Sunday bits

"By any standards, Stuart Wheeler has led an enviable life. He made millions as the pioneer of spread betting in the early Seventies and lives in the magnificent Chilham Castle in Kent with his wife, a society photographer, and three glamorous daughters..." - Mail Online - I mention this article because I had a drink with Wheeler and his wife earlier this year. Lovely man.

"Natalie Dormer takes one look at our spartan little interview office and says playfully, ‘Shall we draw lots for the comfy chair?’ So already I’m won over by this baby-faced brunette, an avid poker player who could be said to have enjoyed more than her fair share of luck so far in the great gamble of an acting career." - Mail Online

"The 21st century began late for America, on 11 September 2001. Before that day, the US still defined its role in the world with reference to ideological triumph in the Cold War that had dominated the century just passed. It was the planet's only superpower and saw itself as a popular champion of global democracy. Few expected the nation to come under attack, least of all the man who had been installed in the White House a year earlier. In 2000, George W Bush was uninterested in foreign affairs. He was ill-equipped to be the first US President of the new millennium." - The Observer

"Call it the Maginot guideline, the illusion that somehow by issuing more rules, regulations and statements of principle the BBC can lay the Ross/Brand debacle to rest. Alas, that's absurd. We're not talking dodgy phone-in calls here. We're talking jokes - by the million, broadcast 24/7. And already Daily Mail reporters - those self-appointed custodians of public decency - sit by every TV and radio taking notes. Good joke, bad joke? You can't have a good laugh every time. So BBC defences must crumble again, dropped brick by brick." - The Guardian