Family
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,…
Father’s Day
No man ever watched a £20 note flutter from an opened Father’s Day card and thought: ‘How disappointing — not enough…
Reuniondues
A couple of weeks ago I returned to my old Oxford college for a ‘gaudy’ — posh, Oxford-speak for a…
The hazards of being a good sport
Not a day passes when I don’t look on my father’s record with shock and awe. I’m not talking about…
I went looking for a used car – and found my inner boy racer
A bit late, I know, to put in a bid for Jeremy Clarkson’s old job. But I think I might…
The age of the Skype Dad
What happens when a divorce court accepts video calls as a substitute for visiting your children
Dear Mary
Q. For ten years, I have made a reasonable freelance income working from home. During this time my husband has…
Cold heart of the home
Against sterile modern kitchens
Diary
It’s dangerous, in my line of work, to promise you’ll be anywhere by 8 p.m. I made this mistake recently,…
I blame the parents
If Britain has a crisis in children’s mental health, it’s easy to see why
The end of childhood
When the state excuses underage sex, what chance do our children have?
Diary
Last week I went to the exhilarating English National Opera production of Wagner’s The Mastersingers — five hours of wonderful…
Your problems solved
Q. The woman who lives above me has insomnia and walks around all night. I’m also disturbed by her rather…
The joy of six
Why I’m glad to have five children, with a sixth on the way
Uni’s out
Why being a graduate is about to lose its prestige
Dear Mary
Q. A neighbour is hosting a party for his daughter’s 21st birthday. Adequate provision has been made for anyone who…
A London Christmas
I have been having my vault done over. Not, as you might think, the family strong room, but the place…
Pacific-sized love
Flying from Hawaii and my grandfather
A last time for everything
Life is full of little endings. We should pay them more attention
Diary
Two million pounds can buy you consideration for a place on a medical trial! Every year untold numbers of potential…
There’s no such thing as an Etonian
Finally, just in the last few years I’d say, we’ve all begun to accept the role of nature in the…
Conversion experience
Reckoning with my stepson’s turn to radical Islam
Disney matter
The Disney Café is a gaudy hell on the fourth floor of Harrods, Knightsbridge. It is adjacent to the Harrods…
