The glamour and romance of London’s vanished department stores
There are two journeys I’ll need to make after reading Tessa Boase’s heartbreakingly poignant book about London’s lost department stores.…
The parallel universe you can explore on two wheels
Many of us daydream about escaping into an imaginary parallel universe. The good news is that Britain has its own…
Spare us the preaching: The Railway Children Return reviewed
It doesn’t help the cause of The Railway Children Return that the original 1970 Railway Children film is currently on…
The pernicious creep of the 20mph zone
The blight of the 20mph speed limit
I’m being priced out of eating out
Restaurant prices are no longer worth it
Sister, where are you? – Clover Stroud mourns her beloved sibling
‘CERTIFICATE IS NOT EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY,’ the freshly issued death certificate read. In the craziness and shock of grief for…
Bring back communion wine
Don’t deny me my communion wine
The bittersweet truth about homemade marmalade
The spectrum of ‘bestowing homemade gifts on one’s friends’ ranges from giving to foisting. Pure giving is when you make…
Dancing on Terence Conran’s grave
‘Who,’ asks Stephen Bayley, in one of the ‘S.B’ chapters of this irresistibly spiky co-written book, ‘could countenance working for…
The time is up for long films
Why do films have to go on for so long?
Don’t pity me for living in London
Don’t pity me for living in London
Let hymn in: the silencing of indoor singing is senseless
The silencing of indoor singing is senseless
Learning to listen: Sarah Sands goes in search of spirituality
It was the 13th-century wall of a ruined Cistercian nunnery at the far end of her garden in Norfolk that…
The man behind Justin Welby
The man behind the Archbishop
Britain's choirs are facing oblivion
Britain’s choirs are facing oblivion. Yet they’re also terrified of returning. One story explains why. Picture this innocent choral-society scene…
My mother — as I remember her best
Nine cups of milky Nescafé Gold Blend a day; a low-tar cigarette smouldering; a hot-water-bottle always on her lap; the…
Coronavirus has started a new age of online snooping
This is proving a rich period for those of us who can’t resist snooping into the interiors of other people’s…
It’s time for the word ‘Continental’ to make a comeback
How the word lost its glamour
Duty, devotion and lack of self-pity — Anne Glenconner is an example to us all
Trained from a young age to be self-effacing, never liking to be the centre of attention, having been traumatised for…
Dangly earrings, hugs and controversy: here comes the new Bishop of Dover
East Kent is bracing itself. Its Church of England clergy are enjoying their last quiet months before Rose Hudson-Wilkin arrives…
Entertaining Iris Murdoch – for months on end
If you know your Peter Conradi from your Peter J. Conradi, you’ll also know that the former is foreign editor…
Are the Dead Ringers audience told to laugh?
Nine on a Thursday morning is University Hour for those of us who don’t commute to an office every day.…
Thank God for hymns!
Before embarking on this hymn to hymns, I’ll admit that hymn-enthusiasts feel a slight sense of anticlimax on Easter Sunday,…
Angels through the ages
A good question for your upcoming Lent quiz: where are angels mentioned in the Nicene Creed? I asked this at…
I’ve had enough of induction hobs — and I know I’m not the only one
It was a close-run thing for my friend who’s having a new kitchen installed in her house in Chiswick. After…
