The face of the New Statesman

Gwyneth Paltrow is a woman everyone seems to love to hate, for reasons I for one have never really understood. Until now, that is.

Paltrow has been speaking out in support of working mothers recently. Her comments, which come straight from the ‘You Don’t Say’ department, appear in the latest edition of Red magazine, which Paltrow is guest-editing.

Meanwhile, Kate Moss joins British Vogue next spring as a contributing editor. And the boyish (yes, you’ve guessed it, that’s a euphemism for infantile) Russell Brand has just been guest-editing the New Statesman.

All three – Paltrow, Moss and Brand – can now officially join a list of people journalists love to hate: celebrity guest editors. They leapfrog into the big chair, avoiding years and years of covering council meetings, writing court reports, attending agricultural fairs, and interviewing the sort of people who are either unable or unwilling to reveal a single interesting thought – to wit, celebrities.

Published in the Irish Mail on Sunday, 3 November 2013