Watch Out

A literary feast that I can’t wolf down

At least the chattering classes will have something to chunter about

Tiger and me — driving into trouble

Nothing in my life is as fraught as easing my Skoda into a car park slot

Rule the waves? Not any more we don’t

Lord Palmerston knew how to stand up for the citizens of Britain

The devil is in the detail for the dark lord

Dennis Wheatley's tales are all hokum of course, but it's château-bottled, premier cru St Emilion hokum

Double click if you want the bin emptied

Notebook: If you give a man a household chore, just leave him to get on with it

We are in thrall to the thrill of novelty

Meditations on well-worn quality, cosmetic surgery and foot faults

Turn back the clock – my ode to dawn

I have to confess that I am firmly in the minority camp on the great question of Greenwich Mean versus British Summer

Crumbling at a storm in a tea break

There is a horrible sense that public life has become one vast poptastic Smash Hits interview

Fred is the man of my dreams — and his

Catnaps, jackets and worthy tomes at the Times Cheltenham Literature Festival

Fuchsia perfect – and worn by my hero

Notebook

A royal life well lived and well captured

How sad that human kind cannot bear too much niceness

Believe me, there is no whimsy in quinsy

Maybe there should be a word for the idea that something nasty sounds so nice

Sacrifice of troops resonates in tales of war

Lest we forget: how literature ensures we remain haunted by power of frontline narratives

It’s Big Brother who watches us now

Notebook: trends pioneered by the show have taken over contemporary life

Survival of the fittest – ideas, that is

Notebook

A Fiat 500 is far too exciting a car for driving lessons

It’s like ditching Polly Toynbee for La Cicciolina

Here’s a thought: let’s play devil’s advocate

Isn’t it curious that those who affect to despise religion seem so desperate to copy what the religious do?

Too bitter a pill for me to swallow

Getting old, the perfect job and mobile madness

Here’s where all the women get off

Only men really understand railways