The shock waves that have hit the House of Windsor this year have been relentless, including the news that King Charles has been diagnosed with cancer.
So it was encouraging to see him meet Rishi Sunak at Buckingham Palace this week and continue his work. Discussions between them revolved around the importance of raising awareness of cancer charities and the Prime Minister commented on how good the King looked.
Rishi wasn’t the only one who thought that. The appearance of the King was a reassuring message of hope. He had not lost his hair, as some of us feared, as a result of possible chemotherapy. He hadn’t lost much weight either. He seemed kind-hearted.
But for me there was also something quite moving about watching it. She made me think of the Princess of Wales and how we hadn’t seen her in so long. The most recent photographs I can find of Kate were taken on Christmas Day last year on the royal walk to the church in Sandringham.
It was January 17 when it was announced that she had been admitted to the hospital for an unspecified surgery. She then spent two weeks in a private clinic before her planned three-month recovery break from her royal duties.
William can pontificate foolishly about Gaza all he wants, but those of us who support and admire him and the Royal Family are not even vaguely interested. We just want to know about Kate, writes Amanda Platell
Kate and Princess Charlotte on Christmas Day on the royal walk to the church in Sandringham
The Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital in January for abdominal surgery and spent two weeks in a private clinic
Can we even remember a time since she married William in 2011 when she wasn’t present in our lives, smiling and laughing at official events or with her husband and children?
Their absence feels almost like grief, so we have become accustomed to it. Everywhere I go (to the hairdresser, to the butcher, to the shops, even on the street) I am asked about Kate by people who think I might have some information about the princess because I am a journalist (I don’t).
Everyone is desperate to know what’s going on. How is she. When we will see her. But there is radio silence. If Charles can be open about his condition, why can’t we find out how Kate is doing?
William can pontificate foolishly about Gaza all he wants, but those of us who support and admire him and the Royal Family are not even vaguely interested. We just want to know about Kate.
So please, William, stop lecturing us about the Middle East. And tell us that the wonderful woman he married and who long ago captured our hearts is okay.
Designer Katharine Hamnett posts images of her throwing her CBE in the bin while wearing a t-shirt that says ‘Disgusted to be British’. I would have felt more sympathy if this protest against the events in Gaza had not been followed by her telling us to buy the $21.99 t-shirt on her website.
Bad Bafta show
Emma Stone won the Bafta award for best actress for her role in Poor Things, which portrays a strange half-woman, half-girl who relieves herself in public, is willingly abused by men and then embraces prostitution. The film has grossed $100 million.
Meanwhile, Margot Robbie, who breaks free from female stereotypes with Barbie, is not even nominated, despite the fact that the film, which she co-produced, grossed $1.4 billion.
It’s time for the Bafta judges to ask themselves why they prefer a mutant woman to a gloriously ordinary and uplifting girl.
Margot Robbie, who frees herself from female stereotypes with Barbie, is not even nominated for a Bafta, despite the fact that the film, which she co-produced, grossed $1.4 billion.
Shamima Begum lost her appeal against the removal of her British citizenship.
In 2015, when she was 15, she fled to Syria, married a jihadist fighter, and lost the three children she had with him. She has already served a nine-year sentence in exile, while hate preacher Anjem Choudary was sentenced to five years and six months, and only served half of that.
Why has Shamima become the poster child for terrorism? Is it just that we can’t forgive a teenager who slept with the devil?
Isn’t it time to bring her home?
In 2015, when she was 15, Shamima Begum fled to Syria, married a jihadist fighter, and lost the three children she had with him.
Celebrating her box-office flop Madame Web, Dakota Johnson cavorts in a bikini with boyfriend Chris Martin of Coldplay in Mexico. She may have been singing to him her hit song Fix You and her lyrics: ‘When you do your best, but you don’t make it.’ Dakota’s career peaked with Fifty Shades of Grey. She passes the whip. . . and the sick bag.
The Victoria & Albert Museum, which opened its doors in 1852 to display and preserve historical, artistic or scientific artifacts, has created a new job for an official Taylor Swift expert, known as a super-Swiftie. It is an attempt to attract younger visitors and celebrate the singer’s life and art.
Call me old-fashioned, but I thought the purpose of a museum was for us to marvel at the miracles of antiquity, not to revere the life of a 34-year-old transient pop star.
Winners of the lottery of life
What’s not to love about Lancashire couple Richard and Debbie Nuttall, who won £61 million in the lottery?
They have spent a lot of money on a new car, while engineering assistant Debbie also chose a hair dryer. Accountant Richard says he will work until the end of the financial year “to be fair to his clients.” One suspects that the curse of the lottery will not fall on this endearing couple.
Lancashire couple Richard and Debbie Nuttall win £61 million in lottery
Cover it, Barry.
Saltburn star Barry Keoghan appears naked on a Vanity Fair cover.
I’m all for actors posing nude, but haven’t we seen enough of Barry’s not-so-attractive butt and bare chest?
Personally, I would prefer to see Oscar nominees Ryan Gosling, Cillian Murphy or Bradley Cooper more naked.
What red-blooded woman wouldn’t?
Saltburn star Barry Keoghan appears naked on Vanity Fair cover
The bursting of the bubble for soap opera actors
James Hawes, director of the fabulous spy drama Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden, says that in the future soap characters could be played by AI.
After stumbling upon an episode of EastEnders, my first in ten years, I discovered that all the women look the same, haggard and angry, the men ugly and angry, all shouting: ‘Hey, I ate you.’ And: ‘Hey, I ate you.’
Why don’t they make it a zombie movie where everyone eats each other?
Gary Oldman in spy drama Slow Horses
A Catholic priest is accused of sexually abusing young nuns. Father Marko Rupnik is accused of forcing them into threesomes and convincing them that group sex was the embodiment of the Holy Trinity. Geez, where do nuns fit in? Even I know that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all types.
The tragic death of Robin Windsor, 44, who suffered from depression, is a wake-up call. Friends who knew of the former Strictly dancer’s heartbreak searched for him for three days after he went silent. Message to all of us: if a loved one is close to the limit, we must persist with them. We never know if we can be the ones to save them.
The sentence of confinement for diminished responsibility imposed on the murderer Valdo Calocane will be sent to the Court of Appeals. Finally a ray of justice for the families of his victims, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates.
Leo is Pitts in the Netflix show
With his straight blonde hair, electric blue eyes and relaxed sexuality, comparisons are being made between a young Brad Pitt and Netflix’s One Day star Leo Woodall.
Surely viewers confuse sexy with sentimental. In the series, Leo has an enormous jaw that trembles constantly and it seems that at any moment he is about to cry. I’m swimming against the current on this one, as the series has been a huge success.
But I couldn’t wait for the final episode to end my misery.
And spoiler alert! — The only truth I took away from this sentimental and saccharine party is that riding a bicycle can be dangerous.
Comparisons are made between One Day’s Leo Woodall (left) and a young Brad Pitt
After the unedifying spectacle of the Gaza ceasefire vote, where Tory and SNP MPs walked out of Parliament, the cradle of democracy, this week I called off the Westminster Wars. The complex details of who did what, to whom, and why baffle even me, a seasoned political expert.
Suffice it to say that these chaotic and self-serving scenes brought no relief to the thousands of hungry, homeless and orphaned Palestinian children in Gaza.