Greggs must be hoping that Nigella Lawson’s endorsement of its Christmas bakery range is more successful than the backing given by world-famous women for Kamala Harris.
First, there was the wildly impressive Michelle Obama, followed by Taylor (do we still add Swift?), Beyonce, Oprah and J-Lo all offering their voices in support of Donald Trump’s rival. The notion was that their presence would sprinkle fairydust over Harris, who, despite being Vice President for four years, remained a little-known quantity.
But the appearance of some of America’s most popular female celebrities alongside her failed to get her elected.
Instead, their support may have damaged her chances.
Celebrity endorsement is a risky business. The appeal of a well-known name is often offset by those they alienate. While Harris’s famous women supporters undoubtedly added stardust to her campaign, they may well have diluted the attention from the less famous Democrat candidate, positioning her as more of a warm-up act than the main attraction.
Kamala Harris’ long list of female celebrity endorsements may have actually damaged her chances of being elected
The Vice President posing with Oprah Winfrey at a campaign rally in Philadelphia
The notion was that the presence of stars including Taylor Swift would sprinkle fairy dust over Harris
Beyonce appearing onstage at a Harris campaign event at the Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas
Generally, it’s most effective when the product and endorser seem a natural fit. In Harris’s case, there was something a bit queasy about this arrangement – while, as much as I hate to say it, the pairing of Trump and Elon Musk felt more authentic.
We may succumb to celebrity endorsement when it involves a lipstick brand or a fast-food chain but even so there’s never a guarantee it will work. Many a celebrity perfume has fallen at the first hurdle – i.e. never actually being bought. And while books written by TV celebrities frequently hit the bestseller lists, their endorsement on the cover of others invariably fail to shift sales.
Kamala Harris’s girl squad was great entertainment but when it came to the American people choosing who was going to be in charge of their country, being told what to think by a parade of multi-millionaires totally backfired.
Kemi’s cabinet is packed with clones
On this side of the Atlantic, where interest in Kemi Badenoch’s new Shadow Cabinet has been marginalised by the US election, I have a question about the outfit choice of her male colleagues. Did they receive a memo decreeing navy blue suits and short back and sides for their first photo-op?
If not, why did they look indistinguishable from one another, particularly given that so few are household names? I doubt I am the only person who wouldn’t recognise Gareth Bacon or Alan Mak if I found them at my front door.
My recommendation would be for them to add a bit of individuality to their appearance. Pronto.
Male members of Kemi Badenoch’s new Shadow Cabinet look indistinguishable from each other
New Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s Shadow Cabinet
The battle to make Waterloo alluring
There’s something ineffably depressing about railway stations nowadays. Once, large city stations were great temples of modernity, with vast glass ceilings, impressive facades and wrought iron arches spanning huge platforms. Today, all that remains of such magnificent architecture is unfortunately hidden.
Travelling to Salisbury last week from London’s Waterloo, I sat sadly on a new uncomfortable bench, seemingly deliberately positioned so passengers can’t see the departure boards, while drinking a cup of the only disgusting coffee available.
Apparently, Waterloo was never intended to be a terminus but a stop on the South West and London line that ended in the City.
London Waterloo Station. There’s something depressing about railway stations nowadays
Meanwhile, the grand dames of Paddington and Victoria and the important stations of Manchester and Birmingham are equally grim.
If we are to be encouraged to ditch our cars in favour of rail, something must be done to make stations more enjoyable places to linger – especially since lingering is frequently the experience.
In praise of my saint Maria
Maria comes to our house for a few hours on Tuesday and Thursday. Yes, she cleans the place immaculately but she does so much more. She irons and folds, tidies cupboards and drawers, replaces missing buttons, sweeps leaves, moves furniture… I can go on.
The term ‘cleaner’ by no means explains her role or relationship with us, is far more personal and essential. But she’s not a ‘housekeeper’, who is more of a permanent overseer of the domestic arena, nor is she a ‘daily’, since she only visits twice a week and, in any case, that word is only slightly better than ‘char’ or ‘maid’.
I know I’m fortunate to be able to employ somebody to do my dirty work, which is why I want an elevated word to describe Maria. This saintly character, who brings order to our lives, one of the few people guaranteed to leave our small world of the home better than she found it, deserves better.
One whiff you can never get rid of
It sounds as if playwright Polly Stenham, who has won in a legal action brought by her landlord, didn’t have a Maria in her life.
Her property’s owner claimed that when her two-month tenancy ended, the sofa was stained with ink, there were scuff marks on the paintwork and a vile smell of cat urine. It’s the latter that will have really done the damage.
Playwright Polly Stenham won a legal battle with her landlord, who claimed there was a vile smell of cat urine in his property following her two-month tenancy
Maria or no Maria, cat pee is one of the most insidious and invasive stinks, desperately hard to get rid of and not easy to avoid. The only thing worse are those horrible air fresheners people put in their loos.
Is tea towel a little common, Nicky?
I don’t know whether air fresheners have ever featured on designer Nicky Haslam’s annual tea towel list of what he deems common and whose 2024 iteration includes such gems as fire pits, WhatsApp and Primrose Hill.
Unwise as it may be to query Nicky, who has made a career out of pronouncing on what’s acceptable and unacceptable, I suggest using the word ‘tea towel’ is itself common. Surely it smacks of the very genteelness that’s the epitome of common. Isn’t ‘dish cloth’, eminently more chic?
