Zany streak of British humour
The fact that Kip Williams is leaving the Sydney Theatre Company to stage The Picture of Dorian Gray with Sarah…
Language
Speccie reader John is puzzled by an American expression that we’ve heard only recently in Australia: when a politician is…
Aussie life
You can take the boy out of advertising, but you can’t take the copywriter out of the middle-aged man. I…
How to exploit a crisis
The phrase ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ is often attributed to Winston Churchill, but it’s something the…
Dear Mary: How do I avoid my neighbours on holiday?
Q. We have some neighbours who we don’t mind at all – they are perfectly nice, just not part of…
Lucy Letby and the problem with statistics
First Fred West, now Lucy Letby. At this rate, it won’t be long before Herefordshire has produced more serial killers…
When did monkeypox become ‘mpox’?
Writing about monkeypox in The Spectator in May 2022, Douglas Murray repeated a formula he had put forward in 2020,…
Labour’s age of miracles
I am not yet eligible for the winter fuel allowance. Nor am I especially in favour of it, regarding it…
Must-watch TV: Apple TV+’s Pachinko reviewed
Pachinko is like an extended version of the Monty Python ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch (‘I used to have to get out…
Has the RHS forgotten its roots?
Chekhov had no illusions about horticulture (‘It’s a nice, healthy business to be in, but there are passions and wars…
The treasures of sherry
We were talking Spain and drinking Spanish. The UK and Spain are very different societies, but we did find points…
The unstoppable rise of stage amplification
Recent acquisition of some insanely expensive hearing aids aimed at helping me out in cacophonous restaurants has set me thinking…
Artistically embarrassing but a hit: Shifters, at Duke of York’s Theatre, reviewed
Shifters has transferred to the West End from the Bush Theatre. It opens at a granny’s funeral attended by the…
In praise of one of the great avant-garde trolls of cinema
The most important thing to know about the filmmaker and writer Marguerite Duras is that she was a total drunk.…
