Not a Bono fan

 

Muted Enthusiasm

‘God help us all’: Readers react to Harry and Meghan’s return to the UK

The Telegraph revealed on Wednesday evening that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were planning to move back to Britain.

Has Meghan given up the absurdly expensive jam business? 

Will Harry carry on suing people?

So many questions. 

Meanwhile there is a thunderstorm rumbling around our little patch of Derbyshire. It may be an omen.

Difficult and cheap

Merely celebrity fluff, but an entertaining start to 2026 because hardly anyone was ever deceived by these two. Even turbocharged PR wouldn't work for them. 

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle reportedly branded 'difficult and cheap' by US PR agencies rejecting accounts

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle started 2026 with what, according to insiders, they are calling a 'PR nightmare.' Their chief communications officer Meredith Maines stepped down after less than one year in the position – marking their 11th publicist departure in just five years.

The timing is particularly damaging as the couple simultaneously announced their separation from US-based PR agency Method Communications in late December 2025. A number of leading PR agencies have refused to work with the couple because of their unstable reputation and frequent scandals.

According to Celebrity reporter Rob Shutter on his Substack 'Naughty But Nice,' top American PR firms have outright rejected the Sussexes' accounts, with one agency representative stating they are 'difficult and, frankly, cheap. Kardashians and Beyoncé spend a fortune on PR; Harry and Meghan expect the same results for a fraction of the budget.'

They never get it right

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get mixed reaction after being named 'Humanitarians of the Year'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were named ‘Humanitarians of the Year’ at a glitzy ceremony in New York last night, where they spoke about the dangers of social media as one of the “most pressing issues of our time.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were honoured at the Project Healthy Minds Gala—an event that celebrates efforts to expand access to mental health resources and reduce stigma around mental illness.


Strewth - they never get it right.

The creepy duo could have turned down a ‘Humanitarians of the Year’ award merely because it's ludicrous. It's a good enough reason for most people - don't be ludicrous and expect to be taken seriously.

Unfortunately, in their world ludicrous posturing doesn't matter if they are on the stage. Any stage will do as long as it offers yet another opportunity to display their glitzy vacuity to a world which sees through them every time.

Meghan's keepsake packaging

This morning Mrs H and I were chatting about the celebrity antics of Meghan and Harry, particularly the entertaining attempts by Meghan to create a lifestyle brand. She isn't the only one playing this tawdry game of course, but she is remarkably unconvincing even by celebrity standards.

Mrs H was particularly amused by this advice from Meghan -

Her raspberry jam - which is made in a factory - will be 'presented in keepsake packaging,' and she advised fans to 'repurpose' the jars 'to tuck away love notes or special treasures, and to remember this pivotal moment with me', adding: 'Think of it as our time capsule'.

Meghan, 43, continued: 'And by the way, once you've enjoyed every spoonful of this fruit spread, you may want to do what I do: rinse the jar and use it as a small bud vase for flowers on your nightstand, or to hold your pens on your desk.'


The entertaining aspect is its transparent shallowness, the idea that any sensible adult could go along with such crudely tacky marketing. Some will go along with it presumably, just as some adults accept free tickets to Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter shows.

Yet is anyone seriously interested in the Meghan Markle show, except as a casually entertaining demonstration of just how vacuous celebrity marketing can be?

We've got chickens

King and Queen host celebrity-packed dinner at Highgrove

The King and Queen were joined by celebrities at a black-tie dinner celebrating Italian cuisine and "slow food".

Among the guests for Charles and Camilla's event at Highgrove House were Victoria and David Beckham, Dame Helen Mirren and Stanley Tucci...

The Queen spoke ahead of the dinner with David and Victoria about life in the Cotswolds, which the former Manchester United midfielder said was "so beautiful".

He added: "We love it. We are very happy there. We've got chickens..." Camilla then interjected: "I've got chickens too!"


And a mixologist apparently.


The King also made a martini with Italian mixologist Alessandro Palazzi, laughing when the lemon almost went up his nose as he tried to take a sip.

'Tis the season of tinsel and baubles and wondering why

New Year Honours: Gareth Southgate, Stephen Fry, Sadiq Khan and Keely Hodgkinson make this year's list

More than 1,200 people have been awarded honours in this year's list - including a host of Team GB athletes and people who campaigned on behalf of wrongfully convicted sub-postmasters.

Former England manager Gareth Southgate, London mayor Sadiq Khan and actor Stephen Fry have been knighted in the New Year Honours.

Katie Hopkins: Phillip Schofield gossip

We don't watch TV and I don't know much about Phillip Schofield, but this entertaining Katie Hopkins video is worth watching as a commentary on how his relaunch is being handled. 

The how is interesting, the why is obvious - money.

The Death of Tony Hancock

 

One of the very few comedians I look back on now and still think was funny.

Low Wattage Fans

Even Swifties are struggling to defend Taylor’s private jet use

Among the many updates this week on Taylor Swift – Grammy record-breaker, cultural bellwether, billionaire pop star and NFL superfan – is the revelation that she recently offloaded one of her two private jets.

The move to reduce her jumbo-sized carbon footprint was dented, however, when it coincided with news that the singer had brought the heft of her mighty legal team down upon a college student who uses government data and automated bots to track the planet-heating emissions from these private jets, then shares that information on social media.

Low Wattage Celebrities

Anyone paying attention will have noticed this, so it’s not original, but many celebrities don’t seem to be particularly bright. They imitate fashionable memes, phrases and topics of conversation but don’t venture beyond the safety of the orthodox and the banal. The media pretend otherwise but that’s their job.

The obvious suspicion is that many celebrities stick with vapid chat because they aren’t equipped for anything else. As if their status as a celebrity is only maintained by the team behind them, manager, agent, publicist and so on. They have something which can moulded into a celebrity, but not without help and they don’t have much else beyond the job of being a celebrity.

Putting aside the issues surrounding him, Prince Harry is a prime example. He clearly isn’t equipped to be a public speaker, raconteur or capable of holding an audience by his wit, wisdom or comedic talent. He is where he is because of what he is, but isn’t able to take it an inch beyond that. Meghan’s mistake.

Similarly there are famous actors who can act but cannot extend their public persona much beyond the acting. Even the most gushing interviews tend to bring this out, the banal nature of their views on life, a tendency to imitate fashionable sentiment and topical outrage while adding nothing of their own. Not that fans generally care of course, but a few must wonder.

Many politicians are much the same, even senior and well-established politicians. Far too many are professional imitators and plagiarists, not originators. Not adept enough to have veracity and reform work in their favour, they end up trying to make political theatre and lies do the job instead. Starmer is one of those.

Anxiety shared...

Stephen Fry praises King for making cancer diagnosis public

Stephen Fry has praised the King for revealing his cancer diagnosis to the public, but said he is “anxious” for him.

The 66-year-old actor and comedian, who had prostate cancer in 2018, said Charles’s “very swift modernising” of the monarchy now includes “an openness about something as personal and indelicate as a cancer”.

Not wishing to be churlish and naturally I don't know what King Charles might think, but Stephen Fry's anxiety wouldn't do much to alleviate mine.

Maybe that's it

Harry and Meghan attend Bob Marley film premiere in Jamaica

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were surprise guests at the Jamaican premiere of a film about reggae singer Bob Marley.

Prince Harry had been to Jamaica in 2012 on a successful royal trip, remembered for his jokey meetings with Usain Bolt, where the Olympic athlete had called him "cool, very down to earth".

During that visit more than a decade ago, Prince Harry had been asked about Jamaica's drain of talent to the United States and had told reporters: "It doesn't matter how big you are, if you've got talent use it. Don't go running off to America if you've got a clear talent your country needs."


Presumably this means it is fine for Harry to go running off to America because he lacks the clear talent his country needs. Maybe this is his thinking and if so, he's right.

Unsteady Eddie

Jean Hatchet has an entertaining Critic piece on the political ambitions and failures of Eddie Izzard.


Give up already, Eddie

Eddie Izzard’s unconvincing political career is going nowhere

If a man declared his undying love for a woman, and a week later declared his love for another woman, you’d think of that man as insincere at best. In November last year Eddie Izzard swore the political equivalent of undying love for Sheffield and her people. He was, it appeared from his campaign declarations, going to stick around forever and make everything better for the people of Sheffield.

Often sporting a hot pink coat and mini skirt, he posed with the police, hung around the buses and ran about in the park. Photo opportunities were plentiful, and he garnered the lion’s share of the media headlines about the race to stand as the Labour candidate for MP in Sheffield Central. Izzard made much mention of his Sheffield connections — as he had been at university here temporarily — and he boasted that Sheffield kick-started his creative career. He eventually lost the battle to be selected but declared, “I took a risk in standing but I don’t regret it. Sheffield is a city that I love. It was before, and it always will be, close to my heart. Thank you #Sheffield.”


The whole piece is well worth reading as a reminder that we should pay no attention to celebrities who play politics.


Yesterday Izzard lost in Brighton, coming second to Tom Gray, a local musician, in his bid to be selected. You have to wonder how he feels at not being embraced by a city so diverse and inclusive. Could it be that it is just too difficult for the party members to believe he is politically committed to the area or is he simply hard for them to like with his insincere track record? I don’t imagine he has considered this. He has released no statement as yet. A toe-curling article by Sean O’Grady of the Independent ponders that Eddie is, “just too nice and kind and too beautiful a personality to be a Labour MP” and that he is “such a beautiful person, inside and out, she can’t really want to fade away on some select committee”.

I don’t agree with him. Despite Sean’s dismissal of political service as dull and irrelevant, I suspect that Izzard is probably bored by the prospect of his fireplace and slippers. Entitled, wealthy men need new shiny things to play with, and, as they deny old age, invariably look around for the exclusive and elusive things they don’t yet have. Not much is as exclusive and elusive as a seat in government. What to give the man who has everything? Why lady things of course, and a seat in the Commons. He’s already been everywhere he can, now he wants to be where he can’t. I would love him to keep banging on that door and being told no.

She felt Britain needed "more normal people going into politics"

Georgia Harrison 'had talks' about becoming Labour MP

TV personality Georgia Harrison has said she has had "serious conversations" with Labour MPs about a bid to represent the party in Essex.

The former Love Island star, 28, told the Sun she felt Britain needed "more normal people going into politics".

Ms Harrison has campaigned on violence against women and girls - and hopes a run for Parliament would inspire girls.

Her ex-partner Stephen Bear was jailed earlier this year for posting intimate footage of her online.


What a splendid idea, we do need to see "more normal people going into politics" as opposed to "Sir" Keir's weird dimwits. Unfortunately for Georgia, experience is important too.

Perhaps it counts as experience, but I don't want to know what Love Island is, it won't be edifying. Maybe real life has turned into a soap opera, it does feel like that at times.

To reflect the will of the nation

Lib Dem conference: Steve Coogan and Carol Vorderman lead rally for proportional representation

The comedian and the presenter are among high profile backers for the party, using video messages to call for electoral reform and "reflect the will of the nation".

Statistics from the party said the Conservatives now have 56% of seats in the Commons, despite only receiving 44% of total vote share at the last election.

Lib Dem parliamentary representation in the Commons amounts to a mere 1.6%, even though they secured 11.6% of the vote.


Once in power, none of the main political parties has any interest in trying to "reflect the will of the people", whatever that means. A more equitable distribution of seats would reflect the power of the media, propaganda and voting habits, but that's what happens now. 

Seat numbers aren't particularly important if government policies are almost entirely passed top-down from the permanent administration, which they most certainly are. All Lib Dems would do is present things slightly differently, bungling and totalitarian incompetence would become more virtuous. 

It's not easy to see why celebrities endorse political parties. No good can come from mingling with charlatans and nutters.

Seems inevitable really...

Seems inevitable really - sooner or later I'll have to find out who Lizzo is beyond the headlines. It's not a question of wanting to know, it's an effect of the internet. Once headlines are scanned, it is no longer possible to be entirely oblivious and somehow partially oblivious, knowing little more than the name isn't quite adequate.

I know - I'll put it off until we've been out for a coffee. Maybe then the headlines will have changed.

Lizzo's future is hanging in the balance - will she survive?

Lizzo has won four Grammys, an Emmy and single-handedly made it cool to play the flute - but it's her work to make being plus-sized a positive that won her a legion of fans. Now the star's facing multiple claims of weight shaming - all of which she denies.

Promotional Culture

An interesting video showing how Meghan Markle uses trivia and meaningless promotional language to build and maintain her celebrity persona. Familiar enough, but the video also conveys a sinister aspect to promotional culture generally. 

In a wider sense, the video is a reminder of the same promotional culture saturating the public domain. Manipulative language used in the pursuit of power, money and undeserved esteem. Or perhaps a promotional version of esteem. Even that isn't real.

Make sense of this

 

“I’m a celebrity and you aren’t. I can do this and you can’t. Consistency and facts are for the little people darling.”

To my mind it is not easy to make sense of hypocrisy taken to this level. As if we aren’t supposed to make sense of it without the assistance of a comparable level of cynicism.

Dodged Shock

Law Roach: Zendaya, Ariana Grande stylist announces shock retirement

Pioneering celebrity stylist Law Roach has announced his retirement, saying his cup was "empty".

Several stars have expressed their shock at the news, with Law's looks being seen as recently as the Oscars.


The main attraction of stories such as this is that I find I'm not at all shocked by the news. I'd go further - it's definitely uplifting to be immune to shocks of this nature and similar shocks which spurt so regularly from celebrity world.

It's dull and cloudy outside, but there is an unshocked spring in my step already.