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Modern Guru

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Is it rude to keep listening to my podcast while my partner is talking to me?

In our ear-budded, double-screened, tech-distracted lives, sometimes we need to focus on just one thing, says our Modern Guru.

  • Danny Katz

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Is it bad luck to throw out my old Bible?

Modern Guru hears your concern: most of us can, occasionally, be struck down with a chronic bout of the Just-In-Cases.

  • Danny Katz

How do I ensure neighbours don’t think a house-guest’s thong-undies are mine?

If you can’t lower the Hills-Hoist to hide your laundry, our Modern Guru has an alternative suggestion.

  • Danny Katz

Am I being precious about how to use my tea towel?

Everyone should honour the tea towel, advises our Modern Guru, noting that its 18th-century origins did not embrace spill-blotting or fly-swatting.

  • Danny Katz

Should I hassle a fellow passenger to switch his phone to flight mode?

Yes, says our Modern Guru … unless the plane is already plummeting to the ground and people are texting their final goodbyes to loved ones.

  • Danny Katz

Help! My new partner doesn’t wash his hands after going to the toilet

You can’t be sure what he does in the bathroom, notes our Modern Guru: many activities may be going on behind that closed door.

  • Danny Katz
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I hate drinking from my friend’s square wine glasses. What should I do?

When confronted with appallingly designed kitchen products at someone’s house, lean into the horror, counsels our Modern Guru.

  • Danny Katz

I am a doctor. If I see people at festival without a hat, should I say something?

They’re getting a free consultation without having to make an appointment, writes our Modern Guru.

  • Danny Katz

Is it OK to make use of my dead neighbour’s bins?

It must be really creepy for all the other neighbours, seeing a dead man’s bins mysteriously going in and out each week.

  • Danny Katz

A charity-shop worker took my donated marbles for her kid. Is that OK?

Sorting donations – using bare hands in the dank, fetid stew that used to be someone’s old clothes and bedsheets – isn’t easy, says our Modern Guru.

  • Danny Katz