Life
A game of hide-and-seek with the Queen
One of the best things about growing older is being far less easily embarrassed. You have dealt with so many…
The secrets of the perfect potato rösti
You may be forgiven, if you are a regular reader of this column, for thinking that my primary motivation in…
I won’t let my mother be sent to a care home
My mother was about to be taken to a care home called Willow Trees, and the first thing my instincts…
Aussie life
In the UK, where I have just spent a few weeks, Christmas officially starts when you can’t enter a supermarket…
Language
As Joe Biden rushed (sorry, stumbled) out of the doors of the White House, he flung around things called ‘pre-emptive…
How to get a table at Audley Public House
The Audley Public House is on the corner of North Audley Street and Mount Street in Mayfair, opposite the Purdey…
Emperor Trump and the spectacle of the Super Bowl
It’s easy to not quite get the Super Bowl. What exactly is it: a sporting event, a music show, a…
Dear Mary: How do I get my cleaner to quit?
Q. How can we get our new unsatisfactory house cleaner to resign? There is a huge demand for cleaners in…
Does Rachel Reeves know what ‘kickstart’ means?
To ‘kickstart economic growth’ is the first (‘number one’) of Labour’s five ‘missions’ to rebuild Britain. That is what the…
Should free speech campaigners hope Andrew Gwynne is prosecuted?
David McKelvey, a former detective chief inspector in the Met Police, has called for the prosecution of Andrew Gwynne, the…
What has Nicky Henderson done to irritate the racing gods?
‘It may well be that true riches are laid up in heaven,’ declared the blues composer W.C. Handy, ‘but it’s…
My parents prefer the NHS to me
The US marine left his long johns down the back of an armchair and the next guest complained that she…
Drinking with The Chemist – and God
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna The closest I get to a social life these days is when I sneak off into town…
