Ephraim Hardcastle
FORMER Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys was refused permission by the BBC to give an atheist Thought For The Day on Saturday, according to the day’s guest editor Charles Moore. ‘Mr Humphrys was up for it,’ he says, ‘but my request was crushed by the device of saying that this could be done only if an alternative view were expressed on the same programme.’ Stick with Mastermind, John, ’tis safer!
PROMPTED by the death of World Cup winner Martin Peters, Labour’s Emily Thornberry calls for a change in the rules to allow honours to be awarded posthumously. What about demanding that gongs be removed posthumously, as David Cameron pledged after the Jimmy Savile scandal? Neither he nor successor Theresa May took action. The argument is that the honour dies with you, although in truth it lives on. Rolf Harris had his CBE and Order of Australia removed because he is alive. As the law stands, Sir Cyril Smith MBE and Sir Jimmy Savile OBE remain honoured.
GEORGE Clooney’s wife Amal, pictured, is apparently ‘obsessed’ with Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan, and ‘does everything she can to spend time with her and keep in touch with her’, says a US report. ‘Amal texts her, gives her parenting advice and how to follow fame advice.’ Isn’t it a joy she does not need any legal advice from human rights lawyer Amal?
EX-LABOUR bigwig Ed Balls remains haunted by a photo of his exposed midriff taken during a pre-party conference football match in 2008, complaining to wife Yvette Cooper: ‘It was awful.’ He confides after dancing a flamenco for a new BBC documentary: ‘What I’m worried about is I’m wearing this T-shirt and trousers and, if I put my arms in the air, I get a gap. Do you remember that gap between my football shirt and shorts?’ Ed, your missus has more on her mind plotting her takeover of Corbyn’s shambolic Labour Party.
WHATEVER happened to US embassy attache Amy Jeffress, a staunch advocate of the Anglo-US extradition treaty? The lawyer now represents Anne Sacoolas, charged with causing Harry Dunn’s death by dangerous driving in Northamptonshire in August. Jeffress now insists extradition is ‘disproportionate’. Funny, that.
THERESA May’s fingerprints are evident in the profusion of New Year cricketing gongs. There’s a CBE for Colin Graves, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, who always ensured Theresa got a seat at Tests. Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd is a knight of the realm. May gave her childhood heart-throb Geoffrey Boycott a K in her resignation honours in September. Two years ago Boycott ranted about gongs being given out ‘like confetti’ to West Indian cricketers and that he’d more chance of getting one if he ‘blacked-up’. He later apologised.
IS AINSLEY Harriott’s MBE sufficient consolation for ITV’s 2015 blunder when footage of the cheery cook was shown during the broadcaster’s report about lenny Henry’s knighthood?