Magic of the big screen and the myth of interest rate rises
News is like a box of chocolates in that you never know what you are going to get. Neil Hudson rummages deep to see what treats might make the headlines this week
THE AWARD GOES TO...
Lots of well-off celebrities have been and will be venting their liberal credentials, while holding aloft gilted gongs given to them by their equally well-off peers, which can mean only one thing: it’s awards season.
To be honest, the spleen has already been slashed, when Helen Mirren let rip at the Golden Globes in January.
Last night saw the British Academy Film Awards and today will see The Grammys in Los Angeles, a luvvie lovein which will continue throughout the month, culminating with the most pompous ceremony of them all, the Oscars in America on February 26 (incidentally, the 89th of its number), all of which gives ample opportunity for Brand Hollywood to sell its right-on, politically correct prospectus.
US singer Beyonce is nominated for nine awards tonight, while Britain’s Adele is up for five.
I SPY ROYALTY
Old meets new as Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh open the National Cyber Security Centre in London tomorrow. They will meet the director of GCHQ and attend a reception for staff and guests.
OF ANY INTEREST?
Interest rate rises are now a bit like fairies in that while some people still believe in them (and a rare few claim to have actually seen one), it would seem unlikely that the Bank of England is going to change tack and actually produce one, what with the economy hanging in the balance thanks to uncertainty over Hard Brexit. However, inflation is another matter entirely and tomorrow the Office for National Statistics will release inflation data for January. Cue Robert Peston...
HALF AGAIN
It’s half term week (yes, already – children these days don’t know how good they have it), which means parents everywhere will be running around looking for places to take their little ones to prevent them remaining indoors all day and going stir crazy (and also, so they sleep at night – shhh – which is the real reason).
TRUMP TON
On Thursday, it will be 100 days since Donald Trump won the US election. The billionaire businessman became the 45th president of the United States on November 9, the morning after the November 8 election, as voters gambled on his pledge to ‘Make America Great Again’. He was officially sworn in on January 20, meaning he has been in office for 25 days, during which time he has managed to anger or upset members of his own party, most of the opposition, the media, vast swathes of the electorate, foreign leaders and their voters and even members of the US judiciary.
You can guarantee there won’t be a week goes by without Trump being mentioned and this week will be no different, not least because a week today MPs will be debating his planned state visit to the UK later this year. This follows an online petition which called for the visit to be scrapped on the grounds it would embarrass the Queen, but the issue was muddied last week after Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow appeared to abandon the historical impartiality of his position and aired his personal view on the US president, which led some to question his position.
SAY YOU’LL BE MINE
It might be hackneyed and overblown but if there is a special someone in your life, then tomorrow is definitely a day not to be missed. Yes, it’s St Valentine’s Day, which has its roots in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast this Pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St Valentine’s Day.