Life
Spectator Competition: In the field
Comp. 3455 invited you to supply some local response (in prose or poetry) to the absence of Glastonbury Festival, which…
Do I vibe with Rupert Lowe?
As seen in the New World What are the vibes of Rupert Lowe? That’s the question on my mind as…
Dear Mary: can I accuse a writer of using AI?
Q. I work at a magazine and am occasionally (and perhaps with increasing frequency) sent articles that strike me as…
Why are the Belgians so bad at football?
Whisper it if you must, but it looks as if Gianni (‘Today I feel gay…’) Infantino might have got it…
Farewell to the school I founded
My son Charlie sat his final A-level paper last week and the significance of this has only just sunk in.…
My first trip to Britain’s best racecourse
The importance of Royal Ascot can never be overstated. It was beautifully summed up by His Excellency Mansoor Abulhoul, the…
Why is the Italian media spreading fake news about Churchill?
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I know that, as the heat intensifies, you want me to write about the highly trained nudists…
The tree that nearly sent me over the edge
‘We need to get into bed and watch a really good Poirot,’ I said, for I had given him such…
God save The World Tonight
We were driving to the V&A summer party, windows down, scent of jasmine floating on the liquid June air, prospect…
Aussie life
The international popularity of the gladioli-waving, board-wobbling, knife-wielding caricatures of Barry Humphries, Rolf Harris and Paul Hogan was so great…
Language
I ran into James Morrow in the corridor the other day – and he told me that he thought he…
Whoops, I’ve given my children a gambling problem
The problem with my gambling, Caroline has always maintained, is not the fact that I nearly always lose. I only…
‘Through ecstasy I say: it’s perfect’: The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop reviewed
The obvious thing to say about themed restaurants is that they are usually bad. The Rainforest Café in London, for…
Spectator Competition: Four play
For Competition 3454 you were invited to encapsulate a well-known poem in four lines. I found this entertaining parlour game…
Still life
Provence ‘Painting is a stupid job. Do something useful and train to be a nurse,’ commented a man beneath a…
Who needs a baby when I’ve got my terrier?
Back in the day, Chelsea Flower Show was regarded as the beginning of the Season. Queen Alexandra opened the festivities…
