Family
Agitprop for toddlers
The oddly strident politics of CBeebies
When scaremongering stops being funny
My grandmother, Nanny Nancy, is 99 and going strong. But it can’t be denied that while she’s all there mentally,…
Once more, the spectre of Enoch Powell is raised to stop debate about immigration
One of the genuine seasonal pleasures to be enjoyed as 2013 slipped around the U-bend was Enoch Powell making his…
Don’t blame sugar
Obesity isn’t a matter of addiction. It’s a question of self-control
Meet the parents
Woolley Grange is a child-friendly country house hotel that seems, at first, entirely monstrous — a grey Tudor house in…
My 50 weddings
The lessons of a perpetual guest
Diary
It’s been a strange summer. After a stroke, holidays are not what they used to be. We went to Juan-les-Pins…
Low life
This time last year the postman delivered a picture postcard depicting a village square in Provence. The photograph on the…
Dear Mary
Q. Is there a polite way of halting a wannabe novelist from reading his oeuvre aloud to an unwilling audience?…
Diary
Hay-making was easy this year, and over in good time for a holiday. I am opposed to holidays, having worked…
Plato on Today
A woman is invited to join the Today programme, and the chatteratae are immediately a-twitter on the subject of female…
The contented little prince
On raising a royal baby
Diary
Next time I’m in a sauna I’m going to say: ‘It’s like a school sports hall on prize day in…
It’s sport that really matters in life. Now where’s my surfboard?
What a glorious sporting summer it has been so far. For some the highlight will have been Andy Murray at…
A theatre critic at the school play
‘Another opening, another show,’ sang five-year-old Charlie on his way to school this morning — and then proceeded to belt…
Dear Mary
Q. Regarding the writing of ‘no presents’ on an invitation (Dear Mary, 6 July), my own experience is that many…
Old friends and new
A few years ago, I got the shock of my life when a girl I was sitting next to at…
It’s the secret of a successful marriage: my wife treats me like a dog
‘Here, Wolf,’ says the Fawn to me, showing me a saucer. ‘Look at this! This is the new place where…
What business is it of the taxman whether I’m married or not?
The Conservative party is trying to redefine marriage. I can’t believe they think they’re going to get away with this.…
Dear Mary
Q. Over the years my close friends locally have been giving each other birthday and Christmas presents. Now, as I…
