Mary Wakefield
For some girls, therapy does more harm than good
In the churchyard by the church near my grandmother’s house, there’s a tombstone with an inscription that’s haunted me since…
How can any intelligent person have faith?
Ten years ago, I had a strange debate about faith with a famous Jesuit and an agnostic psychoanalyst in a…
The iciness behind the heart of the #metoo movement
On rolls the Harvey Weinstein horror show with no finale in sight. The next episode looks likely to star Uma…
Calling Paddock a ‘lone wolf’ isn’t racist
It’s been nearly two weeks since Stephen Paddock committed mass murder in Las Vegas and the FBI is still casting…
Gentrification is far from our biggest problem
The late afternoon sun fell on the anomalous pine trees of Gillett Square, London N16, and on the wooden decking…
Oh brave new gender-fluid world…
Later this year, the Advertising Standards Authority will reveal to the world their list of rules designed to wipe out…
Beware the back-cracker quacks of Harley Street
All along Harley Street, charlatans and medical experts have set up side by side with no obvious way to tell…
The strange case of my first love and the stolen Stradivarius
Because I’d been reading about Stradivarius on the bus home, my helpful iPhone suggested a related story: the Totenberg Ames…
There’s no need to tell children about terrorists
Saturday evening in Durham. My in-laws and I had just begun our usual postprandial shout about Donald Trump when my…
Why do nurses quit? Because they care
Sometimes, on Sundays, I visit Richard, a friend who’s 95 and lives alone. The idea originally was that I’d be…
Who dares face down the teenage gangsters?
The baby, unbothered by diesel fumes, enjoys an outing down the main road through London N1. Each passing bus is…
The mad, bad war on ‘cultural appropriation’
It’s usually best to ignore the indignant fury of the 21st-century young. We’re used to them now, these snowflakes, posing…
What will you do in the gene-editing revolution?
The only time I ever saw a wolf in the wild, a small one, I was so frightened that I…
What will you do in the gene-editing revolution?
The only time I ever saw a wolf in the wild, a small one, I was so frightened that I…
Why wouldn’t our NHS saints help a dying man?
We all think pretty highly of ourselves these days, free from old-fashioned ideas about sin. We’re good people. And yet……
Why wouldn’t our NHS saints help a dying man?
We all think pretty highly of ourselves these days, free from old-fashioned ideas about sin. We’re good people. And yet……
As the cab doors locked, I wanted to get out
I meant to get the bus, but by the time I arrived at the stop at 5 p.m. last Tuesday, I…
As the cab doors locked, I wanted to get out
I meant to get the bus, but by the time I arrived at the stop at 5 p.m. last Tuesday, I…
Why I’m telling my son about the sky fairy
After we were married, my husband and I went on honeymoon to Mexico. We drove across country east to west,…
Why I’m telling my son about the sky fairy
After we were married, my husband and I went on honeymoon to Mexico. We drove across country east to west,…
My husband’s ‘gay affair’ with Gove
A few weeks ago I discovered that while he should have been focused on the fight of his life during…
My husband’s ‘gay affair’ with Gove
A few weeks ago I discovered that while he should have been focused on the fight of his life during…
How clever are ravens? I asked at the Tower
On Tower Hill, by the east wall of Beauchamp Tower where Robert Dudley was imprisoned for a year, a raven…
How clever are ravens? I asked at the Tower
On Tower Hill, by the east wall of Beauchamp Tower where Robert Dudley was imprisoned for a year, a raven…
When the fear of racism trumps everything else
Do you remember Alan Kurdi, the poor, drowned three-year-old whose photograph provoked a wave of sympathy for migrants almost exactly…
