Powered by Google

The X Factor is my secret guilty pleasure

THE X Factor is my secret guilty pleasure. Or, perhaps, not so much a secret any more.Read

Why I just caved in to the inevitable with Secondborn

I AM far from delighted at the news that the legendary Three Counties System of caves beneath Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria has been finally linked.Read

Such cute calendar kitties

THE calendar season is upon us, bringing with it an opportunity for organisations great and small to raise funds and show us what they can do with 13 photographs.Read

Hilarie Stelfox: I’ve got the K Factor, at least that’s my theory

THE PEOPLE who created our garden had a penchant for hideous, spiky shrubs.Read

Hilarie Stelfox: It’s time universities changed the admissions process

AS FOLLOWERS of this column will know, this year the Stelfox family went through the gruelling university application process, yet again.Read

Hilarie: If only every cupboard had a feelgood factor

WE took Secondborn back to her student accommodation at the weekend, after she’d enjoyed a good night’s sleep back in her own bed.Read

Hilarie Stelfox: Lest you forget, visit the national arboretum

POPPY DAY is an annual event that has meant different things to me at different times of my life.Read

Hilarie: The day I signed up to be a bone marrow donor

THE Examiner’s librarian Stephen spends quite a bit of his time trawling through our archives.Read

Hilarie: Now I’m a believer in the obesity epidemic

IT IS many years since the Stelfox family had what is known as a beach holiday.Read

No empty nest syndrome for me even though both my kids are at university

SECONDBORN is feeling murderous towards the ducks that live outside her university accommodation.Read

Jack Murphy’s short life was full of love and devotion

IT’S ALL too easy to take a gloomy view of the world and its inhabitants when there appears to be so much war, crime and bloodshed.Read

Hilarie: It’s her business if she wants to be a Wally

ALL WEEK The Girl has been asking questions such as: “Have you got anything yellow that I can take with me?”Read

Hilarie: Digital readers don’t fire my enthusiasm

THIS week the Examiner asked its readers whether they see a future for books as we know them.Read

Hilarie Stelfox: Baking cupcakes and making new friends

THIS week we have been dining on cottage pie, ratatouille and lemon cupcakes.Read

Hilarie Stelfox: Of teasels, easels, art and Adolf Hitler

A STRANGE thing has happened. I have discovered that for many years I have been fooling myself over the matter of artistic talentRead

Hilarie: Help Rosie follow her musical dream

EARLIER this summer it was my privilege to meet a charming young school leaver, Rosie O’Hare, who, most kindly, agreed to model for one of my fashion pages.Read

Hilarie: Flapping about in my soon-to-be-empty nest

AND SO it begins. The emptying of our nest.Read

A tale of three archaeologists

IT AMAZES me that the ancient Greeks and Romans managed to get any civilising or conquering done at all given their corner of the world is suffused with a soporific heat for much of the year.Read

How The Girl went to work on an egg or two

SECONDBORN has been hen sitting over the summer for our neighbours.Read

Hilarie Stelfox: We’re off to Rome

WE’RE off to the Eternal City for a few days next week, leaving The Boy in charge of the cats, rabbit, fish and allotment.Read