In the Emergency School
We were registered as a form, and for the first day Left unsupervised alone in a distant room With empty…
Title stories: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
The post Title stories: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join…
The Christmas lunch
Illustrated by Carolyn Gowdy The early Christmas lunch party had been Bunny Wedgewood’s idea. But Bunny had pulled out the…
The Servant
You will see, alas, that all of this is true. One morning, I awoke in a feather bed in a…
The answers
So they say 1. President François Hollande of France 2. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, of Nick Clegg, the…
Christmas Quiz
So they say In 2014, who was quoted as saying:1. ‘There is no status for the partner of a head…
The Servant
You will see, alas, that all of this is true. One morning, I awoke in a feather bed in a…
The Christmas lunch
Illustrated by Carolyn Gowdy The early Christmas lunch party had been Bunny Wedgewood’s idea. But Bunny had pulled out the…
The answers
So they say 1. President François Hollande of France 2. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, of Nick Clegg, the…
Christmas Quiz
So they say In 2014, who was quoted as saying:1. ‘There is no status for the partner of a head…
The heroes of Cognac
The chestnut trees were still resplendent in yellow leaf along the banks of a misty autumn river on its glide…
Smock and awe
Somerset House, a handsome Georgian palace on the Thames, was once the office of the Inland Revenue, and the courtyard was…
Fifteen things we learned about sport this year
It was the year of KP, Keano and the Kiwis; of Federer, Froch and Phil the Power (no change there…
Gold standard
‘Hang on a minute—he’s a bit wobbly,’ trainer Oliver Sherwood told photographers imploring him to stand with his winner when…
Cashmere socks and the secret of happiness
I had always attributed it to bad luck in the genetic lottery. I am three-eighths Welsh and a quarter Scottish,…
Wild life
Laikipia We are privileged to live with lions on the farm. We hear them most nights. We encounter them frequently.…
No brainer
One feels the pang of impending failure whenever the Royal Ballet ventures like a deluded Don Quixote into a periodic…
The power of hate
With seconds to spare, I think I have chanced upon my music book of the year. Such choices are always…
The power of hate
With seconds to spare, I think I have chanced upon my music book of the year. Such choices are always…
Diary
I’ve been to Kirribilli House only twice. John Howard had little time for the Melbourne media, and I suspect did…
Juliet Townsend (1941-2014)
A new literary editor looks among his acquaintance for potential reviewers. There was no one I approached more confidently in…
Sunset Hails a Rising
O lente, lente currite noctis equi!— Marlowe, after Ovid. La mer, la mer, toujours recommencée.—Valéry. Dying by inches, I…
Title stories: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
The good old days when I had no idea what I was doing
What I miss most about being very young is the cluelessness. It’s enormously liberating, cluelessness. The boundaries of life are…
