Mary Killen

Mary Killen writes The Spectator's Dear Mary column.

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

27 August 2022 9:00 am

Q. How can I find out, without making things awkward, whether one of my close male friends fancies one of…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

20 August 2022 9:00 am

Q. Some older American friends take me and my husband out to dinner once a year when they are over…

Don’t grass

13 August 2022 9:00 am

A neighbourly feud is worse than a hosepipe ban

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

13 August 2022 9:00 am

Q. My 74-year-old husband was having drinks in the garden of some young clients when he bit down on an…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

6 August 2022 9:00 am

Q. My parents are abroad for two months and as my flatmates in London are all, like me, working from…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

30 July 2022 9:00 am

Q. Everyone was divine at a very jolly lunch I attended in the Cotswolds with the exception of one person,…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

23 July 2022 9:00 am

Q. I was billeted for a party in Norfolk with a couple previously unknown to me. They were more than…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

16 July 2022 9:00 am

Q. I have found parties frustrating this month because they have been too crowded. Is there a polite way to…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

9 July 2022 9:00 am

Q. This year once again my company took a small group of clients to lunch at Royal Ascot. Our guests…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

2 July 2022 9:00 am

Q. I have heard news of a forthcoming party which I would really love to attend. The problem is that…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

25 June 2022 9:00 am

Q. My girlfriend and I have started using a personal trainer for some joint sessions at our local gym; the…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

18 June 2022 9:00 am

Q. A close friend, who has lost most of her income in recent years, has done something disfiguring to a…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

11 June 2022 9:00 am

Q. As a mildly famous professional cook, I agreed to judge a children’s cake-baking competition at the summer fête of…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

4 June 2022 9:00 am

Q. In order to raise money for a worthwhile cause, I have agreed to open my garden for the first…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

28 May 2022 9:00 am

Q. My wife’s father, who she adored, has died and she is to be his sole beneficiary. She intends to…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Q. I’m 28 and lucky enough to own a four-bed house in Notting Hill. I let three of the rooms…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

14 May 2022 9:00 am

Q. Some years ago, much to the surprise of our many friends in London, my husband and I moved to…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

7 May 2022 9:00 am

Q. We went for lunch over the bank holiday with the parents of one of my son’s schoolfriends. We had…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

30 April 2022 9:00 am

Q. As a publisher, I have been fortunate to discover an unpublished writer who is the author of some truly…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

23 April 2022 9:00 am

Q. Financially successful friends have kindly invited my husband and me to stay for a week in France. Our problem…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

16 April 2022 9:00 am

Q. A great friend is in a terrible state regarding a cat foisted on her by a close relation. She…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

9 April 2022 9:00 am

Q. My brother’s social life has dried up since his divorce (which coincided with the pandemic). So when he received…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

2 April 2022 9:00 am

Q. I live in the Hampshire countryside, in a lovely apartment where I have the use of an old walled…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

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…

Dear Mary

19 March 2022 9:00 am

Q. These days I am on a tight budget while many of my friends are still able to spend freely.…