Ephraim Hardcastle
THE Government’s apparent determination to send the Lords, and civil servants, to York – perhaps to please its all-powerful Northerner ‘adviser’ Dominic Cummings – was not well received at Windsor where the Queen is in lockdown. ‘Her Majesty has read about it in the papers but no one has bothered, yet, to consult her about her role in Parliament, how she will open it if its two parts are separated by 200 miles and, most importantly, where the thrones currently located in the House of Lords will go,’ says my source. Will the Prime Minister grasp this nettle during his weekly audience-byphone tonight?
WAS TV’s grumpy Victor Meldrew, actor Richard Wilson, 84, playing himself? Asked to recall his ‘favourite charity shop purchase’ on BBC Radio 4’s cranky Broadcasting House show, he replies: ‘I’ve never bought a single item. I’d rather not buy some old clothing.’ To save face, fellow guest, Oxfam executive Danny Sriskandarajah, invited Wilson-Meldrew to visit an Oxfam shop. The loveable old brute purred: ‘I’d love to come to any Oxfam shop any time and have a look at what you’ve got.’
ADMITTING that she mainly ‘played sex workers’ during her early acting career in the 1990s, Cold Feet star Fay Ripley, pictured, tells the Stage that she found a 1994 note saying: ‘Dearest Fay, I’m so sorry that your wonderful prostitute has not made it into the final cut of Frankenstein... I owe you a drink. Much love, Kenneth Branagh.’ Fancy!
TORMENTED by trolls for supporting the controversial Chinese firm Huawei, Apprentice host Lord Sugar, 73, says: ‘I used them eight years ago to help launch the non-profit Youview consortium where they did a great job while others failed.’ He advises a detractor: ‘Shut up, idiot. I have nothing to do with Huawei, other than I know they are great engineers who will produce a good 5G infrastructure.’ Can Alan’s Medal of Friendship – China’s top civilian honour – be long delayed?
APROPOS China, leftie actress Maxine Peake has joined Jeremy Corbyn in a campaign to save the 90-year-old Morning Star from closure. A spokesman for the communist paper explains: ‘The uncomfortable reality is that if we don’t raise another £62,000, we may not survive the Covid crisis. Why not ask China for help? The Star supports president-for-life Xi Jinping, commenting: ‘Communists do not have to share the sniffy cynicism of the Western broadsheets.’
AWARD-winning Hollywood actor James McArdle, 31, flew home from filming an HBO TV series to Covid lockdown in his native Glasgow, recalling: ‘I had to do an online call with this Oscar-winning director from my teenage bedroom. I heard my dad call from downstairs, “James – your dinner’s ready!’ ” Nothing brings you back down to earth with a bump quite like family, eh, James?
Email: peter.mckay@dailymail.co.uk