Life
Language
I have wanted to write a column on ‘common sense’ for a long time – but it is a surprisingly…
Is Nigel Farage a ‘viper’?
‘Farage is no leader,’ said Rupert Lowe MP. ‘He is a coward and a viper.’ Cedric Hardwicke immediately came to…
How football found God
Without wanting to sound like a refugee from the 1950s, it was a shame that last week’s Cup Final was…
Food that’s both serious and serene: Babbo reviewed
After a week in which Israel triumphed at the Eurovision Song Contest with second place – western Europe is for…
Two years without Jeremy Clarke
Two years ago, at five to eight in the evening of Monday 22 May 2023, I ran into the department…
Dear Mary: How do you decipher modern RSVPs?
Q. I was caught off guard last week by a busybody mother at my son’s boarding school asking us to…
How do I feed my children now my wife has gone on strike?
Caroline has gone on strike. At least, as far as cooking is concerned. Her case for downing spatulas is that…
Speed traps are designed to make you fail
The builder boyfriend returned from a trip to London to inform me he was being done for speeding at 32mph,…
The intrigue of the jockeys merry-go-round
Nearly always a thriller, Newbury’s Lockinge Stakes, instituted in 1958 and a Group 1 race since 1995, is an ever-welcome signpost…
Spectator Competition: Tubular belles
Competition 3400 invited you to write poems to mark YouTube’s 20th birthday. This challenge drew a large, accomplished entry which…
Aussie life
In 1968 the anthropologist Bill Stanner gave the Boyer Lectures on ABC Radio and coined the phrase ‘the great Australian…
Language
Joe Hildebrand excitedly told me about a new word he had come across while doing a Times cryptic crossword puzzle…
The art of the political lunch
We had been discussing Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, the possibility of a nuclear exchange across the Punjab and other trifling matters.…
My son took drugs – and they were mine
The weekend before last, I came home from walking the dog at about noon to find Caroline asleep in bed.…
How emotions shape our decision-making
Ask any estate agent: most potential house buyers arrive with a detailed list of criteria for their new home, only…
Dear Mary: how can I relax about the clothes moths in my home?
Q. Having previously lived in the country in a field with my nearest neighbour not even visible, I recently moved…
Remembering the horror of Rwanda’s genocide
Rwanda It had been more than 30 years, yet I recognised the church and its surroundings instantly. Superimposed on the…
Pope Francis, my love rival
To be honest, I felt relief when Pope Francis died. This had nothing much to do with his regular assertion,…
