A divorce deal that shames women

Philippa Vaughan persuaded the judge to award her the extra lump sum of £215,000

The High Court's award of a £215,000 divorce payout to the former wife of a leading barrister - 25 years after the couple split - is a terrible blow to those who rightly believe that women are equal to men.



Philippa Vaughan, 66, has no children, lives in a four-bedroom £1million house in fashionable Hammersmith, West London, and inherited £770,000 from her parents.



But she still convinced the judge to award her the extra lump sum. He said it was 'plainly wrong' to think she could adjust to life after her exhusband's maintenance payments were cancelled last year.



In this case, the absurdity of Mrs Vaughan's divorce claim is exposed by the fact that as a working woman (with a job as an expert in Islamic and Indian art), she was able to earn her own living.



By any yardstick this was an unjust claim. Particularly since her exhusband had accrued most of his wealth <cite>after </cite>they split and during his second marriage.



It seems Mrs Vaughan's main concern was to get one over her ex - rather than any interest in justice. So once again our crazy divorce laws, which too often encourage women to sponge off men, have delivered another hammer blow against the institution of marriage.



Any divorce lawyer will tell you that such high-profile court awards have a profound effect on women's attitudes to marriage and divorce - especially with regard to the values of young women.



Is it any wonder that surveys suggest that 20 per cent of girls don't want a career, but, like footballers' WAGs, simply want to hitch on to a rich man?



It's also not surprising if young men are reluctant to get married. They fear that if they divorce, they could face financial ruin. As a result, marriage rates are at the lowest since records began in 1862.



Britain's divorce laws need to be changed to recognise how much women's roles in society have altered - mainly for the better - and to stop grasping ladies of leisure, or wives who earn good salaries, from leeching off men.

___________________________________________________________________

We don't need a Queen of cupcakes



She got the nickname 'Waity Katie' because of her spectacular ability to do nothing but wait for her Prince to come.



But now Kate Middleton ought to be called 'Weighty Katie'. For Prince William's workshy, holiday-loving girlfriend threatens to become a heavy millstone around the Royal Family's neck.



She's hardly what palace modernisers had in mind for a future Queen.



Where's the proper job? Where's the devotion to hard work and charity that are so embedded in the life of today's favourite royals?



Instead, all we see from Kate is a stubborn protection of her privacy (successfully suing photographers for taking pictures of her playing tennis) and her efforts to promote her parents' children's party website with a series of simpering childhood memories, including the occasion when she forgot to put self-raising flour into a cake-mix.



The last thing Britain needs is a lazy, talentless Queen of Cupcakes.



___________________________________________________________________



Heather Mills: 'My problems is I'm too nice'

A penny for your thoughts, Paul?

An employment tribunal has to decide whether Heather Mills, left, is telling the truth in a very messy case in which her former nanny claims she was forced to resign when she had her own child.

In one corner is the ex-nanny who says: 'Heather Mills was rude and horrible.'

Facing her is Mucca, the woman who became a champion gold-digger when she got £24 million after a brief marriage to Paul McCartney.

Attacking her former nanny, she complained: 'She's just after money. My problem is I'm too nice.'

I'd love to know what Sir Paul thinks of it all.

ORANGE ALERT, IT'S PHONEY BLAIR



Tony Blair is described by Labour spin doctors as the party's 'secret election weapon'.



What an apt phrase.



For everything about the former Prime Minister these days seems to be secret: his consultancy fees from oil companies with interests in Iraq; the true role of his close aide Ruth Turner; why one of his companies is licensed in the low-tax regimes of Lithuania and Liechtenstein; and - most importantly - why is he so orange!



His new Tax Exile Tan has led to rumours he's planning to launch his own brand of sun lotion - a bit like Paul Newman's cooking sauces.



It would rival St Tropez, the world's most famous fake tan. St Tony - the world's finest fake.



Perfect product placement if ever we've seen it.

___________________________________________________________________



Westminster Noticeboard

Watching Tory Transport spokeswoman Theresa Villiers tackle bolshie rail union boss Bob Crow over the proposed train strikes is like watching a fight between Paris Hilton's Chihuahua Tinkerbell and an English bull terrier. Surely the Tories can find someone of greater substance than Theresa Shrilliers to go into battle?



The inept intervention by the dreadful, opportunistic Ed Balls has played right into the hands of the equally dreadful Sharon Shoesmith, the woman who was supposedly in charge of children's services at Haringey when Baby P was tortured to death.

She now looks set to win a £1million payoff thanks to Balls leaning on an independent inquiry to 'beef up' the case for sacking the council chief.



What a legacy for this Government. It has failed to educate children properly, can't protect the most vulnerable in society and rewards those whose incompetence allows such tragedies as Baby P.



Gordon Brown has published a 300-page collection of his speeches. Asked about the book's sales prospects, a former Blair speechwriter tartly commented that the only problem is that Brown wrote them all himself. As for the rest of us - the only speech we are interested in his resignation one. We live in hope.

Gordon and Sarah Brown invited a Grazia magazine photographer into their Downing Street home.



The PM posed in front of a bookshelf which contained Baking Kit For Beginners, Cook With Jamie and Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess.

I thought I could also see a copy of The Joy Of Sex. The mind boggles.



___________________________________________________________________



Dannii's exit factor

In a wonderful act of sisterly solidarity, it's suggested that Kylie Minogue may stand in for Dannii, as a judge on TV's the X Factor during her pregnancy.

The only problem is that unlike Dannii, Kylie can sing, dance and is a genuine international star.

Dannii Minogue: due to give birth during X factor auditions

Let's hope the sisterly bond is strong and survives if the show's Machiavellian guru Simon Cowell dumps Dannii permanently and replaces her with Big Sis.

___________________________________________________________________



The former Archbishop of Canterbury and other senior figures in the Church of England have complained there is a bias against Christians in Britain and claim that other faiths are treated more sensitively.



In reply, the current head of the Church, Dr Rowan Williams, disagreed, arguing that Christians in poorer parts of the world were suffering much more.



But since when was the state of a nation's spiritual health measured by its GDP?



Surely the real problem suffered by Christians in Britain is a pathetic lack of leadership from that bearded 'old druid' Rowan himself.



___________________________________________________________________



Keen to try for a fourth child (this time, hoping for a girl), Victoria Beckham has decided to fatten up on carbs.



Perhaps she'll now start eating her peas - not just drink the water they are boiled in.



___________________________________________________________________



The bill has been axed after 25 years because ITV boss Peter Fincham says: 'Times change.' How right he is. The once-groundbreaking series is out of tune with modern policing.



When was the last time you saw a copper on the beat fighting crime? Nowadays, they're either filling in forms at the station or away on diversity courses.





