I have to start this piece by admitting that I don’t like Madonna; I never have. She’s always struck me as being supremely arrogant and the acquisition of vast amounts of money has, in my opinion, effectively reinforced her narcissism. Nobody says no to someone who can buy Africa in its entirety if she wants to. And sure enough, nobody did say no to her – ultimately – over the adoption of Mercy James.

Jacques Peretti’s documentary last night added more weight to that theory for me, and despite his protestations at points in the film that he didn’t know “what to think” regarding the controversy, I would argue that he had very clear views on it. I suspect that he, like me, believes that Madonna’s involvement in the country is tantamount to colonialism stemming from egocentricity and her adoption of African children is analogous to a form of exotic pet collecting, which in turn is no different in motivation than a philatelist’s desire to acquire stamps. Read more & comment »

This second of three Jacques Peretti documentaries was purportedly made to discover who the ‘real’ Dodi Al Fayed was. The film began with Jacques saying, “On 6th September 1997, two and a half billion people watched the funeral of Princess Diana. Six weeks later there was another funeral. This time there were no cameras and just a handful of mourners. This funeral was for Dodi Al-Fayed.”

This was the start of the confusion about this film for me because in actuality, following Muslim tradition, Dodi was buried within 24 hours of his death. His body was escorted back to Britain by his father having been wrapped in a shroud of three pieces of white cloth before being placed in a coffin and interred at Brookwood Cemetery in London… surely Jacques would have been aware of that? Read more & comment »

Last night’s investigation from Jacques Peretti into the media phenomenon that is Paul Burrell was fascinating from start to finish. I’ve never liked Paul Burrell and have always believed he’s a two-faced hypocrite who should crawl under a rock to make friends with other parasites, but he’s done the next best thing; he’s moved to Florida.

The film started with us hearing about Paul’s journey from being Diana’s butler and her ‘rock’ to appearing as a reality star on American and British TV, producing two revelatory books about the princess and how he faced imprisonment in a high-profile trial for theft. Read more & comment »