Social manners
Mary answers your problems: The tactful way to get rid of a drunk guest
Q. I was recently at an informal dinner given by two dear friends, but returned home seething with rage against…
Mary solves your problems: My husband’s started working from home – and he’s driving me crazy
Q. My husband, who used to be away on business most of the time, now works from home and has…
Dear Mary
Q. Our best friends own a house in Morocco which sleeps about ten. They rent it out but go two…
Dear Mary
Q. Mary, I am what you would probably call a Sloane Ranger. I have great numbers of close friends and…
The joy of sex
Your typical Trollope-loving, Brahms-bothering Spectator reader probably won’t be aware that the most recent winner of Big Brother was a…
Dear Mary
Q. I was brought up to stick rigidly to any invitation accepted and never to ‘chuck’ when a better one…
Dear Mary
Q. Last summer a friend of my brother-in-law’s house-sat for us while we were in Greece for a week. We…
It’s got to be perfect
When I order a cup of tea in Costa, the barista says: ‘Perfect!’ I ask for tap water in a…
Dear Mary: help me to engineer a date with this charming army officer
Q. I have a deep crush on an army officer I’ve met through work. He is decisive, practical and doesn’t…
