Life
The joyful mayhem of meteorite hunting in Africa
Nairobi Eastleigh, the Somali quarter in Nairobi, was a scene from Blade Runner but in African Islamic dress. Muezzin calls…
Man vs lobster
She was doing a postgrad course in a town by the sea, and a strange thing happened to us one…
Aussie life
How do you write satire when you are up against a literary festival? It writes itself. I have been leafing…
Language
There are some silly people (in the US more than here) who like to claim that President Trump is suffering…
The extraordinary simplicity of oeuf mayonnaise
‘Sometimes, in the search for originality, the most obvious dishes are forgotten,’ says Elizabeth David, the doyenne of cookery, in…
My meeting with ‘The Godfather’ of flat racing
Trainer John Gosden is a colossus in Newmarket, the centre of the horse-racing industry. Two-and-a-half-thousand horses are trained here and…
Spectator Competition: Ouch
Competition 3447 invited you to outdo Kingsley Amis in detailing a hang-over from hell, but in the style of another…
‘A constant good in this world’: Simpson’s in the Strand reviewed
Simpson’s in the Strand is a dream palace, and its fortunes are as tidal as the river. It is on…
Dear Mary: how can I prevent my daughter from getting ‘tweakments’?
Q. My husband has been appointed to a post in Wales and we as a family have moved here for…
I wanted to rescue this waiter
‘Something I like to do with all my tables is ask what brings you here today?’ said the young waiter…
In London, Sabastian Sawe demolished the impossible
Suddenly last Sunday in London nearly 60,000 amateur runners were able to say they had competed in a race in…
People who say it’s no good throwing money at a problem have never been poor
It started during the bus journey from Glasgow to Edinburgh airport on the way home to Provence. Saying goodbye is…
Worried your child is being radicalised? Try this tip
A couple of weeks ago, the Guardian published an article entitled: ‘“I feel like I’m losing her”: the families torn…
Aussie life
If you’d told a first-generation white Australian in 1788 Sydney Town he was lucky to live where he lived, he…
Language
John writes: ‘Here’s a curly one for you, Kel: what about the word Islam? It seems a strange word. Can…
My heated argument about Italy’s birthrate
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna We were having dinner in the Osteria del Tempo Perso (The Hostelry of Lost Time). It is…
My fellow drinkers feel pity for Peter Mandelson
We had gathered to discuss wine, but lesser topics intervened. During the Suez crisis, Clarissa Eden complained that it seemed…
