Plea for ice queen Gillian to break her Salt Path silence: EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE
Why the delay in elevating Nigel Farage to the Privy Council? Elected to lead a party of five MPs (now down to four) the honour would normally have followed fairly swiftly as with the leaders of Plaid Cymru (four MPs) and the DUP (five). The last dither was when Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader. He got the nod in the end because doing otherwise would risk the King appearing to snub a particular party. With Farage being touted as a potential next PM, the Palace is feeling similarly jittery. Membership carries the right to be briefed on confidential 'Privy Council terms' at times of national importance. You have to turn up of course. Kemi Badenoch missed a briefing about the Afghan data breach in March and so knew nothing about it until last week.
Might Trump remember old pal Farage when visiting the King? The US embassy will, as is customary, have the right to suggest names to the state banquet guest list which could see Nigel don the nosebag at Windsor Castle. He didn't make the cut last time and will be hoping for better now he's an MP. And if Farage does get in, will he be seeking Queen Camilla 's guidance about boltholes for a sneaky Woodbine?
Muteness from Gillian Anderson, pictured, about her role in The Salt Path, with author Raynor Winn disputing claims it has misleading details about her life. 'Were [Gillian] to break her silence,' writes The Spectator's Alexander Larman, 'it would be a rare chink in the armour of this ice queen, sex therapist and, it would appear, all-round Renaissance woman. Just a tinge of vulnerability... would make the Magnificent Anderson that bit more human, and therefore likeable.'
Expressing sympathy for married Andy Byron, 50, forced to resign after he was caught on camera cuddling his company's HR chief Kristin Cabot, 52, at a Coldplay concert, writer Flora Gill remarks: 'Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of refreshing, seeing a man publicly cheat with an age-appropriate woman for once? I know this means the bar is absurdly low, but she's not in her twenties, so that's something.' Her late journalist father, AA Gill, famously left Flora's politician mother Amber Rudd after his affair with South African model and journalist Nicola 'The Blonde' Formby, over a decade his junior.
, who famously bit a bat's head off on stage believing it was a rubber toy, later stipulated what he wanted on his gravestone: 'Bats taste like sh*t.'
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