Modern manners
Would you like to buy an American’s vote?
Killing time in a Heathrow first-class lounge, I notice how many men adopt an unmistakable ‘first-class lounge’ persona. They stand…
Why Britain (and Europe) depends on migrants
It’s not about economics. It’s about our snobbish, slobbish culture
Dull hipsters in broad daylight – why I’m done with today’s dance music
At 19, I dropped out of university to pursue a career as a rave promoter. I went into business with…
The most annoying word in advertising
There’s a plague of first-person advertising
Ancient Roman advice on how to deal with bouncers
The papers are full of top stories about important people who cannot get into important parties because the doorman does…
The sad decline of the teenage snog
Sometimes I sit my nieces down and treat them to tales of dating in the dark ages, before iPhones arrived…
Does creaky voice make you a female yuppie – or an updated Vicki Pollard?
My husband, not surprisingly, finds it extremely annoying. It, in this instance, is the use by women of creaky voice.…
Dear Mary: Must I have name badges for guests at my wedding?
Q. My husband-to-be and I both work full time. We are getting married from his family HQ and his kind…
Dear Mary: How can I escape the New Year party that just won’t give up?
Q. For the past two New Year’s Eves we have ducked an annual party given by some acquaintances, who are…
Whatever happened to real Christmases?
As I strolled through the aisles in a large department store, I almost choked when I read a large display…
What makes a cad (and why this was such a good year for them)
From Lord Sewel to – let’s not be sexist – Sally Bercow, there’s life in the old rogue yet
Dear Mary solves problems for Nicky Haslam, Nigel Slater, Professor Mary Beard and others
From Nicky Haslam Q. Being considered something of a guru on the subject of things common, can you advise me…
The secret brilliance of Prince Philip’s ‘gaffes’
I’ve just been on the receiving end of a Prince Philip gaffe, of sorts, and I loved it. It was…
Women’s issues are for everyone now, not just feminists
‘Women’s issues’ are for everyone. So feminism is obsolete
Dear Mary: Another way to deal with a maddening blackhead
Q. Might I suggest an alternative solution to E.B. of London’s problem (3 October) about the person sporting a ‘maddening’…
I invented ‘virtue signalling’. Now it’s taking over the world
I invented the term ‘virtue signalling’ in The Spectator. Now it seems to be taking over the world
Dear Mary: How can girls avoid freezing in cold marquees?
Q. What do you do when you are so cold at a party that you cannot enjoy it? At a…
New mothers deserve something better than NCT classes
Why women are seeking alternatives to NCT antenatal classes
Is our only choice to be cynics or suckers?
It’s all the rage to mistrust the powerful these days, to say politicians are scum, or all bankers are selfish.…
A lesson in graceful Twitter style – from a resigning shadow minister
‘Tweeting’s like text messaging, isn’t it?’ said my husband confidently, though not, as usual, from any knowledge of the matter.…
Six rules for a perfect pub
Whenever one of those news stories appears about how many pubs have been forced to close in the last year,…
A licence to kill - the slippery slope of 'assisted dying'
If you don’t think legalising ‘assisted dying’ is a slippery slope, you haven’t been paying attention
The fight to save the Gladstone Arms is a battle for the soul of London
The fight to save the Gladstone Arms is the fight to save London
Breast-feeding isn't always best
New mothers who can’t keep to the breast-feeding orthodoxy face needless misery and shame
Saints still beat Game of Thrones for baby-naming – but maybe not Mohammed
We reached peak Charlie in 2012, when 5,571 baby boys were given the name. There were only 4,642 last year.…
