Life
Aussie life
Being an AFL umpire does not look like a job for the thin-skinned. Given the passion of the code’s fan…
Language
My thanks to Speccie reader Ian from Cairns for suggesting that the members of the Albanese government are post turtles.…
The art of talking to strangers
About halfway round the park, by the last spindly remnants of the Festival of Britain, I bumped into my Scandinavian…
A lunch good enough to lift Tory spirits
Things could have been worse. My host was determined to lunch al fresco, and after all it was late June.…
Dear Mary: how can I safeguard my feminist principles at dinner?
Q. My husband and I will shortly be having some South American friends to stay. They come most years and…
Who came up with the analogy of carrying a Ming vase?
‘Evelyn Waugh,’ said my husband when I asked who came up with the analogy of carrying a Ming vase. He…
How to hack your summer holiday
Since it’s June, here is your cut-out-and-keep guide to hacking your summer holiday. One possibility. Don’t bother. Unless you have…
When accusations fly
‘OK, there is a body with a knife there, and the police come and say nothing happened… You have to…
New Zealand’s culture wars backlash
I’m in New Zealand on a speaking tour organised by the Kiwi Free Speech Union, and in some ways it’s…
Spectator Competition: Outta Palo Alto
In Competition 3354 you were invited to put yourselves in the shoes (or head) of a tech billionaire. Perhaps unsurprisingly,…
Have I finally found the most incongruous leftie?
As the disappointingly unmacho South African toddled off after giving us a lecture about hedgehogs, I declared the contest over.…
No. 606
White to play. Magnus Carlsen-Ding Liren, Norway Chess 2024. Ding’s last move, 29…Rb6-b2 was a blunder allowing a quick checkmate.…
Aussie life
I’m in a nursing home. It’s St Vincent’s, Australia’s biggest not-for-profit aged care provider, one of several in Brisbane run…
Language
A Speccie reader asks for a word that explains the obsessions of the woke around us. Looking for a single…
Why an ex-Spectator editor told me to back Reform
When I told an ex-editor of this magazine that I was planning to write about why I’m voting for Reform…
Don’t let City spoil top-flight football
The Pac-Man defence, as all high-flying financiers know, is a tactic borrowed from the enjoyably addictive computer game which means…
