Alexander Larman

The news that Gordon Ramsay – that most self-publicising of restaurateurs – has increased service charges at his Lucky Cat restaurant in the City should strike terror into anyone who cares about the future of the hospitality industry. Ramsay introduced a 20 per cent charge, rather than the industry standard of 12.5 per cent or (increasingly) 15 per cent, for the seasonal special menus that the restaurant offered last year. The chef – who claims to have invested £20 million of his own money into the Asian-influenced restaurant – has also stated publicly of Lucky Cat, that ‘if it was to fail, I’m fucked.

It has, on balance, been one of Prince Harry's busier fortnights in recent times. As if to upstage his father’s state visit to the United States next week – surely not! – he has not only been on his own quasi-royal tour of Australia with his wife, but he has also popped over to Ukraine. There he sternly announced that he was visiting 'not as a politician, but as a humanitarian and a soldier who understands service.' It was in Ukraine that Harry made remarks about how his adopted country of America should uphold its 'international treaty obligations', given its 'enduring role in global security'. Although he did not make any explicitly disparaging remarks about Donald Trump, the implication was quite clear.

There are few stranger public careers than that of Russell Brand, the former ‘comedian’ turned MAGA cheerleader-in-chief. He has given an interview to Tucker Carlson, another figure who has been on his own peculiar journey, and has announced his intention of running for Mayor of London in 2028, on a vaguely defined but somehow sinister platform that includes ‘pragmatic’ democracy for ‘people who live in London, who love London’. He is the strutting, peacocking representation of all that is wrong in contemporary society Brand has railed against most of Sadiq Khan’s innovations, asking: ‘Do you want Ulez cameras? Do you want congestion charges? Do you want this type of policing where people are arrested for Facebook posts?

Today marks the centenary of Elizabeth II’s birth. Less than four years after she died, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch is still regarded with both veneration and genuine fondness by the people that she ruled over. It has been announced that the controversial memorial dedicated to the Queen in London's St. James's park will include a statue of her in her Garter robes – along with Prince Philip in naval uniform. A new charity, the Queen Elizabeth Trust (patron: King Charles) is also being launched today alongside a so-called ‘digital memorial’ that will allow members of the public to share their memories of her. Our beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer bleated that: As our longest‑serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II devoted her life to public service.

The news that the original Oxfam bookshop on St Giles in Oxford is not to close is not just a relief, but a rare victory in the ongoing battles between town and gown in the city. The building’s owners, Regent’s Park College, had attempted to take back the relatively modest space that the bookshop occupies and turn it into a common room for graduate students to ‘socialise and study’ in, which sounds like an arch euphemism. The college (my alma mater, in the interests of transparency) is keen to attract lucrative academics, and was apparently happy to ride roughshod over the literary desires of locals to do so.

Not since the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in 1788 has a visit to Australia been so eagerly awaited as that of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Their quasi-royal tour seems mostly designed to bolster the publicity for a ‘girls weekend’ hosted by Meghan. The event, taking place in Sydney in a few days, still has tickets available – shock – at a mere £1,675 for a VIP pass. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the couple's visit is receiving what those in Meghan's former trade of acting euphemistically refer to as 'mixed notices'. On the one hand, most observers acknowledge that Prince Harry is generally at his best when he is allowed to go off the leash and meet ordinary people and that his innate talent at connecting with well-wishers is reminiscent of his late mother.

Prince Harry used to be fun. It is easy to forget this given the Meghan-Montecito-highly litigious incarnation of the Duke of Sussex, but there was a reason why, for many years, he was the most popular and accessible member of ‘the Firm’. Less stiff than his brother and considerably less cerebral than his father, he conveyed a sense that he was Harry Wales, the royal you’d want to go for a pint with. Or, as we now know, to have ‘movie snuggles’ with journalists, with whom he could complain about being ‘hungover again for the third day running’.

The news that Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will not be attending the royal family’s Easter service at St George’s chapel in Windsor might initially strike the uninitiated as insignificant. After all, every family has their own commitments over Easter, and given that both the princesses have young families of their own, they might be forgiven for choosing to prioritise lower-key private events over a get-together of the royal clan. Yet there are two things that make this noteworthy. The first is that it has been (subtly) briefed that the princesses have not been made welcome this year, with the telling statement that they have made 'alternative plans' for Easter.