Friendship
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Rory Sutherland recently wrote about high-end takeaways (Wiki Man, 19 February). In the last London lockdown, I was fortunate…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Recently I started hanging out with a new friend. We are both in our twenties, single, and usually go…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Three weeks ago I banged my head on the lower branch of our near neighbours’ tree, which I couldn’t…
Diary
A princess of Hanover wrote in her diary: ‘My 30th birthday. There must be some mistake.’ Substitute 30th for 80th…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I treat myself to a manicure every ten days. It’s a 30-minute appointment and the girl I use is…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. A long-standing artist friend, whose work now commands high prices, has sent me out of the blue a present…
Dear Mary
Q. Our two daughters often bring friends down for the weekend. These friends are more than welcome; we enjoy their…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. An acquaintance suggested organising a celebratory dinner in honour of some mutual friends. He asked my husband and me,…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I never lie about my age but I try not to think — or talk — about it. Now…
Lost cause
Being a good Samaritan is harder than it seems
Dear Mary
Q. We have old friends who live in the northern hinterlands and have a property in Provence where they normally…
Dear Mary
Your problems solved
Dear Mary
Q. At a lunch party, I was getting on so well with someone I had not met before. She knew…
Dear Mary
Q. I’ve recently been approached by a very good friend who — with genuinely admirable candour and tact — pointed…
Dear Mary
Q. I am placed in a social dilemma due to a proposed visit on the last weekend of June by…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband and I have started receiving invitations to large summer events scheduled for after 21 June. We have…
The scholar and the gypsy
Naomi Ishiguro began writing Common Groundin the aftermath of the Brexit referendum. The title refers to both Goshawk Common in…
Dear Mary
Q. I hesitate to bring you this problem, but I suspect it is not that uncommon. Early in our very…
Farewell Richard. You were the best of us
I heard the shocking news last week that one of my oldest friends — Richard Edwards — had died suddenly…
Dear Mary
Q. I am extremely fond of an artist friend, despite the fact that I have never liked her work or…
Dear Mary
Q. Is there a tactful way to wind up a Zoom call when one of you has more time on…
Dear Mary
Q. Many years ago I was asked to officiate at a funeral for a family I did not know. As…
Diary
The only female writers of importance I have personally met are Margaret Atwood and Joan Didion, both of whom are…
Dear Mary
Q. Some friends persist on displaying our email addresses in large address lists when sending out round robins to all…
The Spectator’s notes
I think Anne Applebaum is a friend of mine. I certainly hope so, since I have always admired her writing,…
