manners
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. Since the relaxation of lockdown, my brother and his wife have started coming to our garden for takeaway meals.…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband and I have started receiving invitations to large summer events scheduled for after 21 June. We have…
Dear Mary
Q. I have just been invited to a wedding where the groom will be the only person I know. Much…
Dear Mary
Q. I have been working (from home) for a TV comedy production company for a year. My job is scouting…
Dear Mary
Q. Before Covid, I was staying with friends in the country every other weekend. As a single man living in…
Dear Mary
Q. I hesitate to bring you this problem, but I suspect it is not that uncommon. Early in our very…
Dear Mary
Q. Recently an old acquaintance, notorious for never penning a ‘thank you’ note, emailed me telling me he was being…
Dear Mary
Q. My mother, aged 87, has taken to forwarding me by email slightly risqué jokes. Her carer is the recipient…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband has always worked extremely hard and now does so from home — so I go to great…
Dear Mary
Q. I was instrumental in finding some much-needed work for a local retired secretary/PA when I recommended her for the…
Dear Mary
Q. Following the birth of our child we were deluged with cards, gifts and money from kind family and friends.…
Dear Mary
From Joanna Lumley Q. We receive a huge number of Christmas cards every year. When I take them all down…
The importance of giving offence
As dons at Cambridge vote on a new protocol on constraints to free speech, we mark this month the 500th…
Real life
If the novelty of going for a walk doesn’t wear thin for the marauding masses soon, I am going to…
Dear Mary
Q. Unlike my wife, I am tiring of Netflix. Wanting a project to occupy me during these long dark nights,…
Dear Mary
Q. For many years my boss gave each member of his small team a very generous Christmas gift voucher from…
Dear Mary
Q. My son has moved his girlfriend into our fairly small house for the second lockdown. I am grateful for…
Dear Mary
Q. I have a delightful young goddaughter who, thanks to the virus, I have not seen since last year. Her…
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. I would welcome your advice on a tricky family matter. For my 70th birthday earlier this year my brother…
Dear Mary
Q. An old friend offered to treat me to a birthday lunch, provided I choose and book the restaurant myself.…
Dear Mary
Q. I am running out of suitable responses to a friend who now has the slightest possible connection to one…
Dear Mary
Q. Many years ago I was asked to officiate at a funeral for a family I did not know. As…
