Life
I’ve become a slave to my Airbnb star rating
‘Right, we’re going to book into Pauline’s B&B and give her a four-star rating and that will drop her down…
Dear Mary: How can I get enough champagne at a party?
Q. I had the same Spanish housekeeper for 25 years and was devoted to her, and she to me. She…
Aussie life
The past sometimes intrudes upon the present in curious and unexpected ways. Last week, on SBS, the irresistible and irrepressible…
Language
Is ‘de-escalate’ in the running to be the Word of the Year for 2025? Or (as seems more likely) the…
To rehydrate, drink beer
‘The nuisance of the tropics is/the sheer necessity of fizz.’ Over the past few days, during which England endured sub-tropical…
The secret to ‘womankeeping’
God, men are pathetic. At least, that’s the view of Angelica Puzio Ferrara, a researcher at Stanford, who has come…
Dear Mary: Where should I seat Hollywood stars at dinner?
Q. My husband and I have recently made very good friends with some neighbours in France. They know I am…
The rise and rise of the ‘tantric sector’
For the past 25 years I have commuted to London from Otford, a delightful village outside Sevenoaks. I do this…
The cunning meanings of quant
The FT headline said: ‘Man Group orders quants back to office five days a week.’ I didn’t know what quants…
My daring escape from the Italian police
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I often feel as if I know what it was like to be a member of La…
The key to a great American key lime pie
A few years ago, a friend wrote a cookery book for the UK market, full of gorgeous dishes, many of…
Spectator Competition: Who’s who?
For Competition 3405 you were invited to submit a scene in which Doctor Who has regenerated into someone very unexpected.…
Has my father’s BBC addiction peaked?
‘I want the stairlift to go faster!’ said my mother, as the machine she was sitting on whirred furiously while…
Aussie life
It used to be believed that treaties could be agreed only between sovereign nations. No longer. The Victorian government, forward-looking…
Language
When a letter to the editor called a political talking head a ‘dingbat’ I searched for the origin of the…
Has Trump been taking inspiration from the royals?
One of the objections to the military parade in Washington, DC last Saturday – supposedly to mark the 250th birthday…
