Anna Nicholas: My Column

I don’t watch television but occasionally I take a look at the news online and have found Morgan’s no nonsense, incisive and at times, bullying techniques, hugely addictive. He is indeed a Marmite man and you either bow at his shrine or want to send in the dogs.

He is undeniably a master of his craft and knows exactly how to raise the ratings with his dogmatic and fearless views that openly deride the new woke culture engulfing Britain.

For that reason alone I’m on Team Piers even though his bombastic and outrageous comments have now and then left me frustrated.

What is perhaps most interesting of all in the drama is the fact that the Duchess of Sussex was so incensed by his comments that she personally intervened to have him sacked.

Piers Morgan must have been chuffed to think he’d riled her enough with his ingenious Princess Pinocchio label to prompt her to call the CEO of ITV.

Of course, she maintained that she was concerned about how his comments about mental health might upset others but this was surely about personal revenge and nothing else?

In fairness to Saint Meghan, the 2021 version of Madonna with child, Morgan has had a vendetta against her for some time and an unhealthy obsession with her failings. Some of his views I have agreed with, others not.

However, following the saccharine performances of both her and her mute husband on the Oprah Winfrey show, my view of the pair has changed considerably. Quite frankly if we never hear one word about either ever again, I’d be content.

What the Oprah interview highlighted was the total disparity between the way we Brits think and that of our American counterparts.

The whole interview involved wokedom catch phrases such as ‘my truth’ which American audiences would have lapped up while many Britons would have just rolled their eyes.

I enjoyed the lost voice of the ‘Little Mermaid’ comparison and haven’t laughed so much for some time. Whatever you think of Meghan and her male puppet and PR team, they certainly are fabulous at spin.

From a PR perspective it was a well-rehearsed, brilliantly poised affair with plenty of pauses for effect, trembly lips, protective had over belly routine and as much saccharine as you could just about stomach in a two-hour stretch.

They say young people in the UK are totally bewitched by the pair and believed their ‘truth’ in the interview so I was relieved that my 24-year-old was rolling his eyes in sheer frustration and grinning sardonically throughout the show.

He got it. Phew.
Of course, word has it that clever, naughty, multimillionaire Piers had expertly pre-planned his departure with a major showdown.

Rumour has it that he held talks with Jeff Bezos shortly after so is a new Amazon show on the cards? Andrew Neil has been salivating to get him on his soon to be aired news channel so no wonder bad boy Morgan was full of smiles and good cheer after his supposed ‘sacking’ the following day.

Seems to me he’s got all the cards. He speeded up getting out of the rest of his nine-month contract with ITV and will fall into a highly paid new position shortly. He should be sending Meghan a huge bouquet.

Vaccine Euphoria

Many of my age group in the UK are shortly to have the Covid vaccine and most are in a state of euphoria while I share no such feelings.

Yes, I’ll take it for herd immunity’s sake should I ever be offered the vaccine but left to my own devices, I probably wouldn’t have it. I spoke with several locals in Soller yesterday and although most agreed that they’d have the jab, none seemed particularly thrilled at the prospect and maintained that they would take it for the sake of the local economy and tourism.

Older people expressed fear that it had been rolled out too quickly, while others told me that the Oxford jab was ineffective or caused blood clots. There is a lot of misinformation doing the rounds and also fear-inducing headlines which has not aided the issue.

All the same, I find it fascinating how the PR campaign instigated by the British government has paid off so well back in Blighty. The NHS is even handing out children’s heart shaped stickers to grown adults which shows they’ve had the vaccine. Please! What about children’s lollies too?

Still, whether we like it or not, the vaccine will hopefully open doors to a new normality here and in the rest of the world and allow all of us to travel again as before. For that reason, the jab is a necessary evil.

Salacious Libraries

I loved the story about the lending library phone booth in a Hampshire village which is attracting salacious and frisky literature. Apparently when the small and affluent village lost its mobile lending library, it created a phone booth variety instead.

It is used by all the villagers and their children but recently some wag has been filling some upper shelves with cheeky X-rated books which has sent shivers down the spines of local councillors and worthies.

A plea has been issued to villagers asking the culprit to cease from his or her appalling activity. What fun it must have been for the renegade to rattle the cages of these dry old husks by planting the tomes on the shelves. They should have been grateful.

A bit of erotica might have livened up some of those incessantly dark winter nights by the fire.

Anna Nicholas’s second Mallorca based crime novel, Haunted Magpie, is available at Universal Bookshop, Portals Nous, from Come In & Llibres Colom in Palma, and at Alameda gift shop in Soller, also at all good UK bookshops & via amazon.