Life
The lure of St James’s
Procrastination may be the thief of time, but in the right circumstances, it can be fun. The other day, I…
I’ve lost control of the kitchen
Looking back, I can pinpoint my fatal blunder. It was lunch. It was like the West allowing Vladimir Putin to…
I love sausages!
‘Sausages,’ my son says to me, leaning forward from the back of the car, with the authority and confidence only…
The guest who robbed me of my five-star rating
Bolting down the back hallway, I realised I was running away from the guests. I shut the door marked private…
Wild horses
Magnus Carlsen slammed the table with such force that the pieces jumped from the board. Immediately, he resigned his game…
In praise of camels
Laikipia, Kenya For decades now I have kept only cattle, goats and sheep on the farm, but for the first…
Pride continues to crumble
In the canteen of the House of Lords last week, a friendly server asked me if I’d like some ‘Pride…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my friends going on about their ‘neurodivergence’?
Q. Everyone I know pretends to have neurodivergence to make themselves seem more unusual and so they can talk about…
In defence of the Trump playbook
The standard explanation for why charges for plastic bags reduced waste is economic. People were reluctant to pay 10p for…
How can ‘sanction’ mean two opposing things?
Sir Keir Starmer said ‘he could “not imagine” the circumstances in which he would sanction a new referendum’ on Scottish…
Aussie life
US eyes Darwin Port prise. That, in case you missed it, was the hedline on the frunt page of last…
Language
Calling all lovers of our language – the semicolon is at risk of becoming extinct! Forget about the bilby or…
Should we be above cancelling the cancellers?
I’ve been mulling over Marco Rubio’s latest salvo in the Trump administration’s assault on the Censorship-Industrial Complex. The US Secretary…
Dear Mary: how can I point out a friend’s unsightly nose hair?
Q. I’m the author of 14 books, mostly historical fiction but a few children’s books, all published by a major…
Sportswashing? Bring it on…
If that was sportswashing, let’s have more of it. The Champions League final, when Paris Saint-Germain vaporised Inter Milan, was…
‘Rushed and under-loved and lacking conviction’: Hawksmoor Canary Wharf reviewed
Hawksmoor is the finest steak chain in London, because it lacks pretension and cares about blood. Years ago, at the…
