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The English DO have a stiff-upper lip – and Scots are NOT tight with their money, a study into stereotypes found. The research of 1,635 English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Northern Irish people looked at preconceived notions they have about one another. Over half of English folk don't consider Scots to be tight with their cash - although six in ten people north of the border think those further south have a stiff upper lip. Fifty-nine per cent of those...

Over the past decade, London has become renowned worldwide as the best place to divorce for the less wealthy spouse. Dubbed the “divorce capital” of the world, there have been many cases going through London’s courts involving large settlements, some consisting of hundreds of millions of pounds. The latest divorce case involving large sums of money, reportedly Britain’s biggest divorce, has done nothing to dent London’s reputation. Quite the opposite, in fact. This judgement has positively reinforced London’s status as...

It’s official, a new study has declared today, life really was "better in the old days". If only it had been released a week earlier the Tories might have fared better in the General Election, tugging at our nostalgic longing for a time gone by. As it was people voted for progress, although it's a vote too late in some instances. For a start, much of the Brexit vote was down to people's belief that things were better in the...

A rare 17th-century map which was stuffed up a chimney to stop draughts has been returned to its original home following painstaking restoration work. The wall map -- one of only three in the world -- was recovered during renovations on a house in Aberdeenshire last year. It was covered in dirt and severely damaged after being attacked by vermin and insects, and looked to be unsalvageable. The map was all set to go to the skip, until someone had...

Simon Cowell is amongst the favourites at 11/8 to receive a knighthood when the Queen’s Birthday Honours list is announced on 17th June. Fellow Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams said Cowell “thinks he should have a knighthood” and the odds suggest the leading online bookmaker agrees. Meanwhile, J K Rowling is the shortest in the betting at evens to receive a magic tap on the shoulder from the Queen’s sword. Her Royal Highness is 6/4 to make space for...

I have recently become quite curious about retirement. Oh not mine own, so put away the champagne. It would be an extraordinarily difficult achievement for a writer to retire. There's nowhere near enough money in it to build a nest egg, and besides that I'm not quite sure how a writer's retirement could even be accomplished. Perhaps we could just communicate through gurning and a variety of hand motions like elderly members of the House of Lords or Polynesian dancers....

If a reasonably well-informed alien were to visit the United Kingdom in May or June, he (she? It? Them?) would assume that this was a land of devotees of the great sun god, Ra. We live, it is true, in a relatively cold climate – I read somewhere that the UK is on the same latitude as Labrador – but once the sun peeps out from behind its cloak, we embrace it wholeheartedly. I say this as a Scot, whose...

Millions of Brits are lacking basic kitchen skills – with one in five admitting they can’t boil an egg, a study has found. Instead of a perfectly cooked egg, a fifth admit they end up with yolks which are too hard-boiled to dip, whites which are still runny or even let the pan boil dry, resulting in burnt, black eggs. More than a quarter also struggle to cook rice while almost a third say they are unable to cut an...

Recently, I found myself in Surbiton, where I had arranged to meet an old friend who lives in deepest commuter-land. I had never visited the place before. Indeed, I have to confess that it was well into my adult life that I discovered it was a real place at all; previously, I had assumed it was a fictional entity, invented by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde for The Good Life. The name just seemed so apt, Surbiton, with its hint...