Reflections of a Sybarite

There was an interesting article in today's Times magazine by Sathnam Sanghera about access to Oxbridge. Sanghera, the child of immigrant parents and a state school boy from Wolverhampton, went to Cambridge, and has written an excoriating portrait of...

Well. Last night was quite an event. I watched the penultimate episode of MasterChef, and, for all the frustrations (documented elsewhere), felt a bit hungry, having had a late lunch but no dinner. So, weak as I am, I ordered a Chinese takeaway (Szechuan...

I begin this with caution and trepidation. I am a white, middle-class, middle-aged male, and I am going to write about rape and sexual assault. There will be people who will regard me as automatically disqualified to commentate on such subjects, because...

To misquote the great bluegrass singer Ricky Skaggs, the single life is the life I lead. And has been for nearly three years. At my age - in my fifth decade - it is something I think about a lot. It is not a pose I have chosen. But here we are.
One thing you notice is that most of your friends are paired up. One wants the best for them of, of course, but it's difficult not to feel envy and, at times, resentment. It's so easy for A and B to be having dinner with X and Y. Pairs pair up so easily...