Life
What does Meghan mean by ‘intentional living’?
‘What are your intentions towards my daughter?’ said my husband, screwing an imaginary monocle into his eye. We had been…
Why would anyone drive at 30mph on a dual carriageway?
After running all the errands I could to help my parents, a letter from West Midlands Police arrived. They were…
A great-day-out cafe that’s good value: Kenwood House reviewed
The immaculate bourgeois socialists of north London – that is not code for Jews – like to eat and drink…
I was right – and Gove was wrong – on lockdown
In an otherwise excellent article for the Sunday Telegraph last week about our government’s hopeless pandemic response, Dan Hannan made…
Dear Mary: How can I check if my host received my thank-you letter?
Q. Annoyingly, one of the Sunday newspapers ran an article about the ‘least used but most scenic footpaths’ in the…
I’ve started a memoir club – in memory of Jeremy
Provence Molly MacCarthy launched the Bloomsbury Memoir Club in the spring of 1920 with two aims. The first was to…
The Sandown meeting that’s a good predictor of next year’s prospects
I never enter a Cheltenham Festival week without thinking of the Irish punter who won enough on champion hurdler Istabraq…
Aussie life
Following the BLM protests in the US, which were seized on by the Aussie media and in schools, Disney declared…
Language
A Speccie reader, Lillian, has sent me this information about a brand-new word – governmentium. ‘Scientific research has led to…
The seductions of Provence
Riches, ancient cities, great architecture, splendid landscape, agriculture to match, trade routes, romance. Records of human settlement stretching to the…
My brush with a rabid money
India A crowded bus station. A lady monkey with a baby clinging to its neck sidled past me, eyeing the banana…
In defence of red velvet cake
I will admit to having been dismissive of red velvet cake in the past, considering it to be bland in…
