BARELY have we dipped a toe into 2023 and Prince Harry’s off again, tapping into the increasingly depleted vein of his royal connection to garner global publicity for his new book Spare Us (Spare, surely? – Ed).
He expresses a desire to “have my father and brother back” as if they were simply a lost ball, when the reality is that he wilfully kicked them over the fence himself some time ago.
![No easy way back to The Firm for Harry now after runaway royal’s string of bombshells No easy way back to The Firm for Harry now after runaway royal’s string of bombshells](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/prince-harry-duke-sussex-itv-786116876-1.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
There’s no easy way back to The Firm for Prince Harry now after his string of bombshells[/caption]
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/left-britains-kate-princess-wales-759752907.jpg?strip=all&w=682)
Can you blame Prince William when their every little, supposedly private, utterance might be weaponised and monetised?[/caption]
“It never needed to be this way. They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile,” he moans to ITV’s Tom Bradby in a clip for a forthcoming TV interview.
But can you blame King Charles and Prince William when their every little, supposedly private, utterance might be weaponised and monetised by Harry and Meghan?
Already we’ve heard via Netflix how William “screamed” at him during a meeting, seen Harry and wife Meghan react in shock to a presumably stroppy text sent by his brother and, perhaps worst of all, seen Harry possibly cast doubt on William’s relationship with wife Kate by suggesting that, for royal men, “there can be a temptation or urge to marry someone who fits in the mould . . . as opposed to somebody who you are perhaps destined to be with.”
Ouch. Little wonder they’re keeping him at arm’s length. Who wouldn’t?
Spare is a vast tome, and on January 10 we’ll know exactly what “truth” bombs are in it to warrant the multi-million-quid advance.
After all, 30 chapters on Harry and Meghan’s philanthropy isn’t going to cut the mustard.
There will be blood.
And when it’s been spilt in such a public way, it’s very hard to recover from.
The big je suis
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron reportedly went on “a long walk” with wife Brigitte just before the Queen’s funeral so they would miss the communal bus and have to take a diplomatic limo instead.
According to one report, it was “perceived” that Macron was trying to get a similar bus exemption to US President Joe Biden, who was allowed to travel in his own armoured car known as “The Beast”.
It seems that while burying the most powerful woman in the world went smoothly, burying the egos of others proved rather more problematic.
Take a vinyl record off the shelf, inhale its musty smell, listen to the needle crackle …and travel back in time
AS Billy Ocean didn’t sing, “When the going gets tough, the tough get nostalgic”.
After all, given the state of the world right now, there’s a comfort in the familiarity of the past when, true or not, life seemed simpler and slower-paced.
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-performance-debut-tenth-studio-784487516.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Taylor Swift’s new album Midnights has sold over 80,000 copies on vinyl[/caption]
![](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/hot-love-d-1971-786277013.jpg?strip=all&w=936)
The first single Jane Moore bought was T. Rex’s Hot Love in February 1971[/caption]
For me, an easy teleportation to the past is the vinyl record collection I have held on to since I first started buying them back in the early ’70s.
The act of taking it down off the shelf, studying the album artwork, the slightly musty smell of the inner sleeve, the gatefold covers, the lyrics and production notes, the crackle of the needle just before that warm, richly layered sound fills the room.
It’s a ritual that slows me down in a fast-paced world and, to my mind anyway, helps bridge the gap between the artist and the listener — as if they have somehow handed it to you personally.
So it comes as no surprise that vinyl sales have just outstripped CDs for the first time in 35 years.
No doubt, many of those buyers will be Baby Boomers like me, either adding to their original collection or reinstating the one they wish they’d never sold.
But also, more and more millennials are turning to vinyl too.
Just ask Taylor Swift, whose new album Midnights has sold over 80,000, making it the UK’s biggest-selling vinyl record of the 21st Century. In second place was Harry Styles’s new album, at 60,000.
For Christmas, we bought our 18- year-old a vinyl turntable and the look of joy on her face when she opened it was reassuring in a world where instant streaming and cherry-picking your favourite songs is now the norm rather than growing to love those “experimental” tracks buried on a B-side.
We added an album “starter pack” of The Dark Side Of The Moon, A Night At The Opera, Rumours, Bridge Over Troubled Water and Harvest (if you have to look up who they’re by, this article isn’t for you) and, ever since, she’s been trawling charity shops for vinyl gems thrown out by cultural philistines.
When I was her age, Woolworths was the Saturday morning Mecca for me and my friends and, if you fancy a trip down memory lane, check out woolworthsmuseum.co.uk for old photos, facts and the newly released “virtual tour” of a now defunct store.
The pick and mix counter (or “pick and nick”, as we called it) is the most enduring memory, but a close second is the record counter where we flocked with saved-up pocket money to buy the latest 45/33 rpm.
The first single I bought was T. Rex’s Hot Love in February 1971, the same month as decimalisation.
Fur-lined bikini
I can’t recall whether I paid in shillings or pence, but I do remember the thrill of holding that first vinyl single (cost of approx 50p) in my hand and rushing home to play it on my mother’s “stereo centre”, which looked like a sideboard but housed a hidden turntable and in-built speakers.
The first album was, whisper it, one of those “Hot Hits” compilations with a cover shot of a woman in a fur-lined bikini sitting on a sleigh (nope, me neither) and tracks played by session musicians rather than the original artists.
My excuse was that I was nine at the time, money was tight and those albums were cheaper than the real thing.
After hitting 16 and getting a Saturday job at Littlewoods, I would get my cash wage at the end of each shift and head straight to “Woolies” to add to the vinyl album collection I have to this day.
Then, albums cost anything between 80p and £1.25. Taylor Swift’s record-breaking new album costs around £25. Gulp.
And the “hot hits” I couldn’t afford to buy? Every Sunday night, I would balance my cassette recorder on the side of the bath and simultaneously press play and record whenever Radio 1’s Top 20 rundown played a track I liked.
Aaaah, those were the days. Do I use a streaming service? Yes, occasionally, but pulling an old favourite off the shelf and losing myself in listening to an entire album as the artist intended is my version of mindfulness.
Call me old-fashioned, but in a world increasingly run by AI (has anyone tried speaking to an actual human being at Virgin Media recently?) vinyl records are something tangible and familiar, like stepping into a warm bath.
So if you want to get your kids off their games consoles or phones, buy them a second-hand turntable.
Better still, you can bore them to tears fascinate them with tales of your own vinyl memories.
Uphold law? Fat chance
THOUSANDS of “bobbies on the beat” across the country are ordering XXL uniforms because of their expanding waistlines.
Music to the ears of the gangs, muggers and burglars who are ruling our streets with impunity, safe in the knowledge that in the unlikely event they get nabbed in the act by a police officer, all they have to do is run away and there’s not a cat in hell’s chance they’ll catch them up.
Try no kids on TV, Kim
KIM KARDASHIAN says she is doing everything in her power to protect her children from reading the online rants by ex-husband Kanye West and the ensuing media coverage they garner.
“I know I am so close to that not happening but, while it is still that way, I will protect that to the end of the earth. My kids, they don’t know anything.”
Good for her. It can’t be easy.
But may I humbly suggest that if she really wants to shield nine-year-old North and her younger siblings from the darker aspects of the world, removing them from her TV show and own social media channels would also help enormously.