Life
How to spot a troublesome Airbnb review
The guest who thought our farm was in the town centre was very cross indeed. She got out of her…
Where did ‘husband’ come from?
‘Am I housebound?’ asked my husband as I was discussing with him the complicated history of the name for his…
Labour is risking the future of racing
The only political party with a serious chance of winning office I will ever vote for again is the one…
Spectator Competition: Some like it hot
For Competition 3408 you were invited to write poems about heatwaves. This comp was inspired by the weather! In the…
Aussie life
If you want to get a rough idea of where Australians stand on a particular issue, commission a report by…
Language
Is ‘de-escalate’ in the running to be the Word of the Year for 2025? Or (as seems more likely) the…
Dear Mary: How do we handle staying with friends with very different political views?
Q. We are going to stay with some old friends who we haven’t seen for a couple of years as…
Why driving at 80mph won’t save you time
The device you see on this page is called a ‘paceometer’ and was devised by behavioural scientists Eyal Peer and…
My sober assessment of the fat jabs
It was my friend Alex who tipped me the wink. I bumped into him at a party earlier this year…
Are Reeves and Starmer really in ‘lockstep’?
‘She and I work together, we think together,’ said Sir Keir Starmer of Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.…
Wine to pass the cricket Test
What to drink while watching cricket? Beer or even Pimm’s for the village green, but I think that a Test…
Are my cattle ready to compete?
Kenya My cattle sensei Mark revealed that my Boran bulls aren’t gaining enough masculine growth after weaning because they’re only…
UzChess Cup
The team of young talents from Uzbekistan, who sensationally won gold at the Chennai Olympiad in 2022, continue to develop…
My night at the Spectator summer party
The first rule of the summer party is do not hold your summer party on the same night as The…
Our B&B has found its niche
A rattling noise woke me in the dead of night and I fumbled my way into the dark corridor. It…
Spectator Competition: Between the lines
For Competition 3407 you were invited to write about a historical event euphemistic-ally. This challenge was a little vague; Private…
Salad cream is more than a poor man’s mayonnaise
Salad cream makes me feel oddly patriotic. It’s one of those products that is so distinctively British that it has…
