Hero
Lily Allen, for knowing it’s never too late to learn. The 38-year-old singer recently received “less-than-rave reviews” for her second-ever theatrical role, in The Pillowman, says Shane Watson in The Daily Telegraph, so she decided to apply for drama school. Here’s “rooting for Lily”.
Villains
Sat navs, which are responsible for an alarming rise in people driving the wrong way on the motorway. There were 872 of these “oncoming vehicles” incidents in the year to 19 June, up from 770 in the previous 12 months. The AA says drivers following sat-nav directions without checking signs can end up mistaking an off-ramp for a slip road.
Villain
Penguin, which has used reviewers’ quotes rather selectively for Jordan Peterson’s latest book. The blurb for Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life quotes The Times’s James Marriott saying it contains “the most lucid and touching prose Peterson has written” – a remark specifically about a chapter on interior design. A line from The Daily Telegraph’s Suzanne Moore, originally “hokey wisdom combined with good advice”, is trimmed to: “wisdom combined with good advice”.
Heroes
A pair of boozy American tourists, who made the most of their stay in Paris by spending the night on the Eiffel Tower. The two men were found on Monday morning sleeping on an elevated section of the monument that is usually closed to the public. Paris prosecutors say they appeared to have got stuck “because of how drunk they were”.