These women whose antics we smirk at good-naturedly in the pap-traps put themselves out there at least partly on their beauty; they are in showbiz, and showing what they've got is part of their business as much as it is for male show-ponies from the Chippendales to George Clooney.

It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast.

Contrasting British servicemen and women with the appeasers, it is hard not to laugh. Are these two sides even the same species, let alone the same nationality? On one hand the selflessness and internationalism of the soldiers; on the other the Whites-First isolationism of the protesters. Excuse me, who are the idealists here?

One Christmas build-up tradition, however, has totally bypassed me - that of going up to town and doing a show.

Whenever I am sent a new book on the lively arts, the first thing I do is look for myself in the index.

There's something brave and touching about game girls of all ages keeping themselves smart in hard times - one thinks of those wonderful women during World War II drawing stocking seams in eyebrow pencil up the back of legs stained with gravy browning because nylons were so hard to get hold of.

Lots of women love to accuse men of being immature when the fellow in question displays a reluctance to "commit"...