ALEXANDRA SHULMAN’S NOTEBOOK: If only our PM hopefuls were as fascinating as Kate Moss

The last time I spoke to Kate Moss was a few weeks ago at a memorial service in Scotland. Among the large gathering of family and colleagues, she was seated at a table in the corner of the marquee, wearing a tiny black dress, her skinny legs in fishnets, with a gang of friends around her, animatedly holding forth as she does in private.

Even in the crowd at this desperately moving occasion it was possible to sense the Kate forcefield, beaming out from that corner in a quietly powerful way.

Nothing showy, but still out of the ordinary.

On this week’s Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 listeners will be able to hear Kate speak.

ALEXANDRA SHULMAN: The last time I spoke to Kate Moss was a few weeks ago at a memorial service in Scotland

The programme is one of the very few occasions I can recall her doing so publicly, apart from her brief appearance as a witness on video during the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard court case.

Brand Kate has thrived on her silence – and a never complain, never explain stance.

Although she is incredibly famous, and even now has a new campaign and collection for Zara, the 48-year-old model has always traded on an element of enigma.

Which means that even the trailer for Desert Island Discs alone was tantalising.

Not for the recorded clips – she’s still nervous in front of the camera and in another life would like to be in a band – but just because it reveals Kate’s surprisingly gravelly, South London voice that’s always on the verge of a cackling laugh.

Our prime minister wannabes could only hope to command a similar degree of fascination.

Hand baggage is such a carry on

Only the foolhardy will check in their luggage to fly abroad this summer because of the shortages of baggage handlers and huge queues. Taking just hand luggage is now the only sensible option.

This might be a small point but travelling solely with hand luggage is a mindset. And it’s not mine.

My father rarely travelled abroad, claiming he didn’t see the point on spending money to be somewhere that was less agreeable than home. At home, he had everything he wanted, including a local bookie.

I am not quite of the same point of view, but I do believe that holidays are more enjoyable if you can take everything you might want with you. Having to calculate in advance what you can fit in starts the pre-holiday vibe on quite the wrong note.

There are suggestions everywhere for what clothes to pack in that small wheelie suitcase. But it’s not clothes that are the issue. It would of course be more fun choosing them on the basis of how much you want to wear them rather than how little room they take up. And can anything be more boring than spending hours pre-holiday, working out a mix and match capsule wardrobe? Should it be navy and white with a pop of green?

But it’s the other bits and pieces that really make a holiday a holiday. Tons of make-up for example.

In fact, I hardly ever wear anything but lip gloss on holiday. Even so, there’s not much else to do in the evening but see if you look as good as Billie Eilish in emerald eye shadow. Then you realise that you don’t, so fall back on safe bronze.

And what about the favourite perfumes, sun lotions and hair potions which don’t comply with carry-on flight restrictions, so you end up having to waste cash on a whole new set once you get there, which you can’t re-pack for the return journey.

These though are as nothing as to being deprived of the delicious pile of holiday books. They aren’t remotely replaced by the uninspiring looking Kindle. Let alone treats such as playing cards, watercolours and notebooks. And in my case a mobile pharmacy. What does one forsake to include them?

Holidays should be indulgent and comfortable – not subject to the kind of packing restrictions appropriate for an attempted Moon landing.

Best leave the skirts to Brad, chaps

Months ago, I wrote about how I wished men would dress more adventurously, and predicted that soon we would see more men in skirts. Who knows whether Brad Pitt, right, is a reader, but last week he was publicising his new film dressed as Calamity Jane, all togged up in a skirt.

Pitt accessorised with hiking boots and tattooed shins. Surprisingly, the whole ensemble looks pretty good on a bloke of 58 with a greying beard. However, a word to other men who might be considering experimenting in the summer heat. Skirts are fine but do remember you are not Brad Pitt.

Now marriage really is a big decision

HOW wonderful it will be to be able to marry anywhere you choose if restrictions are lifted on where the ceremony can take place.

Certainly, I would have found somewhere more romantic than Kensington and Chelsea Register Office. But where? I wouldn’t chose a cruise ship or theme park – some places that the Law Commission suggests would be popular.

I’ve tried to imagine the perfect location. Maybe in one of the London parks that I love, or perhaps a Cotswolds field I remember from childhood. Or would it be a favourite restaurant?

Deciding would be a nightmare. In the end, might it be easier not to have the choice?

A totally pointless bump in the night

THE other night I was unable to sleep – not due to the heat, but because a huge truck was idling outside our house for hours surrounded by men in high-vis doing nothing.

The next morning we awoke to utterly unnecessarily repainted white speedbump lines all down the road. And for this, we pay our enormous council tax.

Wets spoiled my lido escape

DURING the hot spell, I discovered the wonderful Parliament Hill Lido – an enormous, unheated public pool.

I’m sure it was Boris Johnson’s brother Jo I spotted doing lengths (a lot quicker than me) just before the unmistakeable face of Tony Blair’s former PR man Alastair Campbell emerged from the next lane.

I was trying to disengage and had no idea this North London swimming pool could be such a political hotspot.

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