Duchess of sussex

Wednesday

Dot Wordsworth

If you’re ‘reaching out’, you sound deranged

‘Why doesn’t anyone do what you ask them to?’ enquired my husband, who is something of an expert on the subject, I should have thought. He was referring to a plea I made three years ago to people I’ve never met to stop sending emails that begin: ‘I am reaching out to you.’ But it has grown worse. Using the expression makes it sound as though the emailer is deranged. Reach out has for more than a century meant ‘to offer sympathy, support or assistance’ to people. Correlatively it can mean to seek those things. As Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer has acquired the habit of issuing a Christmas message. For 2025 he said: ‘At this time of the year, which celebrates love and abundance, loss or hardship can feel even more acute. Reach out. It can make a huge difference.

Wednesday

Stephen Arnell

The interview on screen: from Frost/Nixon to Basic Instinct

Whilst not exactly (to paraphrase Richard Burton as Marc Anthony in Cleopatra) the 'biggest thing to hit Rome since Romulus & Remus', Oprah Winfrey's recent interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was certainly A Big Deal. With over 17 million viewers watching in the States and 11.3m here, the renegade former royals cannot be ignored.  High-stakes interviews have long been a favourite subject of movies. The onscreen celebrity interview is obviously not a recent creation, with the phenomenon depicted in films as far back as Sunset Boulevard, Champagne for Caesar (both 1950), A Face in the Crowd (1957) and of course Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960).

Sunday

Alec Marsh

Princess Eugenie and the perilous business of baby names

Naming a child turns out to be one of the hardest things you can do. The secret to nailing it is to avoid choosing something outlandish or freakish at one extreme – but then sidestep the trap of settling on something profoundly mundane at the other. Unless you are a rock star or a tech billionaire, for instance, it best to avoid the following: Tree-stump, Treble Clef, or a non-verbal sign that was formerly adopted by the artist Prince when he was still a going concern – these are not the imprimatur available to the majority of us who have to occupy terra firma. And yet... and yet, you don’t necessarily want to give your bundle of joy a name that has about as much unique appeal as BMW Mini. You want something that your son or daughter can own and make their own.