Modern manners
How can I get the buyer of a supermarket to notice my products?
Q. I import a range of very high-quality food products from Europe into the UK. They are regarded as the…
This dieting nonsense is hard to swallow
Eat good fresh food and ignore health bloggers and nutrition gurus
My husband keeps pointing out birds in our garden but I can’t see them
Q. Having retired, my husband is now an enthusiastic observer of the goldfinches, greenfinches and bullfinches in our garden. Their…
How to make the most of the social opportunities of the polling station
Q. I am a member of a well-known country house opera society, and I organise annual trips to performances for…
No need for excuses with party bores... it’s your duty to circulate
Q. Re getting away from bores at drinks parties (Dear Mary, 20 May). I take issue with the idea that…
Dear Mary: how do you excuse yourself from a dull conversation?
Q. My mother always told me that only boring people are bored. However she never got stuck at a drinks…
How do you reject someone but still spare their feelings?
Q. May I pass on a tip to readers wishing to reject a hopeful romantic partner without hurting their feelings?…
Do you know a flake fatale?
No shows. Repeat cancellations. And all excused by ‘flakiness’
What can be done about flakes who cancel at the last minute?
A friend of a friend hosted an engagement party in a London hotel. Invitations had gone out six weeks beforehand,…
Dear Mary: Am I obliged to regale my sponsor with anecdotes from my life?
Q. As an artist I’m indebted to my sponsor. I also like him, but not his habit of ringing me…
The importance of being trolled
In social media’s strange class system, victimhood belongs to those at the top
On landing, the pilot made an announcement so psychologically astute that I wanted to offer him a job
After landing at Gatwick, the plane taxied for five minutes or so and then came to a halt in the…
Dear Mary: How to coax a thank-you letter from your guests
Q. We had some people up from London for a very long weekend. We put on an extra-special do, costing…
The other sexual double-standard
Why is self-love for women so cool and feminist? For men it’s seen as sad and sleazy, points out Julie Burchill
Dear Mary: how can a dear friend be enjoined to plan his visits ahead?
Q. Living in a large house in the country within striking distance of a motorway, we get a lot of…
Nordic calm for scary people - Aquavit London reviewed
Aquavit is a ‘uniquely Nordic–style’ restaurant in the St James’s Market development between Regent Street and the Haymarket. This development…
How the National Trust is spoiling its treasures
How the National Trust is spoiling its treasures
Make drugs dull: legalising cannabis the Canadian way
A former police chief on fighting cannabis by legalising it
The misery of a full diary
We lose something by planning our diaries too far ahead
Dear Mary: my friends’ annoying habit when referring to their toddlers
Q. Most of my friends have small children and being mostly media types in west London, have given them silly…
Star power
Donald Trump and the end of the age of celebrity
Dear Mary: How to deal with a ‘recycling fascist’
My partner has become a recycling fascist. She checks everything I put into the bin. I received two bollockings today alone…
The Tories could – and should – have got rid of John Bercow years ago
Seeing off the Speaker Sir: If senior Tories in Buckingham had had their way, John Bercow’s career as Speaker could…
Britain’s morals are regressing. We need a Social Highway Code
Why it’s time to establish a Social Highway Code
Thank God for expensive lawyers!
When you buy a house in Britain, there is an extensive and well-established series of checks you must perform to…
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