A married man is no help to a career girl, argues Virginia Blackburn
OH PRUE, what were you thinking? Prue Leith is usually the most sensible of women.
Prue Leith suggests that young women should have affairs with married men
I learned to cook via her excellent recipe books (massively better than Nigella's) and admired the example she set to other women. But now she has come out with possibly the worst advice ever: it may be good for your career, she tells young girls, to have an affair with a married man.
As a matter of fact there is some logic there. The thinking is that because the woman is not in a full-time relationship it gives her time to concentrate on her career. That ties in with the theory that many who have affairs with married men subconsciously do not wish to be tied down and are thus scuppering their chances of marriage and children by entering into a set-up that can deliver neither.
An awful lot come to regret this though and this is where Prue's story differs from most. She went on to marry her lover Rayne Kruger who incidentally was married to her mother's best friend. That must have warmed the heart (not) of the first Mrs Kruger, had she known about it. It would also be interesting to know whether Prue would have taken such a relaxed attitude had she discovered another woman was dallying with her husband after he became Mrs Prue.
The truth is that most women who have affairs with married men are not evil home wreckers but damaged and the best possible advice you could give them is to try to understand why they are intent on doing themselves such harm. Prue lucked out in life: she had a husband, two children, stellar career and a life well spent. She is not racked with regret over what might have been had she not chucked her prospects away on someone who really wasn't worth it.
Tell women to look for a man who will understand their need to work, not someone already married. That way lies only a vale of tears.
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Bill Bryson
Tell women to look for a man who will understand their need to work, not someone already married
SHORTLY after he revealed he's a British citizen, Bill Bryson has had a go at the middle class in this country for bad manners, mainly it seems because he saw someone leave too small a tip. So why become One Of Us? Of course Bill has a book to promote, no doubt the reason he's happy to bite the hand that has fed him so well.
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Beckham rocks Freddie Mercury
HERE'S David Beckham dressed up as Freddie Mercury with a couple of friends posting: "... What happens when three queens get on the global express and think they are king Freddie."
It just goes to prove, as did the sarong, the moisturiser, the nail varnish and the rest of it that David Beckham is so secure in his own sexuality that he couldn't give a hoot what anyone else thinks. And it looks as if the beard is thinning out. Now if he'd only follow his wife's example and get rid of a few of his tattoos...
Beckham rocking Freddie Mercury
Monogamy makes sense
LAST week I read that monogamous societies are inherently more stable than polygamous ones. This is because the birth rate has always been 50/50 between men and women so if you get some men taking more than their fair share of women the rest will become very aggressive.
The rulers of these societies know this and so are more than usually likely to take their countries into war, both to channel this male aggression and to hold out the hope the men will, among the vanquished, find a woman of their own. For the truth of this look at the Middle East. Perhaps if we really want to calm the region down we should stop trying to impose democracy on it - which frankly hasn't been working out that well - and try to suggest monogamy instead.
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Terrorism Pay Cut
MORE news of those "brave freedom fighters" in the Middle East: IS has cut the wages of its soldiers from £260 a month to £65 and 200 have already deserted.
So much for idealism. And it's good to know they might be running out of cash.