Are we risking too much for Ukraine?

Bill Clinton was inaugurated as US president 31 years ago this month, says Popbitch. At 77, he’s still younger today than the two likely candidates for this year’s election: Donald Trump (a slightly older 77) and Joe Biden (81).

The most-watched TV show in the US last year was Suits, the law drama starring Meghan Markle (pictured) which ended in 2019, says Variety. Racking up 57.7 billion total minutes watched, it took the record for the most-viewed show of any year, previously set by The Office in 2020 with 57.1 billion. Old favourites are dominating Americans’ screens: not one of the top 10 programmes last year was an original series created by a streaming platform.

Of course we should ban vaping

“Some things you just know,” says Celia Walden in The Daily Telegraph. Take vaping. Sure, we’re still “waiting for proof” that it’s bad for you. But is anyone really in any doubt that inhaling some “sinister e-potion” – containing nicotine, and the stuff that goes in antifreeze, and the chemical they use for embalming fluid – is detrimental to your health? Future generations will look back and wonder what on earth we thought we were doing. Even worse is that we’re letting our children do it. Young vapers around the world are being affected by terrifying-sounding conditions including “lung injury” and “pulmonary oedema”. The World Health Organisation has warned that vaping will have “long-term consequences” on children’s brain development, and “potentially lead to learning and anxiety disorders”.

Rishi Sunak knows all this. He knows that an astonishing 9% of British children aged 11 to 15 now vape, and that young folk like their vapes fruit-flavoured (which account for 60% of sales) and sweet or soft drink-flavoured (25%). Yet his proposal to ban disposable vapes has, inevitably, been criticised by the “nanny state” brigade. As one anonymous Tory MP said: “I’m sure banning vapes goes down brilliantly among the Californian fasting community, but our voters want the boats stopping and their wage packets growing.” What an idiot. When “the truth about vaping comes out” – as it inevitably will – history will not be kind to those who were happy to let children fill their lungs with toxic, brain-altering chemicals. “Anyone with an ounce of common sense already knows that.”

Coffee snobbishness is reaching “new extremes”, says Harry Wallop in The Times. During the pandemic, the drink went from a mere obsession to a “ritualised act of self-care”. Some people, mostly men, invested huge amounts in “posh kit”, from a £4,160 La Marzocco espresso machine to a £190 set of digital scales. And when this “coffee cult” returned to work, they brought their paraphernalia with them. The actor Stanley Tucci now takes two coffee makers to set with him every day, one for the make-up department and the other for his trailer, to ensure he can have a top-quality espresso “at all times”.

Every year in Minnesota, thousands of people vote on what to call the state’s snowploughs, says AP News. The winners this year include “Beyonsleigh”, “Taylor Drift”, “Dolly Plowton” and “Fast and Flurrious”. Previous victors include “Blizzard of Oz”, “Scoop Dogg”, “Han Snolo”, and “F Salt Fitzgerald”.

It’s a dried-out, 285-year-old lemon, which has sold for a hefty £1,400. The desiccated citrus fruit, found at the back of a drawer in a 19th-century Chinese chest during a house clearance, bears an inscription saying it was “given by Mr P Lu Franchini Nov 4 1739 to Miss E Baxter”, possibly as a love token. At auction in Shropshire, the acidic artefact triggered a furious bidding war, while the chest went for a measly £32.