Life
Spectator Competition: Beg to differ
In Comp. 3350 you were invited to write a refutation of a well-known line from literature. Ian Jack once imagined…
The myth of the global majority
‘You make the cotton easy to pick, Mame,’ sang my husband with execrable delivery. ‘No,’ I said, ‘You can’t sing…
Dear Mary: how do I stop our cousins’ dog peeing on the curtains?
Q. I have a friend whom I see quite often who keeps asking me if I will ‘get her invited’ for…
Kiwi life
Is it possible to be simultaneously entertained and depressed? Well, yes. Just try living in New Zealand in 2024. The…
Language
If your younger acquaintances start referring to you (or anything you do) as ‘mid’ they are not being polite. For…
‘Great restaurants can’t thrive in Hampstead’: Ottolenghi reviewed
Ottolenghi is an Israeli deli co-owned by Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli Jew, and Sami Tamimi, a Palestinian Muslim. They met…
The early tragedy of the flat season
The Flat season proper has opened with an almighty shock and a cruel tragedy. First City of Troy, the latest…
Is pro-golf eating itself?
Spare a thought for Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag. He’s got a fairly crummy, injury-hit team who appear to have…
Confessions of a catnapper
As Christopher Snowdon recently pointed out, the past few governments have had a habit of passing laws that are either…
Dear Mary: how should I thank a friend for dead flowers?
Q. I left fashion school last year and since then I’ve spent most of my time applying for jobs and…
Can you ‘go gangbusters’?
‘Is it anything to do with cockle-picking?’ asked my husband, confident he was on the right track. Naturally he wasn’t.…
I feel for my Jewish friends
‘So what you’re telling me,’ said the priest to the builder boyfriend, ‘is that you were brought up by Irish…
Spectator competition: Marking time
Competition 3349 invited you to write a poem riffing on the line ‘I have measured out my life with coffee spoons’,…
‘Terribly chic’: how to make chouquettes
I have become obsessed with the French idea of goûter, the time in the afternoon when French schoolchildren have a…
How a hitchhiker gave me a glimpse into my past
On the mantel shelf of the cave there’s an invitation to my middle daughter’s wedding in August. This happy event…
Aussie life
As the terrible events in Bondi Junction last month reminded us, fortune doesn’t always favour the brave. Indeed, the courage…
Language
Speccie reader Terry writes to ask when and where did ‘non-binary’ come into the language – and who applied it…
