Life
Aussie Life
Almost exactly 50 years before James Cook’s first encounter with the Gweagal and Gameygal peoples on the shores of what…
Language
Writing in the current issue of Quadrant magazine, Paul Prociv says, ‘The field of Aboriginal affairs is awash with sloppy…
Where does ‘stuff’ come from?
Pelham, the hero of the novel of the same name (which came out in 1828, the first year of The…
Louis XIV would envy your life
Some things in life acquire an outsize popularity which defies all common sense. The outlandish appeal of such things cannot…
The case for Churchillian drinking
Churchill. No disrespect to Andrew Roberts’s more recent work, but I set out to look up a point about drink…
The struggle to book my wedding in Ireland
‘How does anyone young and stupid manage to get married?’ I kept shouting at the builder boyfriend as I pummelled…
Why won’t Chris Packham have a real debate on climate?
On Sunday, the BBC did something unusual. It invited Luke Johnson, a climate contrarian, to join a panel with Laura…
Dear Mary: how can I get restaurants to turn off loud music?
Q. My husband never wants to go out to lunch on a day when he could be gardening but he…
My Negroni-soaked lunch with Laurence Olivier
Breakfast is my preferred meal, in case you’re interested. I broke my fast this week with my walking laser-light of…
The Candidates
Dommaraju Gukesh triumphed in a thrilling final round at the Candidates Tournament in Toronto. The Indian talent, who is still…
Kiwi life
Softly, softly, catchee monkey – the alphabet community’s grab for our children Somewhat naively, a New Zealand commentator thinks there’s…
Language
The University of Chicago has what it calls a ‘Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse’ – aimed at teaching students to…
How Linzer torte stood the test of time
Linzer torte has quite the claim to fame: some assert that it’s the oldest cake in the world; others that…
‘Five stars, no notes’: Arlington reviewed
Arlington is named for the 1st Earl of Arlington and his street behind the Ritz Hotel. It used to be…
My (surprisingly) decent proposal
‘Like being chained to a lunatic.’ That’s how a man feels in relation to his libido. And the lunatic latches…
Manchester City are surely unstoppable
Well it was fun while it lasted, the closest three-way race for the Premier League in history, a title challenge…
Lefties don’t know anything about farming
The artists and hippies are re-wilding their land, which is to say doing nothing at all to it and watching…
Amol Rajan is right to change his ways on ‘aitch’
My husband thought it brave and manly of the BBC’s Amol Rajan to resolve publicly to change his pronunciation of…
