Low life
In 1999 I went to the doctor about the impotence. Don’t worry, he said. I have good news for you.…
Marmite vs Bovril
‘How can Bovril be suitable for vegetarians?’ asked my husband. ‘Bo- comes from bos, Latin for an ox.’ He was…
Real life
After the Fawlty Towers incident, I decided it was best to research the origin and extraction of all future B&B…
Driverless cars will make your life worse
On the face of it, there’s something quite appealing about driverless cars. It will be like having a chauffeur-driven chariot…
Driverless cars will make your life worse
On the face of it, there’s something quite appealing about driverless cars. It will be like having a chauffeur-driven chariot…
Cruel boy errors
Perhaps you are slightly concerned about your son. At present he is sitting in the crawlspace beneath your home wearing…
Wild life
Kenya A woman’s bottom cheered me up recently. The lady was walking ahead of me in a Kenya street and…
From Socrates to Boris
In writing an article that argued both for and against the European Union, Boris Johnson was following a solidly classical…
Barometer
Ape escapes A gorilla got out of its enclosure at London Zoo and entered a keepers’ area, prompting an evacuation…
Diary
The week began badly when I spotted three grey squirrels gathering beechnuts in our arboretum. During our time at our…
The King’s contribution
From ‘A Royal contribution’, The Spectator, 7 October 1916: His Majesty has passed through troublous times, in the constitutional controversy, in…
Letters
Russia’s war crimes Sir: In his article ‘Vanity Bombing’ (15 October), Simon Jenkins quivers with contempt at MPs digging ‘deep into…
Portrait of the week
Home Steven Woolfe, the MEP who spent three days in hospital after an altercation at a Ukip meeting, said he…
Shady past
David Hockney: It is a kind of joke, but I really mean it when I say Caravaggio invented Hollywood lighting.…
Loach at his most Loach
I, Daniel Blake is a Ken Loach film about a Newcastle joiner who can’t work but faces a welfare bureaucracy…
Face time
As a chat-up line it was at least unusual. On 8 January 1927, a 46-year-old man approached a young woman…
Ziggurat of bilge
Ella Hickson’s new play analyses our relationship with oil using the sketch format. First, there’s a candlelit soap opera set…
Ziggurat of bilge
Ella Hickson’s new play analyses our relationship with oil using the sketch format. First, there’s a candlelit soap opera set…
High and low
‘Besides feeble writing, there is a mixture of tragic-comedy and buffoonery in it, which Apostolo Zeno and Metastasio had banished…
High and low
‘Besides feeble writing, there is a mixture of tragic-comedy and buffoonery in it, which Apostolo Zeno and Metastasio had banished…
The power of song
‘I went in at seven and came out aged 22,’ said Brian as he looked back on the day in…
The power of song
‘I went in at seven and came out aged 22,’ said Brian as he looked back on the day in…
Consider this…
The Aboriginal industry rewards its own Two former federal ministers have recently spoken on Aboriginal affairs. One has given a…
Consider this…
The Aboriginal industry rewards its own Two former federal ministers have recently spoken on Aboriginal affairs. One has given a…
Bridge
I felt like an absolute hypocrite the other week. Sally Brock’s team had just beaten Alexander Allfrey’s in the semi-finals…
