Turning your brain to mush
The appointment of Dean Bryant as head of the Malthouse Theatre took some of us by surprise. He had just…
Aussie life
The dictionary definition of a banana republic refers to a country that has an economy dependent solely on revenue from…
Language
Because of the alarming level of antisemitism that has grown like a poisonous fungus in Australia, a Speccie reader (Sandra)…
Lower your expectations for Spinal Tap II
This Is Spinal Tap is now such a deserved comedy behemoth that it’s easy to forget how gradual its ascent…
The Pret plunge isn’t quite what it seems
Gold goes on up: having risen by an unprecedented 40 per cent in a year to pass $3,600 (or £2,675)…
I doubt there’s a better ravioli in London: The Lavery reviewed
The Lavery in South Kensington is named for Sir John Lavery, official artist of the Great War and designer of…
Fragile China: who’s really in charge?
Xi Jinping effectively vanished in July and the first half of August. Some China watchers speculated that his unexplained absence…
Save our sausages!
Who first thought of grinding up all those little unused odds and sods from an animal carcass and stuffing them…
Why three is the magic number in these Ashes
And so it begins, the Great Debate: no, not who will be deputy leader of the Labour party but the…
Will assisted dying become a cover for abuse?
Every year, thousands of stories of abuse pour into Compassion in Care, a charity that supports whistleblowers in the care…
A simple life fraught with difficulties: Ruth, by Kate Riley, reviewed
The eponymous protagonist struggles against the strictures of her Anabaptist upbringing whereby women cook, clean and police each other’s morals
Dear Mary: Do I have to read the romantic novel my neighbour has based on me?
Q. A woman in our village has written a romantic novel in which one of the leading characters is said…
My favourite memory of Geoff Lewis
To be a great jockey takes character as well as ability and Geoff Lewis, whom we have lost at 89,…
The anarchy of a breakfast buffet
The Portuguese guest wanted an egg, but she didn’t want it to look like an egg. She came down to…
The myth of the outsider
The job of radio critic for the Tablet offers several perquisites. One of them is access to the BBC previews…
