Mary Killen

Mary Killen writes The Spectator's Dear Mary column.

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

12 March 2022 9:00 am

Q. Rory Sutherland recently wrote about high-end takeaways (Wiki Man, 19 February). In the last London lockdown, I was fortunate…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

5 March 2022 9:00 am

Q. Recently I started hanging out with a new friend. We are both in our twenties, single, and usually go…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

26 February 2022 9:00 am

Q. Three weeks ago I banged my head on the lower branch of our near neighbours’ tree, which I couldn’t…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

19 February 2022 9:00 am

Q. As if it wasn’t bad enough to overhear one side of a conversation as it’s bellowed into a mobile…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

12 February 2022 9:00 am

Q. My partner’s work involves him seeing and talking to people all day, every day. I booked us on to…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

5 February 2022 9:00 am

Q. My husband and I have made friends with two distinguished, although fairly eccentric, writers whose company we thoroughly enjoy.…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

29 January 2022 9:00 am

Q. I treat myself to a manicure every ten days. It’s a 30-minute appointment and the girl I use is…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

22 January 2022 9:00 am

Q. A long-standing artist friend, whose work now commands high prices, has sent me out of the blue a present…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

15 January 2022 9:00 am

Q. My cleaner is industrious and trustworthy but she doesn’t have many people to talk to and evidently looks forward…

Dear Mary

8 January 2022 9:00 am

Q. I live alone, happily and remotely, but many miles from my immediate family. My son’s wife has very kindly…

Dear Mary

18 December 2021 9:00 am

From Lady Antonia Fraser Q. I enjoy getting readers’ letters, but there is one category I am at a loss…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

11 December 2021 9:00 am

Q. My mother-in-law has remarried and now lives in South America. She has a large family with nieces, grandchildren, godchildren,…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

4 December 2021 9:00 am

Q. We have moved into a terraced house in a seaside town. Our joy is confined, however, by the fact…

Dear Mary

27 November 2021 9:00 am

Q. I belong to a fairly intimate private club which is the one reliable oasis of calm and civility that…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

20 November 2021 9:00 am

Q. We have recently installed security cameras in our remote holiday house in the south of France and I was…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

13 November 2021 9:00 am

Q. My husband has fallen in love with ‘the country’ and retired to Exmoor while I maintain a presence in…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

6 November 2021 9:00 am

Q. I will shortly be attending a major social gathering in London at which I can look forward to seeing…

Dear Mary

30 October 2021 9:00 am

Q. Our two daughters often bring friends down for the weekend. These friends are more than welcome; we enjoy their…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

23 October 2021 9:00 am

Q. During lockdown I made good friends with a neighbour who I would never have met otherwise. This man lives…

Dear Mary

16 October 2021 9:00 am

Q. On a train journey the other day I sat opposite someone I found immensely attractive. We struck up a…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

9 October 2021 9:00 am

Q. An acquaintance suggested organising a celebratory dinner in honour of some mutual friends. He asked my husband and me,…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

2 October 2021 9:00 am

Q. I have recently become a widow. Since my son is away at university, I had the idea of charging…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

25 September 2021 9:00 am

Q. I never lie about my age but I try not to think — or talk — about it. Now…

Dear Mary: Your problems solved

18 September 2021 9:00 am

Q. I recently attended a wedding which was (for me) quite ‘grand’, with a church ceremony followed by a reception.…

Dear Mary

11 September 2021 9:00 am

Q. My granddaughter Jane has been asked on a date to the Wolseley by George (both pseudonyms). Although she finds…