Robert Lacey isn’t the only royal-commentator with an advisor gig for The Crown. For Season 5, Andrew Morton also advised Peter Morgan on the show, particularly around Princess Diana’s storylines, and the book Diana: Her True Story. That’s one of the reasons why Morton comes across so well in The Crown – he was an advisor! Which isn’t to say that they were making things up – Diana is seen recording her story and getting the tapes to Morton through an intermediary, her friend James Colthurst. Morton previously spoke to the Royalist column in the Daily Beast, and now he’s speaking to Vanity Fair. He spoke about The Crown, the real Diana, plus the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s moves. Some highlights:

Working on Diana: Her True Story: “It was like the royal version of All the President’s Men, where danger lurked in shadows. One scene I’m surprised they didn’t do was James letting me listen to the first tape in a working-man’s café in Ruislip in North London. All these working men were sitting around eating their eggs and bacon. I put the headphones on and I was transported to another world, a world of bulimia, Camilla, and things which I’d never heard of. It was literally like entering a parallel universe where you had a secret and that secret was quite dangerous.”

Every reason to be paranoid: “Looking back, I think we had every right to be paranoid given what happened with [the leaked royal phone calls] Squidgygate and Camillagate,” says Morton, adding that the real-life experience was occasionally “even spookier” than depicted in the episodes. “It was a time where you didn’t know if you were being followed, where you didn’t know if you were being watched. Diana was worried about her phones being tapped.”

Morton is shady about The Crown’s portrait of Charles: “I don’t know if [series creator] Peter Morgan wants his peerage but Charles is an intelligent, questioning, courageous, positive character in this depiction, so it makes me laugh when everybody’s getting up in arms about [the new season]. King Charles, if he ever sits down and watches, will be quite pleased with his character…it’s done [him] a big favor.”

On the Sussexit: “The big difference between Diana and Charles and Harry and Meghan is that Diana was trapped in a loveless marriage, whereas these two seem extremely happy together. That’s a huge difference. Secondly, Diana gave it 10 years before she rebelled and helped me [on the book]. They didn’t even give it 10 months. He was meeting with Oprah in November 2018, which was six months after they married, to discuss a tell-all [interview]. So it seems that they headed for the exit door fairly rapidly. Prince Harry’s made it perfectly clear that he found the royal world suffocating and difficult to cope with. In Meghan, I think he saw a pathway out.”

On the Sussexes’ Oprah interview: “My reaction was quite frankly bafflement. So many of [Harry and Meghan’s] statements just didn’t add up to me. So it was very different to the Diana interview, which came from her heart and came at a point when she’d already discussed much of it for Diana: Her True Story. You’ve also got to remember that Diana and Charles are more important people for the monarchy and for the nation than Prince Harry or Meghan will ever be because of their position. They were future king and queen. When you’ve got the future queen saying that the future king is not fit for the job, then that is something that you have to take very seriously. Harry’s allegations of racism, given what’s going on with reparations for the slave trade and so on, did strike a chord. [But] everything is about context, and there was no context for those allegations…. Harry and Meghan always mistook popularity for position. Harry will never be king. As every year passes, he becomes less relevant to the monarchy. Just like Prince Andrew, who was once second in line to the throne.”

On Harry’s memoir: “The fact that he’s called it Spare means that he’s going to deal with his relationship with his brother. It’s going to be a Cain and Abel saga. It will have a biblical resonance.” The author notes that Princess Diana would likely be heartbroken to learn that one of her sons had turned on the other. “Where she would part company [with Harry] is if he puts the boot into his brother. She wanted Harry to be William’s wingman, not a hitman.”

[From Vanity Fair]

“They didn’t even give it 10 months. He was meeting with Oprah in November 2018, which was six months after they married, to discuss a tell-all…” What in the world is he talking about? The early meetings Harry had with Oprah in 2018 and 2019 were about the series which would become The Me You Can’t See. It was a long-gestating project which Harry started before the Sussexit. Then they organized the 2021 Oprah interview to coincide with the one-year anniversary of their “stepping down” as working royals. Honestly, what Morton says about the Sussexes is so… odd. You need “context” for very specific stories about racism and questioning what color Meghan and Harry’s children would be? The whole “wingman” thing is so tired too. “Wingman” doesn’t mean “William is allowed to smear and destroy Harry and his wife just because Peg is the heir!”

The thing about Peter Morgan going easy on Charles… that’s very true.

Photos courtesy of Netflix/The Crown, Instar.

From CB: I’m sorry the Amazon post is a day late this week! My dog is sick and let’s just say it’s been a lot of cleanup. I ordered these blue light blocking reading glasses last week. I didn’t feature them in the Amazon post but I got the idea from a dupe for some reading glasses among Oprah’s favorite things. You get six pair, six cases and two lanyards for just over $11. I really like mine and am happy with that purchase. I also got my dog this pole to play with. He loves it and it really keeps him occupied without a lot of effort from me. Here are some early Black Friday Deals and some things that Hecate and I are looking at on Amazon.

Early Black Friday Deals
Up to 58% off Haus Labs Makeup
Up to 34% off Kindle E-readers
Up to 57% off HoneyCanDo Storage and Organization
Up to 45% off Home Essentials from Comfort Spaces, Casper and more
Up to 35% off Google Pixel Phones, Buds, Watch and More
Up to 60% off Ring Doorbell, Cameras and Bundles
Up to 52% off Select Home Décor and Artwork
Up to 50% off Calvin Klein Women’s Underwear
$15.80 and under Dog Toys
Up to 32% off Dog and Cat Toys
Up to 58% off MidWest Dog Crate Kits and Pet Carriers

Delicate stacked bracelets for a layered look

From CB: This is the type of gift you can keep on hand in case you’ve forgotten anyone this season. They’ll never know you didn’t buy it just for them! These lovely stacked bracelets come in gold, silver and rose gold finishes and in 31 different styles including with evil eye and pearl accents, all under $17. These have almost 6,000 ratings, 4.4 stars and a B on Fakespot. People say they’re cute, delicate and lightweight. Some say they’re a little long and you may want to cut the extra length so they don’t get tangled. “These are my go to daily bracelets and I wash my hands constantly with them on. I’m glad to say they have shown very little wear in the 5 months I’ve had them. No green stuff to be seen.” “These are so pretty! They are very delicate looking. They look like real gold and not fake at all! I have the trio with the one that has a pearl and the peal looks authentic!”

A wrap you’ll want to wear all season

From CB: This gorgeous one size fits all plaid wrap comes in 45 different prints and colors, all under $37 and most under $33. It has 1,500 ratings, 4.6 stars and the same score on ReviewMeta. This would make a great gift for yourself or a friend. Anything that I can wear out that doubles as a blanket is awesome in my book. Reviewers say it’s pretty, comfortable and that they get compliments on it. “Better than expected! It’s super soft and warm!” “I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and softness! I get so many compliments when I wear this and my friends think I purchased a very expensive shawl!” “Great looking cape at an affordable price!”

An outdoor battery operated wireless camera that’s so easy to install

From CB: I have four Eufy outdoor cameras. I installed them myself and I love the app, which is free yet stores the events for two full months. It even has alerts for when it spots people and I haven’t had any false alarms. It was so easy to install and gives me peace of mind. It has over 1,700 ratings, 4.6 stars and a B on Fakespot. Reviewers like it as much as I do. “I love the fact that it comes with a local storage unit. Although cloud storage can be purchased additionally, it is not required. These cameras pack quite a few options in the app and are very easy to install. The fact that connecting another Eufy camera is a snap as well. The battery holds up extremely well.” “Bought extra cameras and doorbell. Easy to install. Absolutely no wires and rechargeable. Charges last for months. The app is easy to use. Also no subscription!”

An eyelash curler you’ll wonder how you did without

From CB: I got this eyelash curler over two years ago and I still use it! It comes with five extra pads and it’s under $10! Once you use it you’ll wonder why you didn’t get it sooner. My only complaint is that my eyelashes can bump my eyelids after I use this. You’ll also want to angle it a little so it doesn’t pinch, but that’s easy to figure out. This has over 14,000 ratings, 4.3 stars and a B on Fakespot. Most reviewers like it as much as I do. “I have been curling my eyelashes since the 1970s and this curler is by far the best. It’s easy to use, comfortable and gives your lashes curl that lasts all day” “This curls your eyelashes well and the curl stays.”

An extra long and luxurious bath mat

From Hecate: This is a quick way to make your bathroom super-fancy. It’s an extra long, luxurious bath mat that runs the length of your bathtub. And don’t worry about your tub size, there are five sizes to choose from, ranging in price from $16 -$28. And there’s several beautiful colors to match any bath decor. They are non-skid and machine-washable. Almost 15,500 people rated them with 4.4 stars and Fakespot gave them an A. Customers say you can trust the photos, “It is quality and super soft. The color looks exactly like what was online.” And almost everyone mentions how soft they are, “Love go across the entire length of my tub. Very soft and absorb so good.” Perfect for the cooler months.

Facial oil makes a great stocking stuffer

From Hecate: CB is so good about turning me on to all the best trends in face care. And a great way to tell a friend is give them as stocking stuffers. This Olivia Care glow beauty oil is only $10 for a 2oz bottle. It’s all natural and cruelty free. The vitamin E helps with hyperpigmentation and promises to make you glow. You can look like a Who for Christmas! There are three different oils to choose from (or get all three). Each is made with different natural oils and made in the US. They have over 100 reviews with 4.4 stars and a B from Fakespot. Customers love how much mileage they get from one bottle, “I’ve been using this for over a year and love it ! 1 bottle lasts About 8 months for me . Because a little goes a Long way.” And they say winter is the perfect time to try it, “Great for winter because it kept your skin moist and not dry.”

A fun metallic skirt for your holiday parties

From Hecate: I am the resident drama queen so I feed off of flashy. I love these metallic skirts for anytime, really, but especially for the holidays. They’re so versatile. You can wear them with a cute sweater, formal blouse, bodysuit or even a chambray shirt and moto jacket if you want to punk it up a little. Plus it comes six fabulous colors for you to choose from. You have the option of knee ($23) or maxi ($26) length. At those prices, I might get both. These have 4.1 stars from over 2,600 customers that ReviewMeta confirmed. People were even happier once the skirt arrived, “I already loved the picture of this skirt online, but honestly I’m skeptical and thought, there’s no way it looks like that in person. I was completely wrong. This skirt is absolutely gorgeous and so unique.” And they love the shimmer, “ It shimmered beautiful, waist band was not to tight, length was perfect. There is a little weight to it and is soft on the inside.” Despite what that person wrote, some complained they run small so if you are in between sizes, go up.

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As much as the British papers want to make the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s docu-series sound like the second coming of a Kardashian reality show, I doubt it will be. Don’t get me wrong, I would love nothing more than to see the interiors of the Sussexes’ Montecito home, and watch them gossip as they’re eating giant salads. Come on, that would be amazing!! But it probably won’t be that. Well, we won’t have to wait much longer to see what it’s all about, because People Magazine has confirmed that the series is definitely dropping in December:

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are heading to Netflix queues everywhere.

PEOPLE has learned that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s highly anticipated docuseries from Oscar-nominated director Liz Garbus will drop on the streaming platform in December.

Meghan, 41, and Harry, 38, first signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in September 2020. At the time, The New York Times reported that the California-based couple’s production hub, later named Archewell Productions, would exclusively create documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming for the popular platform.

[From People]

As I’ve said, we know they were filming during their trips to New York last year, and we know they were filming during the Invictus Games at the Hague this year. As much as Salt Islanders are convinced that Meghan “wore a wire” or hid a camera in her lapel during the Jubbly, I honestly don’t believe we’ll see much of anything from the UK. Although… that would be amazing too, just think about how heads would explode. I’m giggling just thinking about it.

Meanwhile, that dumb Palace Confidential show had a segment on how King Charles is still “leaving the door open” for the Sussexes to come back. Harry’s literally got a docu-series and a memoir coming out within the next two months, but sure.

The move to include Prince Edward and Princess Anne as counsellors of state who can stand in for King Charles was seen by some as a snub to Princes Harry and Andrew, but it actually leaves room for a return by the King’s son. That’s the view of Daily Mail Diary Editor Richard Eden who believes that despite changing the plan to make the constitutional change, the King is leaving ‘the door open’ for a possible return to royal duties.

‘Interestingly I was told the King is keen to keep the door open, he’s signalling that it’s not all over, particularly in the case of Harry, there is a way back,’ he tells our royal talk show Palace Confidential. ‘If he came back to Britain, for example, he could go back to being an active counsellor of state, so it’s still there for him, it’s a way of not shutting him out. So it does suggest that the king thinks that things could change in the future.’

The Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English believes that the constitutional change – which has yet to pass Parliament – would have been carefully handled.

‘It’s quite a diplomatic way of doing this and making the change without poking the bear that is his son or antagonising even further his brother,’ she tells the panel. ‘It’s just saying let’s expand the role and do it a little bit differently.’

[From The Mail Plus]

I was surprised by the elegance of KC3’s solution to the counsellors-of-state issue too – despite the tabloids weeping about the need to “strip” everything from Harry, Charles is choosing a path of inter-family diplomacy. Now, it will be a completely different story when Charles gets a good look at the docu-series and Spare.

When are we going to get a trailer for this series though??

Photos courtesy of Instar.

Michael Sheen is Welsh, and he’s grown more political over the past decade or so, especially when he moved back to Wales after years spent living in America (for the most part). When I say “political,” I mean… involved in Welsh politics, and the politics of the United Kingdom. This week was not the first time he’s spoken about the “Prince of Wales” title and the need to do away with giving the PoW title to the English crown prince. That position wasn’t as popular when then-Prince Charles was PoW. Charles, for all of his faults, showed a great deal of respect to Wales, learning Welsh, honoring Welsh customs and traditions, visiting Wales frequently, and even buying a Welsh country home. Prince William ain’t doing all of that. William expected to just laze about and promise to be keen about Wales and that was it. William wouldn’t even explicitly support the Welsh football team! Which is what kicked things off this week, with Sheen criticizing the new “Prince of Wales” making an effort to support the Three Lions but not the Welsh team, with both teams playing in the FIFA World Cup. Now Sheen has more to say:

Michael Sheen today claimed that the Welsh people want the Royal Family to give up the Prince of Wales title because it has been used by the English as a ‘sign of dominance over a defeated Welsh people’. The actor has taken a series of swipes at Prince William since he met the England team earlier this week and since the Queen died has also attacked his father King Charles III, who was the longest serving Prince of Wales in history.

It came as rugby luminary Sir Gareth Edwards backed the new Prince of Wales over Michael Sheen and insisted the heir to the throne can support both England and Wales at the World Cup in Qatar – telling MailOnline that he will be doing the same.

Mr Sheen accused William of not showing ‘a shred of embarrassment’ when he visited England’s St George’s Park training centre on Monday where he presented them with shirts for the World Cup in Qatar and wished them well. The star said it was ‘inappropriate’ for William to give them England shirts as the Prince of Wales – a title he believes should only be held by a Welshman.

He said: ‘I didn’t say it’s insensitive to leave out the Welsh team. For those who care the issue is that the title Prince of Wales seems inappropriate to be held by anyone not Welsh and this is just an instance of the absurdity… The title PoW was first given to the heir to the English throne by his father the King as a sign of dominance over a defeated Welsh people. The “tradition” can be continued or not on the whim of whoever inherits the throne. Many Welsh people feel it should be ended. It’s entwined with so much of our history and how many of our present day challenges have evolved since then that it can be for many an issue that holds much more than just it’s surface meaning’.

Sir Gareth Edwards, Wales’ greatest ever sportsman, will still be cheering on Gareth Southgate’s team – except when they play Wales in 12 days’ time. He told MailOnline today: ‘I know Michael Sheen is lighting up the fire and if that fires up Wales to greater heights then that’s fantastic. But we are neighbours and I have lots of friends who have played for both England and Wales. If England play Brazil or anyone else in the tournament then I’d want England to win.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, again, it’s about a lot more than “what team is William supporting.” Sheen is pointing out something very real for the Welsh people: that William couldn’t be bothered to even make a lukewarm diplomatic effort to support the Welsh team WHILE William is just a few months into the “Prince of Wales” role. If William doesn’t give a sh-t about something relatively minor but hugely symbolic, what hope is there that William will be any kind of solid representative to and for the people of Wales? Plus, I think the simple issue of the “Tywysog Cymru” is an easy one for everyone to understand: PoW is a Welsh title meant for a Welshman, stolen and appropriated by the English monarch, and it should end now.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Welp, it looks like Twitter is circling the drain, and most tech engineers are now saying that Twitter won’t exist in any functional form by the end of next week. It might become completely dysfunctional by the end of the weekend by the way things are going right now. So how did we get here? Three weeks of Space Karen’s leadership, basically. On Tuesday, Elon Musk sent an office-wide memo telling all remaining Twitter employees that they would need to sign a loyalty oath – promising to work 16-hour days and be “hardcore” – or else they would be let go and would receive three months’ compensation. As you can imagine, many employees refused to sign the oath of Space Karen. It was so bad that by the end of business Thursday, there was a mass exodus and Musk maybe locked himself out of the building too?

Hundreds of Twitter’s remaining employees have resigned ahead of Elon Musk’s “extremely hardcore” cultural reset of the company, according to internal Slack messages seen by The Verge and employee tweets.

The fresh purge of Twitter’s ranks comes after Musk recently fired dozens of employees who criticized or mocked him in tweets and internal messages. Musk then set a deadline of 5PM ET on Thursday for all employees to respond “yes” on a Google form if they want to stay for what he is calling “Twitter 2.0;” otherwise, today would be their final day of work and they would receive a severance package. After the deadline hit, hundreds of employees quickly started posting farewell messages and salute emojis in Twitter’s Slack, announcing that they had said no to Musk’s ultimatum.

Twitter had roughly 2,900 remaining employees before the deadline Thursday, thanks to Musk unceremoniously laying off about half of the 7,500-person workforce when he took over and the resignations that followed. Remaining and departing Twitter employees told The Verge that, given the scale of the resignations this week, they expect the platform to start breaking soon. One said that they’ve watched “legendary engineers” and others they look up to leave one by one.

“It feels like all the people who made this place incredible are leaving,” the Twitter staffer said. “It will be extremely hard for Twitter to recover from here, no matter how hardcore the people who remain try to be.”

Multiple “critical” teams inside Twitter have now either completely or near-completely resigned, said other employees who requested anonymity to speak without Musk’s permission. That includes Twitter’s traffic and front end teams that route engineering requests to the correct backend services. The team that maintains Twitter’s core system libraries that every engineer at the company uses is also gone. “You cannot run Twitter without this team,” a departing employee said.

Several members of Twitter’s “Command Center” team, a group of engineers that is on call 24/7 and acts as the clearing house for problems internally, also tweeted about their departures. “If they go down, there is no one to call when shit breaks,” said a person familiar with how the team operates. The team that manages Twitter API for developers has also been severely gutted.

[From The Verge]

Musk was seemingly surprised by just how many people resigned, and it’s rumored that he was trying to persuade many to stay on. He also suddenly softened on work-from-home options too, but then Musk ordered the Twitter HQ closed and disabled employees’ badges. There are rumors that Musk was/is worried about employee “sabotage,” which is pretty funny considering what he’s f–king done in the past three weeks.

Anyway, I haven’t figured out where I’m going next, social media-wise. I have an Insta but I never post anything there. I’ll still be on Twitter until the literal wheels come off and the platform becomes utterly unusable. After that, IDK! You can always find me here though.

A scrolling message outside Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters has called @elonmusk a “lawless oligarch, space Karen, mediocre manchild, worthless billionaire” and more @6NewsAU pic.twitter.com/PyXz0YaZmF

— Leonardo Puglisi (@Leo_Puglisi6) November 18, 2022

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

This is a real end of an era for the Democratic Party. Nancy Pelosi will not seek a leadership position within the House for the next session of Congress. The Republicans took back the House by a very slim margin in the midterms, so Pelosi will no longer be Speaker of the House anyway. But even when Democrats were in the House minority in the past twenty years, Pelosi was one of the most respected and efficient Democratic leaders. She was always able to keep the Democratic caucus in line, she stood up to Republican presidents, she shaped Democratic politics and policies for several generations and she – alongside Joe Biden, arguably – had the most institutional memory of how Washington works.

Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, who helped shape many of the most consequential laws of the early 21st century, said Thursday that she will step down after two decades as the Democratic Party’s leader in the chamber.

“With great confidence in our caucus I will not seek re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi said in a speech on the House floor.

Pelosi was speaker from 2007 to 2011 and returned to the top job in 2019. She announced her decision just a day after NBC News and other news outlets projected that Republicans had flipped control of the House in last week’s midterm election, sending Pelosi and the Democrats back to the minority.

More personally, just weeks ago, her husband of nearly 60 years, Paul Pelosi, survived an assault by a hammer-wielding intruder at the family’s home in San Francisco.

Pelosi won’t be leaving Congress after she won her 19th term last week. She is expected to remain, at least temporarily, given the GOP’s razor-thin majority.

As Pelosi took the mic, the chamber was packed with Democratic lawmakers, while the Republican side of the aisle was largely empty — a symbol of how politics have changed over Pelosi’s 3½ decades in the House. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., did not attend or watch the speech, citing “meetings,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was present. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., crossed the Capitol to watch Pelosi speak, while the front row on the Democratic side of the chamber was filled with fellow female lawmakers from California.

[From NBC News]

It’s likely that Hakeem Jeffries will take Pelosi’s place as House Minority Leader, and with Pelosi staying in the House, she will likely use this time to mentor Jeffries and other House Democrats. While some of the Democratic caucus grumbled about Pelosi, her age or her methods, no one can deny that she was deeply respected and she held the caucus together for decades, through thick and thin. One of her most awe-inspiring moments was on January 6th, 2021, when she rode out the insurrection and used her cell phone to keep the government together, to call in the calvary by contacting governors, by speaking to the SecDef and the Joint Chiefs and telling VP Pence not to let anyone know his location.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and Cover Images.

I haven’t tried to get concert tickets for a super popular artist in years, but Taylor Swift fans have had a terrible time of it this week. Next year, she’s touring for the first time since 2018 and it’s been nearly impossible for fans to get tickets due to issues with Ticketmaster. The pre-sale, with Ticketmaster’s “Verified Fans” category and various other entry points, was a such a fustercluck that last night Ticketmaster canceled today’s public sale, saying there weren’t enough tickets left. Poor Swifty fans. Just before the public sale was canceled, Senator Amy Klobuchar wrote a letter to Ticketmaster stating her concern about the lack of competition in the ticket sales industry and the negative impact that has on customers.

In the wake of widespread problems around Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen tour on-sales, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, has written a letter to Ticketmaster raising concern about the lack of competition in the ticketing industry and the service it provides to consumers.

Widespread complaints about astronomical prices, long wait times and crashing computer servers plagued the first day of ticket sales for Swift’s 2023 tour on Tuesday, further rocking an industry that has been saddled with accusations of problematic business practices for many years. Ticketmaster, which is by far the dominant ticketing business in the country, has been particularly criticized.

“I write to express serious concerns about the state of competition in the ticketing industry and its harmful impact on consumers. Reports about system failures, increasing fees, and complaints of conduct that violate the consent decree Ticketmaster is under suggest that Ticketmaster continues to abuse its market positions,” Klobuchar (D-Mn.) wrote to Michael Rapino, president and CEO of Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation.

“Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services. That can result in the types of dramatic service failures we saw this week, where consumers are the ones that pay the price,” Klobuchar’s letter continued.

But Klobuchar’s chair position and history with the live entertainment industry bring a new element to the situation. She was a key leader in the “Save Our Stages” campaign that brought $16 billion in federal pandemic relief to independent music venues and theaters, and in April 2020, she and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged the Department of Justice Antitrust Division to take action to ensure small and independent venues can compete on a level playing field in the live entertainment marketplace.

[From Variety]

Senator Klobuchar’s letter was published in its entirety in the Variety article. And there are no lies detected there. Ticketmaster has been a total racket for years, probably since it merged with Live Nation back in 2010. The fees are insane, tickets are bought up and resold for even higher prices so fast, it’s basically a huge problem. And even as just an occasional concertgoer, I’ve received over the years random credits and discounts due to class action suits that others have pursued. Like, why has there ever been a “processing fee” and “service charge” and they’re higher than ever even though everything is online and paper tickets have been phased out? To fleece the customers, that’s why. The lack of competition has just allowed Ticketmaster to get bigger and more expensive without making any improvements because they’re the only option. The article also notes that a couple of years ago Senators Klobuchar and Blumenthal “called on the DOJ Antitrust Division to investigate the state of competition in the ticketing marketplace, given news reports that Ticketmaster-Live Nation was not adhering to the conditions of the antitrust consent decree governing its merger.” Sounds like continuing or another investigation is in order.

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Here are more photos from the Princess of Wales’s trip to a Ukrainian Community Center in Reading on Thursday. This is the second time in a month she’s worn that £460 Max&Co coat, which is strikingly similar to a famous camel coat worn by the Duchess of Sussex. Kate’s polka-dotted, high-collar dress is from LK Bennett and it retails for £279. She also wore her favorite Annoushka Pearl Drop earrings. She brought a photographer with her and then the photos were distributed to media outlets after some Photoshop elves worked on them.

This was the second time Kate has visited a Ukrainian center. The first time, she went to a Ukrainian center with William, and he made a complete ass out of himself. He apparently expressed shock that people were seeing war on European soil and that British people “were more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia.” He also said: “It’s very alien to see this in Europe. We are all behind you. We feel so useless.” When one volunteer thanked William for coming, he said: “I’m sorry we can only come and give words…we can give you the odd smile here and there…” Keep in mind, on that visit, Kate actually did bring granola bars and brownies for the volunteers. On Thursday, she showed up empty-handed, even though the director of the center literally greeted her with bread and salt. THEY were giving HER something. From the Times:

The Princess of Wales comforted a Ukrainian mother who wept as she described how she fled the horrors of the war with Russia.

“I wish we could do more” said the princess during a meeting with families at the Reading Ukrainian Community Centre. Praising their bravery, she said: “You’re showing a resilience, I’m overwhelmed by how strong you all are.”

Galina Bolebrukh, 39, who arrived in the UK with her mother Iryne and three-year-old son Renat, wiped away a tear as she told the princess how she fled Ukraine with her family and a few clothes. Kate placed her hand on her own heart and said: “I wish we could do more.” Later she told the mother, whose husband remained in Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion: “Everything you’ve experienced is so understandable.”

The centre has been the hub of the Ukrainian community in Berkshire for years but has now focused much of its efforts in supporting Ukrainians arriving in the UK, and delivering medical equipment and humanitarian aid to those on the front line. The princess posed for a picture with Bolebrukh’s son on her lap and did the same with another little girl.

When Kate arrived she was greeted by a group of officials led by the centre’s chairman Antonio Gresko, and after receiving the traditional Ukrainian welcome gifts of bread and salt, she told the group “having a charity centre like this is a lifeline”.

She chatted to groups of Ukrainian families sitting at tables in the centre, home to the Berkshire branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, the country’s largest representative body for Ukrainians and people of Ukrainian descent. She sympathised with a group of women, telling them: “It’s still all going on and you have loved ones and family in Ukraine, they still see the horrors of war every day.”

The Royal Foundation had a virtual meeting with Zelenska’s team last week to discuss working together on a mental health strategy to address the impact the conflict is having upon the mental wellbeing of Ukrainians.

[From The Times]

One, that must have been the “phone call” on the Court Circular last week – a call between “the Royal Foundation” and Olena Zelenska’s office. Two, she’s telling refugees “I wish we could do more” after showing up empty-handed at their community center? She literally has a royal foundation at her disposal! She wishes she could do more? Bitch, DO MORE. Rent a U-haul and fill it with nonperishable food, paper towels, soap, adult clothes, kids’ clothes, shoes, socks, gift cards to local shops and disposable cell phones. Literally send out a press release telling people how to donate to Ukrainian charities!! For f-cks sake, Kate. Stop looting the dead queen’s jewelry and actually DO something.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

This is a terrible story. The only good part about it is that no one was physically hurt. Denise Richards and her husband, Aaron Phypers, were driving to a studio for Denise to film something last Monday when they noticed a van aggressively tailgating them. When the driver pulled alongside their truck, Aaron rolled the window down to see what the driver’s deal was. The other guy claimed Aaron cut him off. Aaron apologized but the guy wouldn’t back down. So Aaron drove off. But when Denise and Aaron arrived at the studio, they saw the guy had actually shot their truck.

Denise Richards is “very shaken up” after her vehicle was shot at during a road rage incident in Los Angeles, PEOPLE confirms.

The 51-year-old actress and her husband Aaron Phypers were driving to Popsicle Studio in Los Angeles, where Richards was filming for an upcoming project, when the scary shooting incident happened on Monday.

According to the source, Richards was riding in the passenger seat of their Ford F-150 Shelby pick-up truck while Phypers, 50, was behind the wheel.

As the couple headed to the one-day movie shoot in South Los Angeles, Phypers noticed that a gold and maroon van was following them. “[Aaron] could tell — he kept making rights because they were clearly being followed,” the source says. “The guy was obviously pissed behind him.”

“The van was on his tail, pushing him almost… they couldn’t figure it out,” the source continues, noting that Richards and Phypers were both “frantic” over the situation.

Eventually, the van pulled up to their left and Phypers rolled down his window to confront the driver. During their exchange, the source says the man “went off of them” and claimed Phypers cut him off.

Though Phypers apologized, the man continued to yell at them so Phypers drove off, according to the source. It wasn’t until the couple got to set that they realized the man had shot the back of their truck. Thankfully, nobody was injured in the incident.

“The guy had taken off by then, but when they realized the car was shot, they were really freaked out, and the production secured the scene,” the source says. “Even though they were upset, [Richards] decided to stay and film. Her role was just a one-day deal.”

“The production company made her feel safe but they didn’t file a police report,” the source adds. “They think now that people were after the car itself because it’s worth a lot of money.”

[From People]

I don’t think the van driver was after their truck. This type of thing happens all the time in LA. People get irrationally angry on the roads and absolutely have to make the person they’re mad at ‘pay’. Half the time you didn’t know you did something wrong or didn’t mean to. Two drivers will endanger an entire freeway of drivers just to get back at each other. We call it Gotcha Last and alert whoever’s driving if we see it going on because that’s how you end up in a ditch as an innocent bystander. Aaron was right to drive off, nothing was going to calm that guy down and obviously meant to use the gun he had on him – thank gawd it was only the truck that got harmed.

And while almost anyone who lives in LA has had a similar experience, minus the bullet hole – OMG!, we don’t have to deal with the second half of this story. So word got out about the incident. And people have opinions about Denise. Those things should not be mutually exclusive, but social media brings out the worst. Some troll tweeted, as in publicly put it out there, that they wished the bullet had grazed Denise’s neck instead.

In a since-deleted tweet from Tuesday, November 15, the commentator replied to news that Richards and husband Aaron Phypers‘ car was shot at, writing, “Don’t care kinda hope she would have taken a grazing shot to the neck honestly.”

Richards, 51, for her part, addressed the public hate, tweeting, “Thank you. I would never wish any harm on anyone. What I experienced yesterday with my husband, not that you care. Was the most terrifying situation I have ever been in. I’m sorry a shot didn’t graze my neck … a—hole.”

[From Us]

Again, I have no doubt that Denise and Aaron were definitely “shaken up” and calling the incident “terrifying” is not an exaggeration. Who reads a story about people being terrorized like this and posts they wish the two had been tortured more? Denise and Aaron were driving a truck, that’s it. At worst, they cut someone off and it sounds unintentionally. I’m glad they are both safe. If neither the van driver or the tweeter are brought to justice, I hope they sit on chairs with wet seat cushions while a bird poops on their heads. Shame on them.

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Nicholas Hoult ended up being one of the best-looking and most talented actors of his generation, right? What’s crazy is that he also seems like a genuinely nice and low-key guy. He’s been with Bryana Holly for years and they have a four-year-old son together. We rarely see or hear anything about Hoult and his life, and he really doesn’t do much press for his projects either. Well, Hoult is currently promoting The Menu, where he plays a very rich foodie, the kind of guy who goes to crazy-expensive restaurants and takes photos of his food. Talking about food is apparently the gateway to getting Hoult to talk about his personal life. Some highlights from People:

He’s not a foodie: “I’m a trash can, I eat anything and everything. (I’m) not picky at all. Although I think within the last 12 hours, I have become obsessed with baking.” Hoult, who splits his time between London (where he’s finishing up filming season 3 of Hulu’s The Great) and Los Angeles, has found comfort in the kitchen, even whipping up “a Japanese sweet bread and a cinnamon crunch loaf” in the same day.

He does love to cook: “I do quite enjoy cooking when I’m not working. When I’m working, I just don’t cook at all basically, and then when I get time off I like to putter around in the kitchen. I’m not very good, but I like to do it.”

He cooks for his 4-year-old son with model Bryana Holly. “You know what? You get honest, instant feedback from a 4-year-old. He will turn straight around, and he’s like, ‘This isn’t very good, Dad.’ But then when you do get it right and you cook something great, you get a big thumbs-up. It’s a great age.”

He doesn’t photograph his food: “Do you ever really look back at those (food) photos? It’s like when people spend like 10 minutes recording at a concert, and you’re like, ‘Really? You’re actually going to watch that whole thing back with the terrible sound on of your phone?’ Probably not, right?”

[From People]

I like him so much more now that I know he cooks and bakes. I think bakers are exceptional people – it takes patience, a scientific mind and kindness to be a good baker. I bet he’s a good partner and a great father. Let me have this!!

Anya Taylor-Joy has also been talking about food and cooking during promotion – she told Page Six that she can barely boil water and cooking “doesn’t really interest me…I’m not going to lie to you. I feel like we have delivery, we have takeout.” I can cook, but I do get a lot of takeout as well, so I feel her on that.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Avalon and Cat Morley/Avalon.