Life
The glorious richness of rillettes
I admit to feeling a little intimidated by charcuterie. I have a clutch of books on my shelf all laying…
My clandestine night at the theatre
Kenya The poster for the Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company’s production of Much Ado About Nothing had a hippie design, with…
Spectator Competition: Popular demand
For Comp. 3411 you were invited to submit a passage or poem on the subject of dynamic pricing. Thanks to…
Aussie life
When I’m not writing for the Speccie, I’m counting my money. I picked up the habit attending St Nepo Baby,…
Language
When the President of the United States in Donald Trump, and there is an old English word ‘trumpery’ – clearly…
How John Egan has stayed in the saddle
Pop stars rock on nowadays into their seventies. And jockeys too – despite the physical dexterity and instant-decision-making required –…
The chef does not understand sandwiches: Raffles London at the OWO reviewed
I am mesmerised by the restaurants of Raffles London at the OWO (Old War Office) because war approaches and the…
Our B&B is the opposite of organic
‘You need a Wwoofer,’ said the guest as he luxuriated in the big armchair by the roaring fire in our…
How not to behave at a London gentleman’s club
After a 5 a.m. start, I arrived at the departure gate in Nice airport to discover there was an air…
Spectator Competition: All grown up
For Competition 3410 you were invited to imagine a celebrated character from a children’s book in later life. There were…
Is it ‘off his own back’ or ‘off his own bat’?
During the last Olympics, Jane Edwards from Worcestershire wrote to the Times observing that Mrs Malaprop herself would have found…
2711: Homework – solution
Written about AUSTRALIA – ‘I LOVE A SUNBURNT COUNTRY/ A LAND OF SWEEPING PLAINS’ – is taken from DOROTHEA MACKELLAR’s…
Full English
Michael Adams took first place in a strongly contested English Championship, held in Kenilworth in July. The veteran elite grandmaster…
Make Trump Britain’s prime minister
When I was a young man, the claim that Britain was in danger of becoming the 51st state was a…
The Ashes just got spicy
You don’t have to look hard to find swaths of sports fans around the world who dislike England – England’s…
Dear Mary: How do I calculate how much caviar to take?
Q. While on holiday in Corfu, we met a rather nice man who invited us to his house for dinner.…
Aussie life
Nobody in the current federal government worked harder than Penny Wong to thaw the freeze in Sino-Australian relations caused by…
Language
The recent severe weather events on the east coast were labelled (by our official Weather Bureau) as a ‘bomb cyclone’…
The lanyard class is imploding – and it can’t blame Musk
I was surprised to read a report by Sunder Katwala’s thinktank British Future saying the UK is a ‘powder keg’…
