EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: The petition urging J K Rowling to let refugees live in her Edinburgh mansion

By EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE FOR THE DAILY MAIL

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Harry Potter author J K Rowling’s support for refugees – demanding that homes are found for them – led to a petition in which 52,000 people urged her to let some live in her Edinburgh mansion

Harry Potter author J K Rowling’s support for refugees – demanding that homes are found for them – led to a petition in which 52,000 people urged her to let some live in her Edinburgh mansion

Harry Potter author J K Rowling’s support for refugees – demanding that homes are found for them – led to a petition in which 52,000 people urged her to let some live in her Edinburgh mansion. The chippy-sounding petition states: ‘Since she is a sheltered member of the rich elite, we think it is time for her to show some true solidarity.’ Will J K, in accordance with local tradition, ask when they arrive: ‘You’ll have had your tea…?’

Suggestions that President Donald Trump might roost at Balmoral – the Queen’s Scottish retreat – on his state visit, are questioned by my royal source who says: ‘The warren of corridors, bat infestations, children’s bicycles, tricycles, scooters and Wellingtons in the entrance hall, slightly run-down décor, unreliable plumbing and lack of bathrooms make it a place for family rather than formal visits. Even visiting PMs have to “tweed-up” against the cold and forgo luxuries.’

 

Trump's mooted Thursday to Sunday October dates wouldn’t suit the Queen normally. Her weekends are regarded as sacrosanct. So far, Trump hasn’t appointed a Chief of Protocol who’d co-ordinate every detail. My source says: ‘His bottle-blonde top female aide, Kellyanne Conway [pictured this week with her high heels up on a White House sofa], doesn’t inspire confidence among courtiers.’

Trump : ‘His bottle-blonde top female aide, Kellyanne Conway [pictured this week with her high heels up on a White House sofa], doesn’t inspire confidence among courtiers'

Trump : ‘His bottle-blonde top female aide, Kellyanne Conway [pictured this week with her high heels up on a White House sofa], doesn’t inspire confidence among courtiers'

Theresa May’s determination to trigger the EU-quitting Article 50 on March 15 worries Shakespeare scholars, who say the bard’s Julius Caesar was warned by a soothsayer he’d be assassinated on that date. On the plus side, Commonwealth leaders will be here for their annual knees-up, led by the Queen, providing a golden opportunity for meetings and networking over new trade deals.

 

Lord Tebbit, 85, ridicules fellow Lords who say they voted against the Government to protect European citizens living in the UK, inquiring rhetorically: ‘When did they ever save us?’ He tells Sky News’s bien pensant Adam Boulton: ‘Elizabeth I saved Europe from King Philip of Spain. The Duke of Wellington saved Europe from Napoleon. Lloyd George saved it in the First World War and Churchill saved it from Hitler in the Second World War.’

 

Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson, 77, who accuses the late Countdown presenter, Richard Whiteley, of being an MI5 spy, is a vindictive class warrior. He called fellow Liverpudlian Cilla Black ‘that bloody woman’. Her crime? Being a Tory supporter.

The Duchess of Cambridge’s parents have introduced a range of party fripperies called Truly Alice for their Party Pieces firm. The knick-knacks are themed on characters from Alice In Wonderland. As it happens, Kate wrote her History of Art dissertation at St Andrews on Alice author Lewis Carroll. Let no one claim her education was wasted.

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