Life
I judge judgmental people
The woman in the queue behind us in the supermarket glared angrily as my mother tried and failed to tap…
The speed-camera approach to government
I was recently shown an AI analysis of long-term trends in the public’s attitude to government. The AI had been…
Dear Mary: How do you swerve a dinner party bore?
Dear Mary: How do you swerve a dinner party bore?
The quest for the perfect January red wine
There are different ways to approach the tyranny of Dry January. One is to drink in secret. Another is to…
Penetrating Trumpland is a breeze
For this trip, I’ve had to divulge my social media handles, blood group, shoe size etc, and have therefore assumed…
Grok is the Botticelli of our time
Liz Kendall, the Technology Secretary, stood up in the Commons on Monday and thundered against Elon Musk, saying the government…
Aussie life
I’ve been an actor and satirist for forty years, and suddenly I’m told my words might be violent, requiring institutional…
Language
Antisemitism is a word I have written about more than once, but clearly, it’s a word we need to look…
What makes a good trainer?
We’re spoilt for choice in the Cotswolds. There’s a brilliant National Hunt trainer in every valley and the villages are…
My parents have driven us to boiling point
After two weeks of us heating the house to the temperature my nearly 90-year-old father wanted it, the door to…
All hail the chickenpox vaccine!
On 1 January, the NHS announced it would be including a chickenpox vaccine in the bundle of inoculations given to…
Spectator Competition: Elementary
For Competition 3431, you were invited to submit a passage in which Sherlock Holmes solves one of the great mysteries…
Don’t blame Ben Stokes
So what was the best bit of this dispiriting Ashes series? Lucky you if you’ve found one, but for me…
Dear Mary: How do I get my friend to clean up after her dog?
Q. Every so often we’re invited to our friends’ house for lunch or dinner. It’s close by and the house…
Scott’s vs Mayfair
Kingsley Amis was obsessed with Scott’s on Mount Street, Mayfair, and he knew a lot about food. He ate himself…
If you’re ‘reaching out’, you sound deranged
‘Why doesn’t anyone do what you ask them to?’ enquired my husband, who is something of an expert on the…
My advice to the next generation
Everyone went to the same school as someone famous. In my case it’s Spider-Man, Tom Holland, who joined my former…
