Ephraim Hardcastle
EX-BBC correspondent Jon Sopel mocks PM rishi Sunak’s speech to the national Farmers’ Union – in particular his decision to quote President eisenhower’s remark: ‘Farming looks mighty easy when your plough is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.’ eisenhower’s words are the first to pop up on popular website BrainyQuote’s list of farming quotes, Sopel gleefully suggests on his podcast: ‘So someone at Downing Street has said, “What are we going to say about bloody farming? i know, go on BrainyQuote! First quote, Dwight D eisenhower – that’ll do!”’
PRINCE WILLIAM is thought to want substantial changes made to the accession process, the coronation and the role of monarchy. He has consulted ‘relevant parties’ and has been advised to wait until after a general election before putting them on a formal footing with, potentially, a new prime minister. Change is in the air but the pace won’t be as leisurely as anticipated a few weeks ago.
APROPOS Prince William, while he usually keeps his political views under wraps some will suspect after his Gaza remarks that he harbours Leftish sentiments. On the other hand he was suspected of Tory bias by not inviting ex-Labour PMs Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to his 2011 wedding but including ex-Tory premier John Major, pictured above. He is said to have been angry that Sir Tony had recounted in a 2010 memoir a 1990s conversation in which Wills said he hated the ‘prison walls’ of his destiny. They’re closing in as his hour approaches.
DEFENDING WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Aussie-born London socialite Kathy Lette announces: ‘Bring him home to Oz. As convict stock, we instinctively admire people who have the courage of their convictions.’ Name-dropping Kathy says she and her lawyer ex-spouse Geoffrey Robertson remember ‘ hiding Assange in our attic’ in their north London home, adding: ‘I often visited him in the Ecuadorian embassy. I took along Ruby Wax and Pamela Stephenson.’
SARAH Ferguson, former wife of the Duke of york, is co-chairman of the Global citizen action NOW summit in Melbourne on March 4 to 6, with the aim of ending extreme poverty and climate issues. ‘All my life i have lived and loved being outside enjoying every moment,’ Fergie said. ‘i’m coming to Global citizen NOW: Melbourne to participate in vital intergenerational conversations with young leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region,’ isn’t life grand?
POP is largely created on computers now apparently but veteran drummer Brian Bennett provides a flavour of the 1960s band scene. He says he regrets being enticed to join The Shadows, recalling: ‘We ended 1964 in panto – Aladdin at the Palladium. I got pushed through a mangle by (comic) Arthur Askey (b1900) twice a day. I hadn’t signed up for that! Later we played the working men’s clubs – horrible places. Some guy would get up and say, “Here we are, then. They’re not my cup of tea, but I hope you like them – The Shadows!”’ Taylor Swift never has to endure this kind of treatment I’m sure.