Life
Why are the British so snobby about prosecco?
My late grandmother used to say that seeing Pope John Paul II descend by helicopter into Dublin’s Phoenix Park in…
Dear Mary: how do I seat lesbians at a dinner party?
Q. We have recently moved out of London and have met charming, married lesbians who are living locally. They are…
‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’ is genius marketing
Last Monday, I delivered a speech to mark the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s second-best book: An Inquiry into the…
Do I have what it takes to be a magistrate?
I’m thinking of becoming a magistrate. Before applying, I was advised to attend a few sessions and find out how…
Aussie life
In a recent speech, artist Tim Storrier made a powerful attack on the current state of arts administrators in Australia,…
language
Albanese has spent the whole of his political life a member of Labor’s socialist left. As a result we get…
My take on marry me chicken
I am not in the habit of bringing viral TikTok recipes here. It is a safe space, away from digestive…
The endearing Englishness of Harry Kane
There’s something ineffably endearing about Harry Kane (though I am sure plenty of Bundesliga defenders would disagree), a sort of…
The sword of Damocles is hanging over Cheltenham
What better way to limber up for the Cheltenham festival than lunch with Richard Phillips? Thirty years ago, Richard was…
Why I’m a proud Zionist
The bomb shelter reserved for ‘volunteers’ at Kibbutz Dafna near the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel was definitely…
Dear Mary: do I have to give my cleaner a payrise?
Q. A new neighbour (a weekender from London) asked me if I’d be prepared to pass on the contact details…
Food for adults remembering childhood: Dover Street Counter reviewed
Dover Street Counter is the tiny sister of The Dover, a very good restaurant on – who knew? – Dover…
What makes a politician a ‘grandee’?
To me, grandee goes together with Tory. So it was a surprise to find Lord Mandelson called a Labour grandee…
Being kind to my parents means saying no to them
After a week in Coventry dealing with two parents with dementia, it would have felt like a nice spa break…
Tales from the Jeremy Clarke Memoir Club
Provence The other Monday I hosted the third annual meeting of the Jeremy Clarke Memoir Club on what would’ve been…
2742: The Hobbit
Eight unclued entries (three of two words) possess a property implied by the title’s other title. Across 8 King stops…
Spectator Competition: The borrowers
For Competition 3439 you were invited to build an undiscovered poem around a phrase lifted from an earlier poet. The…
Aussie life
Now that Mr Albanese seems finally to have woken up to the problem of Australian antisemitism, nobody should be surprised…
Language
Speccie reader Reona writes to ask where the expression ‘peppercorn rent’ comes from. Well, there once was a time when…
