Give NHS bit Moore
WOW! What a send-off for Captain Sir Tom Moore.
The hero of the pandemic was recognised with full military honours.
The moving ceremony involved a gun salute by his beloved Yorkshires and a flyover by a WW2 Dakota airplane.
All in the most glorious spring-like sunshine.
It was a fitting tribute to a man who summed up Britain’s indomitable spirit in the face of the coronavirus crisis. Sir Tom deserved no less.
He became a focus for courage and optimism in the darkest of times.
Our hearts lifted at the sight of this dapper old gentleman resolutely walking round his garden to raise money for the NHS.
His reward was far more than the £33million he brought in for our besieged health service.
The authorities spared no expense to ensure he had a spectacular send-off.
Now the focus should shift to more ordinary, everyday heroes.
Those who are still going above and beyond to tackle the pandemic every single day.
Top of that list are our nurses.
If we really want to look after our pandemic heroes, we can start by shaking the magic money tree again.
And giving them a decent pay rise.
LADY Gaga’s French bulldogs have been found 48 hours after they were stolen in a gun attack.
They were handed to police by a woman in Los Angeles on Friday.
Officers are refusing to identify her over concerns for her safety.
But they said she appears to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the theft of the dogs.
The pets are being cared for by representatives of Gaga, 34, while she is in Rome making a film.
During the incident, the pop star’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot in the chest by two men.
He was taken to hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.
Lady Gaga – real name Stefani Germanotta – offered a £350,000 reward for the return of Koji and Gustav. It is not known whether it has been paid.
After the robbery, she said: “My heart is sick and I am praying my family will be whole again with an act of kindness.”
ROADSIDE verges have been saved by cutbacks in council funding, says Monty Don.
The BBC Gardeners’ World star, 65, used to be driven “half-mad” seeing town hall workers “shred” swathes of wildflowers.
He said: “Luckily, cuts to local government and a growing awareness of the importance of roadside verges for wildlife have reduced the cutting, as well as leaving it later – which gives the seed a chance to ripen.
“But there is still far too much gratuitously vandalised.”
Monty said one plant that thrived on mown verges was cow parsley.
He explained: “Cow parsley has the power to steal my heart anew every year.
“It is a survivor – when the council trashes the verges, it leaves the smashed stems and leaves where they fall and they rot back down into the soil to enrich it.
“This is detrimental to many flowers but not to cow parsley, which grows best in rich soil.” There are an estimated 926sqm of verge in Britain.
PARIS Hilton said she spent years hiding behind a “dumb blonde” persona after enduring a traumatic time at boarding school.
The socialite, 40, starred in reality TV series The Simple Life, in which she struggled with normal, everyday jobs.
Hilton said while she was portrayed as “ditzy”, it was an act she started after leaving a school in Utah, where she claims she was “verbally, mentally and physically abused”.
She said: “I kind of got stuck with the character because it was easier for me to pretend to be someone else.”
Paris added: “I’m not a dumb blonde, I’m just very good at pretending.”