Long life
The 6th Duke of Westminster, who died this month, was living support of the claim that wealth doesn’t make you…
Long life
The 6th Duke of Westminster, who died this month, was living support of the claim that wealth doesn’t make you…
Low life
Next week I’m going to Ladakh for a travel gig. Me neither — never heard of it. So I heaved…
Low life
Next week I’m going to Ladakh for a travel gig. Me neither — never heard of it. So I heaved…
Pelican pie
Revisers of OED have made a pig’s ear of pelican pie, I fear. I’ve been reading for pleasure Peter Gilliver’s…
Real life
‘How did I get here?’ I think dazedly. I am sitting in the Big Yellow Self Storage in Balham being…
The yawn supremacy
The BBC has published a list of the 100 best films of the 21st century, compiled after consulting academics, cinema…
The yawn supremacy
The BBC has published a list of the 100 best films of the 21st century, compiled after consulting academics, cinema…
The internet of stupid things
Back in the 1980s a colleague of mine was paranoid about being burgled. Before he went away on a two-week…
Wild life
Kenya When the late Tom Cholmondeley walked into his cell after being accused of murder in Kenya’s Rift Valley, etched…
Nero’s scandalous spads
Theresa May has brought her own advisers with her into No. 10, and as usual the knives are out for…
Barometer
Golden years How many Olympic events would Team GB have to win before we could earn back the gold reserves…
Diary
To Edinburgh for the book festival, where I am to explain Fools, Frauds and Firebrands to respectable middle-class Scots, who…
Just not cricket
From ‘The bed-rock of war’, The Spectator, 26 August 1916: As a rule in war the bowling has a great advantage over…
Letters
Golden age problems Sir: Johan Norberg’s ‘Our golden age’ (20 August) is absolutely right — we do live in a golden age;…
Portrait of the week
Home Virgin Trains released videos showing that there were seats available when Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour party,…
House style
Last Sunday, I went to see two of the greatest paintings in Britain — at least in the estimation of…
Red hot
Everything about Julieta feels totally Almodóvarian. It’s a family saga that smoothly blends tragedy and levity, with exquisite performances from…
What’s the buzz?
Crystal Pite, the Canadian dancemaker who combines intellectual, emotional and physical intelligence in rare degree, is classically trained, but her…
Doctor Death
‘European premiere of classic American musical’ is a phrase that deeply alarms the experienced playgoer. As I tootled along to…
Doctor Death
‘European premiere of classic American musical’ is a phrase that deeply alarms the experienced playgoer. As I tootled along to…
Distant voices
One of the weirdest responses when someone close to you dies is the gradual realisation that now at last you…
Distant voices
One of the weirdest responses when someone close to you dies is the gradual realisation that now at last you…
Australian diary
It is always a pleasure to catch up socially with Tony Abbott whose steadfast friendship I have enjoyed for over…
Bridge
There’s been a fair amount of moaning about the English Bridge Union’s decision to move the week-long ‘Summer Meeting’ —…
