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The Woman in Me by Britney Spears Gallery Books, [pounds sterling]25, pp. 275 I am working on a play about Marilyn Monroe at the moment and, reading Britney Spears's book, [...]

American Diva: Extraordinary, Unruly, Fabulous by Deborah Paredez Norton, [pounds sterling]22, pp. 256 'Please don't let this be a scolding!' I thought as I moved past this book's tempting title [...]

Here they come, see them run, twinkling away like a bunch of irritatingly flashing fairy lights, the milk of human kindness curdling on their breath and dollar signs in their [...]

Iwas a teenage shoplifter. I had a good run at it, from 12 to 14, and found it as addictive as any drug: the anticipation, the antsiness, the sharp stab [...]

On hearing the rumours that the boxer David Haye is in a 'throuple'--a three-person romantic relationship--with Una Healy from the Saturdays and a model named Sian Osborne, I felt a [...]

Europe, I'm told, is entering the age of the 'sober-curious'. Curiosity is a wonderful thing; why, then, did hearing this make me want to drink whisky until I talk in [...]

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono Hutchinson Heinemann, [pounds sterling]25, pp. 563 There are a few pop stars whose work I can't help liking in spite of myself--their songwriting, [...]

My Unapologetic Diaries by Joan Collins Weidenfeld & Nicolson, [pounds sterling]20, pp. 384 Readers of this magazine will have enjoyed Joan Collins's diaries, and her Past Imperfect was one of [...]

After last week's revelation that James Corden was banned from a New York restaurant for being repeatedly horrible to staff, I've been considering the different way fat men and fat [...]

An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin Constable, [pounds sterling]18.99, pp. 210 Whatever one thinks of the government's plans to send refugees to Rwanda, it was amusing [...]

We don't need another hero,' sang Tina Turner back in the sexy-greedy 1980s. How times have changed. These days we have Superheroes Are Everywhere, a children's book written by the [...]

I was extra pleased to have swerved the modern curse that is Wordle when I read that 'sensitive' words have been removed from it. A spokesman proclaimed: 'In an effort [...]

Iknow that all must have prizes in the Victimisation Olympics these days, but when I heard a bicycle-rider on Radio 5 Live this week complaining about being 'dehumanised' and 'othered', [...]

I've never been keen on the idea of popularity. Courting disapproval has been a large part of my career and I find it bracing, like an early dip in a [...]

When I was young, I dated a man who wasn't in advertising, but had lots of friends who were. Because I am witty, at some point during dinner--usually when dessert [...]

Many negative qualities are ascribed to politicians--name-calling, absenteeism, drunkenness--but you rarely hear of my favourite political emotion: petulance, which has caused us so much public entertainment in the political arena [...]

Women who fall in love with killers have always fascinated and repulsed me. What drives them? Do they think they can 'save' these men? Are they secret sadists, acting by [...]

Watching the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh at the weekend--that Land Rover, that lack of eulogy --I felt an alien emotion steal over me. Shortly after the last blast [...]

Stop Bloody Bossing Me About: How We Need To Stop Being Told What to Do by Quentin Letts Constable, [pounds sterling]16.99, pp. 240 What an awful title. Something we hacks [...]

Seeing my hometown, Bristol, in flames this week following the violent 'Kill the Bill' riots, it was unrecognisable as the safe south-west city which I had dreamed of leaving since [...]

As I watched the Duchess of Sussex give her extended acceptance speech for Best Performance As A Victim--played as a cross between Bambi and Beth from Little Women--my overwhelming feeling [...]

Face It by Debbie Harry HarperCollins, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 368 My admiration for Deborah Harry goes back a long way and--fittingly for a woman who even as a septuagenarian [...]

Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia by Tracey Thorn Canongate, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 209 It's unusual for musicians to become writers. The trajectory of yearning is meant to be [...]

As a proud resident of Sussex, I had to laugh when I heard that Facebook had threatened to ban references to Devil's Dyke--the 100-metre-deep South Downs valley which has been [...]

January is when the difference between the rich and the poor becomes most evident. Whereas many people face a month plagued by the three Ds--debt, divorce and doldrums--the famous tend [...]

'Wild' used to be one of my favourite words. It was in all the songs I loved best--'Walk on the Wild Side', 'Wild Thing', 'Born to Be Wild'. How times [...]

The Only Girl: My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone Magazine by Robin Green Virago, 18.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 291 The last time I saw a copy [...]

Bad Romance by Emily Hill Unbound, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 251 How I love short stories! Long before the internet realised that we can't sit still long enough to commit [...]

Me by Elton John Macmillan, 25 [pounds sterling], pp. 376 I don't care for Elton John. A cross between Violet Elizabeth Bott and Princess Margaret, his temper tantrums are legendary, [...]

There's a line in Desperately Seeking Susan where Madonna (Susan) reads aloud the diary of Roberta, the bored housewife she has swapped places with: 'Couldn't sleep. Went into kitchen. Gary [...]

Is There Still Sex in the City? by Candace Bushnell Little, Brown, 16.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 258 On paper, Candace Bushnell and the medieval warlord El Cid don't have a [...]

I've never voted Conservative and I never will. Having been raised in a working-class home, I can't get past the fact that had the Labour party not come into being, [...]

Thumbing avidly through Heat magazine recently in a fevered search for the latest on the Cheryl/Liam/Naomi infernal triangle, I was startled to find a pull-out preview of a new true-crime [...]

On reading recently that Italian is the fastest disappearing language in America, my thoughts were mixed. I felt fleeting sorrow that such a beautiful lingo would be heard less. Between [...]

It always amuses me at this time of year to observe the fuss people make about quitting booze for a month. Because three years ago, after three decades of taking [...]

Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine by Joe Hagan Canongate, 25 [pounds sterling], pp. 547 Many moons ago, I worked at the New [...]

My sainted mum was of untarnished working-class blood--she worked, variously, as a cleaner, factory hand and shop assistant--and like most women of her kind who grew up before the 1960s, [...]

Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth Bantam, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 333 David Hepworth is such a clever writer--not just clever in the [...]

A Woman's Work by Harriet Harman Allen Lane, 20 [pounds sterling], pp, 416 Everywoman: One Woman's Truth About Speaking the Truth by Jess Phillips Hutchinson, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 256 [...]

I'm keen on all sorts of my fellow females--broads, gold-diggers, career girls--but the best is the adventuress. According to Merriam-Webster, she is 'a) a woman who seeks dangerous or exciting [...]

Not in Front of the Children: Hidden Histories in Kids' TV by Greg Healey New Haven Publishing, 12.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 256 There are two sorts of people: those who [...]

The Myth of Meritocracy: Why Working-class Kids Still Get Working-class Jobs by James Bloodworth Biteback Publishing, 10 [pounds sterling], pp. 144, ISBN 9781785900532 'Your old man's barking!' I remember hissing [...]

Growing up in the West Country in the 1960s and 1970s, summer left me cold. There was only one place where I could bear to be when the sun shone [...]

All Day Long: A Portrait of Britain at Work by Joanna Biggs Serpent's Tail, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 320, ISBN 9781781251874 Spectator Bookshop, 12.99 [pounds sterling] Work is a funny [...]

Why I am not dieting. Ever I 'm a very off-message type of fat broad; one who gladly admits she reached the size she is now solely through lack of [...]

Girls Will be Girls: Dressing Up, Playing Parts and Daring to Act Differently by Emer O'Toole Orion, 12.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 277, ISBN 9781409148739 Spectator Bookshop, 10.99 [pounds sterling] Looking [...]

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore Scribe, 20 £, pp. 448, ISBN 9781922247889 Spectator Bookshop, 17 £ It's always interesting when people succeed in two different arenas--like [...]

It has long been my belief that whereas the quality of gentiles drawn to Judaism is very high (Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, myself), the dregs are drawn to Islam. And [...]

I am not a bad friend. I enjoy my mates, and I am generous, showering them with fun, money and sympathy. But I do not crave their company when I [...]