Language
Are you a ‘pejorist’? I wouldn’t blame you if you were. I am currently reading Melanie Phillips’ brilliant book The…
The Pinochet affair: the pursuit of a Chilean dictator
A fast and compelling account of what happened when the retired general came to London in the late 1990s for an operation, by a lawyer closely involved in the case
Britain needs a Rearmament Isa
The City’s self-styled ‘cheerleader in chief’, Lord Mayor Alastair King, on a recent visit to Beijing and Shanghai found leading…
Is Britain ready for a patriotic theme park?
It is the early 9th century. Peace reigns in a small French village as they prepare for a wedding. Garlands…
AI will never write good fiction
Sam Altman, Dark Lord of Chatbots (or the CEO of OpenAI as he is more conventionally known), has released another…
Visit the King’s Head Theatre for one of the greatest theatrical surprises of the year
Amanda Abbington’s new show is heavily indebted to Noël Coward’s Hay Fever.Coward’s early play follows the tribulations of the superficial…
The day Bangkok crumbled
Last Friday I was on my 15th-floor balcony with an early afternoon coffee, watching dogs play among the banana trees…
The Da Vinci world of known unknowns
Was Leonardo really vegetarian, agnostic and a fashion icon? In this searingly brilliant new ‘anti-biography’ we learn there isn’t much we can say about him with any certainty at all
Am I making a mountain out of my mole?
Hypochondriacs are never happy because we know that eventually all of us are vindicated. As Spike Milligan said on his…
Is it time to clean up my act?
I was having a drink in the Bishops’ Bar in the House of Lords last month when I was introduced…
Dear Mary: What is the etiquette of unfollowing someone on Instagram?
Q. When hosting a dinner party, should one circulate the biographies/Wikipedia entries of your guests beforehand so that everyone arrives…
Why the restaurant world hates beer drinkers
I’ve always thought working in hospitality is like getting a free MBA – but one rooted in the real world…
What is ‘misogynoir’?
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been troubled by two verbal peculiarities in a week. The Duchess corrected a…
Golden syrup dumplings: the perfect comfort food
The Italians have a phrase: ‘brutti ma buoni’. It means ‘ugly but beautiful’, and it’s the name they give to…
Doctor, Doctor: the genesis of a national folk hero
A foray into the BBC television series Doctor Who in which the author reaches heavily into the biographies of its lead actors with illuminating results
Satire and settled scores: Universality by Natasha Brown reviewed
Skewering journalistic pretension to authority is the main business of a novel that contrives to be both viciously accurate and weirdly off the mark
Keir Starmer must look beyond adolescent politics
An industry poll by the British Film Institute in 2000 to find Britain’s best television programme put Fawlty Towers first…
The truth about ninjas
One of my favourite scenes in Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino’s black comedy martial arts film, is the meeting of Beatrix…
