer? No, not the parliamentary expenses…
We need an inquiry into the Elizabeth Line farce
If you know my personal history with Barclays, you may be wondering whether I’m for or against Edward Bramson. To…
Children are everywhere – and they’re spoiling everything
There was a time when middle-class liberals used to complain that the English were a nation of child haters. They…
Word of the week: 'concept'
‘It was nothing special, but it was a pub,’ said my husband, looking up from his copy of Bar magazine…
Six rules for a perfect pub
Whenever one of those news stories appears about how many pubs have been forced to close in the last year,…
The fight to save the Gladstone Arms is a battle for the soul of London
The fight to save the Gladstone Arms is the fight to save London
Michael Heath's diary: I've fallen among hipsters (and I have the T-shirt to prove it)
I now live in the hippest part of London, Shoreditch. It must be Tony Blair’s idea of heaven, a multicultural…
Gyles Brandeth's diary: The pub where the Queen came in by the fire escape
Hard on the heels of the 90th birthday of Nicholas Parsons (10 October) comes the 65th birthday of the Prince…
