Hilary Mantel did not attack Kate, she defended her.

Like grief, stupidity has a hierarchy. So, on balance, Ed Miliband’s response – if it can be so dignified – to Hilary Mantel’s essay about the mystery and magic attraction of royalty was even dumber than David Cameron’s. Neither, plainly, had read what Mantel had written. The Leader of the Opposition at least had the advantage of playing second. Having seen the Prime Minister make a chump of himself, Miliband would have been wise to resist the temptation to demonstrate his own chump credentials. This was beyond him. In modern British politics you cannot allow the existence – or even mere appearance – of a Chump Gap.

Then again, it is one thing to make a fool of yourself in response to an essay you have not read but quite another to do so having actually read the damn thing. Today’s papers are stuffed with pieces so lacking in elementary comprehension skills you’d fail any schoolboy whose response to a given piece of prose was so tendentious or, frankly, obtuse.