Christmas
The forever ‘war on Christmas’
It seems to get earlier each year, doesn’t it? It’s not yet even December, and the Mail on Sunday has…
Lockdown creations
‘I may, one day, stop making notes and writing down recipes,’ Nigel Slater says in A Cook’s Book (Fourth Estate,…
Festive season
‘Here you are, darling,’ I said to my husband. ‘These lines might have been written for you: “Drinke, quaffe, be…
Why Christmas sends a shiver down my spine
Does Christmas send a shiver down your spine? It should. We seek at this time of year to reclaim the…
Christmas raises the most basic political question
A few years ago, around this time of year, I overheard a nice exchange in a charity shop (I was…
Merry blooming Christmas
No one captures better than Raymond Briggs the ambivalence that many of us feel towards the festive season, says Daisy Dunn
High life
New York Here we go again, the annual holiest of holies is upon us, although to this oldie last Christmas…
I Live Here Now
A short story. Illustrated by Carolyn Gowdy
Theresa May’s festive cake
This recipe was given to me years ago by an old friend — hence the imperial measurements — and I…
Perfect presence
Finding hope in a year like no other
Ghosts of Christmas past
Seances, trikes and the miracle of tinfoil
A romcom with very little com
In Black Narcissus, based on the novel by Rumer Godden, five nuns set off for a remote Himalayan palace in…
Unhampered pleasure
There is straw inside the Fortnum & Mason Christmas Treat Hamper (£100). As the straw drifts through the house, it…
Whodunnit?
The Master of Flémalle was one of the first painters to depict in detail the reality of ordinary things. But who was he? Martin Gayford finds a prime suspect
Discomfort and joy
The anxieties that long ago shadowed Christmas are back
The Spectator’s Notes
Many ingenious ways of evading Covid-19 have been devised to assist commerce, fewer to assist worship. In our next-door village,…
Barometer
Now and then Were households allowed to mix at Christmas during the plague? Samuel Pepys’s diary entry for 25 December…
Diary
Among the greatest bores right now are those friends who insist on telling you, usually as if it’s some kind…
Actress’s Notebook
To say that the past nine months have been tough is like saying a hurricane felt like a spring shower.…
Letter from Hawaii
In a normal week, I would jam with local musicians, but that stopped in March and we musicians miss the…
All in the worst possible taste
Potted Panto is a 70-minute parody presented by two burlesque comedians. Jeff is a tall, playful bungler and his colleague,…
Blessed be the fruit
Laura Freeman is transported by J.C. Volkamer’s astonishingly beautiful ode to the citrus
Low life
Every few years I’ve picked up one or other of Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time series…
Avoiding the punch at the Governor’s Christmas party
Tidings of comfort as the vaccination programme advances, but shortage of joy. That’s my summary of a season in which…
Boris Johnson’s Christmas Covid gamble
Boris Johnson is taking a gamble with his decision to stick with the easing of Covid restrictions for Christmas. The…
