Life
Aussie life
Advertising which gives a brand topical relevance gets extra traction with its target audience. So if I was creating the…
Language
My rage against the journalistic abuse of ‘populist/populism’ continues. As I have pointed out in the past, the meaning of…
Resist the cult of ‘picky bits’
We are, according to Marks & Spencer, in ‘picky bits’ season. I cannot bear the tweeness of it all. M&S…
What really killed off the traditional B&B
To B&B or not to B&B? That is the question. Whether it’s nobler to offer breakfast to a guest is…
The ‘airport effect’ that’s ruining modern life
The phrase ‘computer says no’ now has its own Wikipedia page. The first recorded use dates back to a Stasi-era…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my husband from interrupting?
Q. My husband worked in an office for 25 years and now works from home. As well as the interaction…
Why does everything now pivot?
‘As the door turneth upon his hinges,’ says the Book of Proverbs, ‘so doth the slothful upon his bed.’ But…
Can our democracy survive the ‘bad chaps’?
What is the greatest threat to British democracy? Zack Polanski’s call for ‘building a society’ that ‘doesn’t include’ people who…
2751: Transmission
Together, three unclued entries (two of two words) cryptically explain the three other unclued pairs. Solvers must highlight the single…
Spectator Competition: Laughter lines
For Competition 3448 you were invited to supply a joke in verse form.Apologies for an ambiguous brief; I was actually…
The joyful mayhem of meteorite hunting in Africa
Nairobi Eastleigh, the Somali quarter in Nairobi, was a scene from Blade Runner but in African Islamic dress. Muezzin calls…
Man vs lobster
She was doing a postgrad course in a town by the sea, and a strange thing happened to us one…
Aussie life
How do you write satire when you are up against a literary festival? It writes itself. I have been leafing…
Language
There are some silly people (in the US more than here) who like to claim that President Trump is suffering…
The extraordinary simplicity of oeuf mayonnaise
‘Sometimes, in the search for originality, the most obvious dishes are forgotten,’ says Elizabeth David, the doyenne of cookery, in…
My meeting with ‘The Godfather’ of flat racing
Trainer John Gosden is a colossus in Newmarket, the centre of the horse-racing industry. Two-and-a-half-thousand horses are trained here and…
Spectator Competition: Ouch
Competition 3447 invited you to outdo Kingsley Amis in detailing a hang-over from hell, but in the style of another…
