Etiquette
Dear Mary
Q. A very old friend has rented a holiday house and invited my husband and me to stay. The property…
All the rage
Why have we become so quick to anger?
Dear Mary
Q. Passing Buckingham Palace in a taxi the other day, I saw the ceremonial wing of the Household Division prancing…
Dear Mary
Q. My beloved wife has been studying Chinese metaphysics for 18 months. Our house and garden have been badly neglected…
Dear Mary
Q. I live in a row of town houses with a communal strip of garden in front. Three of the…
Dear Mary
Q. The other night, while hosting a house party, I was one of only three people still chatting by the…
Dear Mary
Q. We have old friends who live in the northern hinterlands and have a property in Provence where they normally…
Dear Mary
Q. Last night I went to dinner with people I had never met before. Because the host was a friend…
Dear Mary
Q. At a lunch party, I was getting on so well with someone I had not met before. She knew…
Polite reminder
Why rudeness doesn’t pay
Dear Mary
Q. Once restrictions are lifted, our annual walking group has planned a week’s walk with after-walk gatherings in a different…
Dear Mary
Q. We have been invited to a virtual wedding. Is it correct form to send a present?— P.F., Barrow Street,…
Dear Mary
Q. I’ve recently been approached by a very good friend who — with genuinely admirable candour and tact — pointed…
Dear Mary
Q. I am placed in a social dilemma due to a proposed visit on the last weekend of June by…
Dear Mary
Q. Since the relaxation of lockdown, my brother and his wife have started coming to our garden for takeaway meals.…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband and I have started receiving invitations to large summer events scheduled for after 21 June. We have…
Dear Mary
Q. Our neighbours have a tennis court which, under the property’s previous owner, we enjoyed playing men’s fours on. The…
Dear Mary
Q. I have just been invited to a wedding where the groom will be the only person I know. Much…
Dear Mary
Q. I have been working (from home) for a TV comedy production company for a year. My job is scouting…
Dear Mary
Q. Before Covid, I was staying with friends in the country every other weekend. As a single man living in…
Dear Mary
Q. I hesitate to bring you this problem, but I suspect it is not that uncommon. Early in our very…
Dear Mary
Q. Recently an old acquaintance, notorious for never penning a ‘thank you’ note, emailed me telling me he was being…
The Spectator’s Notes
There is a ‘pervasive presence of Chinese military-linked conglomerates and universities in the sponsorship of high-technology research centres in many…
Dear Mary
Q. My mother, aged 87, has taken to forwarding me by email slightly risqué jokes. Her carer is the recipient…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband has always worked extremely hard and now does so from home — so I go to great…
