Polly Hudson

The death of Virginia Giuffre - who accused the Duke of York of sexual assault - surely makes his desire to resume royal duties out of the question

Everyone talks about Prince Andrew’s “fall from grace” but that raises an awkward question. When exactly was his grace period? Admittedly, even the most cynical among us aren’t immune to royal wedding fever, and when he married Fergie the nation was still high on the fumes from Charles and Diana’s nuptials, so perhaps he was briefly popular in 1986. But other than that? Pretty confident recollections wouldn’t vary here. Nada.

One study reported that 96% of shoes carry coliform bacteria, commonly found in faecal matter. So why is it so uncool to ask visitors to take them off?

It is a truth almost universally unacknowledged in the UK that wearing shoes in the home is gross. More than gross, actually – there’s scientific evidence it could have serious health consequences and even, if you want to come over all dramatic about it, be life-threatening. And yet I can count on the fingers of no hands the people I know who ask me to remove my shoes when I visit.