Faces of the week

Ian Rankin

told a book festival audience that Scotland’s Chief Constable Philip Gormley dined with leading crime writers to “reassure” those anxious about the impact of recent force changes on their characters. Told the single force was “a nightmare” for writers, Gormley reportedly said: “You must be getting jaded, Ian – surely you want to do something different.” Former Tory MP

Ann Widdecombe

attacked Oxford City Council’s decision to let form-fillers choose the gender-neutral Mx instead of Mr, Ms etc as “a waste of time and money”. The term will be added to official forms while the council considers phasing out titles altogether, because the existing ones are “not inclusive of transgender people”. “Political correctness,” she fumed. “Stop all the clocks, hang your flags at half-mast, Sienna

Miller is quitting Britain,” declared the Daily Mail’s Sebastian Shakespeare, after the actor said: “London feels cliquey and sometimes a little bit like swimming through mud.” She will now live in her native New York, which she finds “a little bit more inspiring”.