Family
Barometer
Area of doubt Hillary Clinton has said that if she is elected she will open files on the US military…
Confessions of a Saga lout
Baby boomers like me aren’t giving up irresponsible hedonism as we age. We’re just getting worse at it
The scan said my baby wouldn’t live. It was wrong
When my unborn baby was a five-month-old fetus, twisting about in the internal dark, he was given a death sentence…
Oh, what a lovely Waugh!
My father, Evelyn Waugh, enjoyed pretending to be a horror. He wasn’t
In praise of PC
Here’s another stock joke for your collection: Pembroke College, Cambridge, has cancelled a fancy dress party themed on Around the…
Fear of the baby-snatchers
Why many mothers with post-natal depression now dread a visit from social services
Your problems solved
Q. My husband-to-be and I both work full time. We are getting married from his family HQ and his kind…
Where’s the joy gone?
Britain seems to be suffering from a dearth of lightheartedness
Christmas lists
William Brown had the right idea about Christmas lists. Under the heading ‘Things I Want for Christmas’, he requests: a…
Ian Rankin’s diary: Paris, ignoring Twitter and understanding evil
After ten days away, I spent last Friday at home alone, catching up on washing, shopping for cat food, answering…
Barometer
Family business Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre Trudeau, was elected to his father’s old job as Prime Minister of Canada.…
We celebrated a birth with a wine that will last decades
Good Saturday, 2015, stepping westward. Autumn sunshine: autumn leaves, almost comparable to New England: pumpkins everywhere, very New England. We…
Women are still scared to talk about IVF. Let’s change that
Pretty soon, one in ten British babies will begin life in a Petri dish. So why is it still such a taboo subject?
Baby steps
Why women are seeking alternatives to NCT antenatal classes
The cruellest month
My August-born toddler is being marked out for failure – thank God the rules are changing
Labour’s iron lady?
An interview with Yvette Cooper
Summer’s end
Hedonism, tragedy and me
The breast test
New mothers who can’t keep to the breast-feeding orthodoxy face needless misery and shame
Hamburg
‘What was it like growing up in Liverpool?’ a journalist asked John Lennon. ‘I didn’t grow up in Liverpool,’ he…
Diary
My Cambodian daughter and her husband have just got married again. Wedding One was a Buddhist affair in our drawing…
Man of many worlds
Cult novelist Michael Moorcock on fantasy, his father, and the London he loved and lost
Young guns
The Honourable Society of Odd Bottles began proceedings with a report on the activities of our junior branch. These youngsters…
Your problems solved
Q. My partner, a leading political commentator on a national newspaper, recently agreed to shave off his hair at the…
Aristotle on the Lego chair
So Cambridge University has accepted £4 million from the makers of Lego (snort) to fund a Lego chair (Argos sells…
Barometer
First test The driving test celebrated its 80th anniversary. The first person to take the test, R.E.L. Beene of Kensington,…
