Ephraim Hardcastle
THE news that Barbados might ditch the Queen is a surprise. Might Jamaica be next? The assumption has been that none of the remaining 16 realms and territories where the Queen is sovereign would move against the monarchy so late in her reign. A royal source says: ‘Makes you wonder how many more might follow in the reign of Charles. He represented the Queen at the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November 2013. HM has said she’ll do the next one in Malta in November – taking Charles with her to show him how it’s done.’
LABOUR voters in East Dunbartonshire are apparently being offered a luxury home as an incentive to back the party. A leaflet for candidate Dr Ahmanjit Jhund offers ‘A Mansion to help save and transform our NHS’. Or might it be that the word ‘tax’ is mysteriously absent?
BURLY Mock The Week presenter Dara O’Briain, 43, pictured, has filmed a BBC2 documentary in Mexico. Good luck to the Irish comic, but is his noisy presence necessary in the otherwise entertaining and informative BBC2 show Stargazing Live? He breezily upstages its expert and star, Professor Brian Cox. Couldn’t they volunteer pushy Dara for the oneway mission to Mars?
THE Queen has stripped Rolf Harris of his CBE, but was she in danger of even greater embarrassment: having to retrieve an Order of Merit from him? Harris, 84, got his CBE in 2006, a year after painting HM’s portrait. Later, I hear, he was suggested for an OM, which is in the sole gift of the Queen. My source says: ‘Inquiries were made, rumours heard and he was erased from the list of possible OMs.’
MASTERCHEF presenter John Torode, pictured, can’t resist a sly dig at his onscreen colleague, Gregg Wallace, in a Woman magazine interview, saying: ‘Like Gregg, I get asked to do Strictly. But there’s no way I’d do it because my career isn’t failing. Maybe when I’m washed up... I’d love to learn to dance, just not in front of 16million people.’ Fans of Strictly may remember that Wallace took part in the show last year. He was eliminated by the second week.
TOMMY Chong – one half of druggie, 1970s comedy duo Cheech & Chong – claims in a Rolling Stone interview: ‘I’ve gotten high with every one of The Beatles except Paul and he’s the only one that really was a pothead.’ Sir Paul McCartney was jailed for nine days when eight ounces of marijuana was found in his suitcase by Japanese officials. But that was in 1980. No doubt he’ll advise Chong to keep a civil tongue in his head.