Life
Spectator Competition: Frankenpoem
Comp. 3428 was inspired by Rose Ruane’s Larkin/Shelley mash-up (many thanks to Bill Greenwell for flagging this up): They Oz…
Juries are defenders of free speech
On Tuesday, David Lammy announced in parliament that a bill would be included in the next King’s Speech restricting the…
Aussie life
Lock up your babies, Brisbane; the Queensland government is considering lifting its ban on keeping dingos as pets. I had…
Language
There is an expression that is now quite common in America, although I don’t think I’ve heard it used in…
Could a degree make you less employable?
A few years ago my employer, the advertising agency Ogilvy, introduced a recruitment scheme called ‘The Pipe’. It was a…
Somali charity scams have come at a high price
Kenya Here’s why house-hunting in Nairobi, where I can’t afford to buy even a bedsit these days, gives me flashbacks…
A Frenchman who does not drink wine is a disgrace
The world is in an even greater mess than was apparent. I am not referring to Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan or…
Dear Mary: Can I remain friends with someone who has a frozen face?
Q. A close friend of my own age, 52, has had various things done to her face and now looks…
The glory of gravy
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, when Ben Gunn is found by Jim Hawkins, sunburnt and wide-eyed after three years…
The unexpected aftermath of the BB’s car crash
The garage owner came at me with an angry expression as I pulled on to his forecourt, which was the…
The Italian approach to cheating
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna The unseasonably warm wind blowing in across the fields from the brooding Adriatic caused my wife Carla…
Spectator Competition: Lines of beauty
For Competition 3427 you were invited to write a paean on a place traditionally considered to be ugly. In an…
Is bet365 punishing me for being a peer?
On my way to the QPR game against Hull last Saturday, I was astonished to discover that Ladbrokes had made…
Aussie life
The Victorian government’s ‘treaty’ with the one per cent of its citizens who purport to be Aboriginal is unjust and…
Language
It is probably time to unpack the word ‘communism’. Zohran Mamdani has been elected Mayor of New York, and he…
