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0 shares 20 View comments Enlarge   Smiling smugly: This ludicrous picture of Lord Rennard demonstrates better than any words that this is a man with precious little self-awareness Unfair though it may be, that ludicrous picture of Lord Rennard, smiling smugly in his sandals and shorts, demonstrates better than any words that this is a man with precious little self-awareness. This might be merely amusing were it not for the fact that he’s accused of consistently abusing his power by groping a series of young women who were dependent on him for their career advancement.  He may be a brilliant man, but, if the allegations about him are to be believed, he is an emotionally stunted and morally repugnant one, too. Now, I know that there are many powerful men — politicians, bankers, businessmen and, yes, even journalists — who come across pretty young women only too eager to set scruples aside in favour of career advancement. But according to Alison Smith, who wanted

0 shares 133 View comments Just when I thought it wasn’t possible to dislike Nick Clegg any more than I already do, up he bounces, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, begging to be metaphorically stroked despite committing yet another act of breath-taking hypocrisy. Last week, it was his failure to take decisive action — having first pretended he knew nothing about it — over the sexual harassment claims made by young women against one of his party’s most powerful men that enraged me. This week it’s the announcement that he — an atheist and the leader of a party that has pledged to make faith schools more inclusive — has succeeded in getting his son into one of the most over-subscribed Catholic state schools in Britain. Nick Clegg - an atheist and the leader of a party that has pledged to make faith schools more inclusive - has succeeded in getting his son into one of the most over-subscribed Catholic state schools in Britain Entry to the London Oratory School is depend

0 shares 99 View comments Former Lehman Brothers CFO Erin Callan now says she regrets letting her Wall Street career consume all her time, keeping her from having a personal life Erin Callan is a former tax lawyer once dubbed ‘the most powerful woman on Wall Street’. She now says she made a mistake in choosing a career over having children — and is trying for her first baby at the age of 47. She’s an extreme example, but there is an increasing number of women like her. Last week, new research from the Office of National Statistics revealed the devastating figure that one in five British women over the age of 45 is childless. Of all the unmarried women I know who don’t have children, none has been as extraordinarily successful in their career as Erin, who rose to become the chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers. But they’ve all got good jobs and enjoyed years of the kind of economic freedom their mothers could only have dreamed of. So why are they single and c

0 shares 39 View comments Mick Jagger's long been said to be mean with money. It’s a nasty trait — those who have it tend also to have a meanness of spirit.  For this reason, I sympathise with Jerry Hall, who’s locked in a battle with her ex over Downe House, the £10 million Richmond property that’s been her family home since 1991 but which Jagger has never signed over to her.  Now she wants to be able to sell up so that she can give some money to their three eldest children — Lizzie, 29, James, 27 and Georgia May, 21 — to buy homes of their own. Struggle: Jerry Hall's locked in a battle with her ex Mick Jagger over Downe House (pictured), the £10 million Richmond property that's been her family home since 1991 but which he has never signed over to her Jagger opposes the idea on the grounds that his children have already had a  privileged upbringing and should make their way into the world without any help from him. And though it pains me to admit it

23 shares 17 View comments Margaret Thatcher would prove to be a role model of such power that Sandra Parsons' generation of young women would be the first to believe that the world was theirs for the taking Margaret Thatcher came to power when I was 17 and studying for A-levels. Unlike a colleague who was a pupil at prestigious girls’ school Downe House — where the news of her election was relayed at dawn by an excited housemistress ringing a handbell and shouting ‘Girls! Girls! We have a woman prime minister!’ — I don’t recall anyone at my co-ed grammar school making a particular fuss about it. At the time, I fancied myself a socialist, even a Marxist. This pose had far more to do with teenage rebellion — my parents were staunch Conservatives — than any proper understanding of politics.  With the arrogance of youth, my friends and I mocked her for her hectoring voice, her old-fashioned hairstyle and her penchant for ironing. But she would prove to be a role

0 shares 47 View comments When it comes to other people’s marriages, the only thing any of us can ever be sure of is that they are never quite what they seem. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Margaret and Denis Thatcher’s marriage was rather more complicated than it appeared to the world at the time. Denis was always portrayed as the ideal consort for a female politician. Far from resenting his wife’s incredible success, he gave her unstinting support and shrewd advice – while cultivating the image of a man for whom nothing mattered more than a round of golf and his next G&T. Denis Thatcher was always portrayed as the ideal consort for a female politician, but in reality he found his wife's political career hard Yet it turns out he found it much more difficult than he made it appear. According to Lady Thatcher’s official biography, published yesterday, Denis actually found the early years of his wife’s political career so destabilising that in

0 shares 46 View comments Just two years after becoming the world’s most scrutinised bride, the Duchess of Cambridge now finds herself the world’s most scrutinised mother-to-be. If she was irked by having to make her acute morning sickness public or the inevitable speculation about the sex of the royal baby, she hasn’t shown it. Instead, she’s provided us with a masterclass in stylish maternity dressing and a textbook demonstration of why  pregnant women are so often described as ‘blooming’. However, maintaining her flawless composure is about to become altogether trickier. Because while it’s undoubtedly tough to have your dress sense, hair and figure constantly critiqued, there’s barely a woman alive who can cope with being criticised as a vulnerable new mother. Mother-to-be: So far, the Duchess of Cambridge has provided us with a masterclass in stylish maternity dressing and a textbook demonstration of why pregnant women are so often described as 'blooming&#

62 shares 22 View comments Yesterday morning's news that three girls who were abducted almost a decade ago have been found alive in America will surely have given Kate McCann new hope that her daughter Madeleine is still alive On Monday, Kate McCann flew to Portugal. She’ll spend a few days alone there because it’s where she feels closest to her daughter Madeleine, who was snatched from the resort of Praia da Luz six years ago.  Grief is etched permanently on to Kate’s familiar, angular face. But she’s never given up hope of finding Madeleine, convinced as only a mother can be that her daughter is still alive. Even some of those closest to her will, from time to time, have privately asked themselves why she hasn’t given up. One or two may have gently suggested that, for her own sake and that of her other two children, eight-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, she should ‘move on’. There have been times, no doubt, when Kate herself has wondered if she’s foolish to