Hallo Readers,
It is not every day that your accounts come up short by £2.5 bn. This week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves found herself in that unenviable position. Over 100 Labour backbenchers had been prepared to scupper the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill unless Ministers would agree to withdraw the clause which cut personal independence payments (PIPs). The Government’s own analysis had shown that as a result, 150,000 people would be left in relative poverty, but Starmer rejected his backbenchers’ concerns as ‘noises off’. Until the PIPsqueaks started squeaking louder and louder. At which point, on Tuesday night – well past the eleventh hour- the Government were forced into a humiliating climbdown – yes, another one. First, winter fuel. Then the national enquiry into paedophile grooming gangs. And now this. It was hardly a happy first anniversary of Labour coming into office. The traditional gift for a first anniversary is paper but his backbenchers handed him his arse in a roadmap and told him where to go.
Wednesday was Prime Minister’s Question Time. Starmer, although as wooden as Pinocchio (and starting to emulate his mendacity), usually despatches the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, with aplomb. Which shows how bad she is. Starmer used to ply his trade as a criminal barrister. How juries managed to stay sufficiently awake to deliver a verdict is as much of a mystery as what happened to Shergar. But this week, Badenoch landed a fair few blows, which Starmer fended off with his usual replies – ‘Who broke the economy? They (the Tories) broke it! They broke it like the NHS!!! They left a £22 bn deficit!! !Yah boo sucks!!!! My dad is bigger than your dad!!!’. Undeterred, Badenoch asked him whether he could guarantee no tax rises in the next Budget. He did not answer. She pointed out that the Chancellor, sitting next to Starmer on the Front Bench, looked miserable (she really did) because she knew she was ‘toast’. Would she be in post at the end of the 5 year term? Starmer pointedly did not answer. He did not seem to notice that Reeves was clearly in tears. Sky News’s Sam Coates later described Reeves as ‘holding in sobs and wiping away tears’. Did Starmer even care? At the end of an awful half hour, it was left to Reeves’ sister Ellie (also an MP) to comfort her by taking her hand as they left the Chamber. For a man who claims to care about people, Starmer mirrored his new mate Donald Trump in his lack of empathy and his willingness to throw his supporters under the bus. It was only after hours of uproar that he told the BBC (in a long-planned interview) that of course she had his support and of course she was going nowhere. Which presumably means that she is, but not quite yet. But even if she does cling on, and he does not succeed in prising her fingernails off the window ledge, it was a very poor display by her boss. For shame.
Of course we do not know why the Chancellor was crying. She had just had a blowup with the Speaker and was heard to tell him that she was ‘under so much pressure’. Was it fear for her job? Was it a personal matter (as she now maintains)? Was it illness? No doubt, some blokes out there are crowing about it being ‘her time of the month’. Women do cry. So do men. They are human. But the markets fell and they only rallied after Starmer stepped in – belatedly- to support her. Because women are apparently not allowed to be upset in public. For any reason. Well, to hell with that. WTF is less interested in whether she cried – or even why she cried- and a lot more interested in how she is going to plug the gap without putting up taxes. Which is what they should have done in the first place.
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We start our review of the week’s fashion frights at the Serpentine Summer Party in Hyde Park where we find fashion designer Conner Ives. Brace yourselves.
What a silly little man. He is wearing a jacket, wing collar and bow tie over bicycle shorts and hideous maroon socks last seen on Aston Villa footballers.
Next up, another designer at the same gig, Dilara Fiudokoglu, presumably wearing something of her own creation.
No, sorry, WTF is not having it. Like a tattooed navvy in swaddling clothes…..
And here is fine actor Cate Blanchett, who is never less than brilliant in anything she appears in, but who is sometimes less than brilliant in her sartorial choices. Like this one, designed by the aforesaid Dilara Fiudokoglu.
There was probably a good reason why Cate chose to leave home resembling a barnacled boat. Unfortunately, however, WTF is at a loss to know what is was.
And now to New York, where young actor Luna Blaise was walking about in this bizarre ensemble.
Had she just come from the hairdressers but forgotten to remove her gown? #baffled.
We are now in London for the press night of the musical Evita at the London Palladium, where we find actor Sarah Paulson wearing Nackiyé.
This is not so much Nackiyé as knackered. The lovely Sarah is dressed as World War 1 nurse Edith Cavell. (She was shot by the Germans for espionage and you can see a statue of her outside the National Portrait Gallery near Trafalgar Square).
And now to the wedding of the century until the next wedding of the century and the biggest wedding of the century since the last one, which was probably George and Amal Clooney in 2014. WTF speaks of the nuptials of zillionaire Jeff Bezos and his fragrant bride, Lauren Sánchez. Both had been married before and were in fact already man and wife by the time they, and a bunch of so-called celebritees, descended on Venice for a three-day bonanza that appalled the citizens of that gorgeous place and anyone else with taste and a pair of half-functioning eyeballs. The whole thing cost about $50m (which is, admittedly, small change for the groom) and was a watery monument to vulgarity and excess – so much so that it is also this week’s It’s Got To Go. I mean, FFS! He is 61 with a head like a baked potato. She is 55 with a face and body that have seen considerable interference with the workings of nature and composed largely of man-made materials. Despite being a very smart woman, she looks like an inflatable sex doll who omits no opportunity to flash her boobs, including at the Presidential Inauguration on 20 January this year. In short, he is ghastly. She is ghastly. The guests were ghastly. The whole thing was ghastly. Ghastly.
For example, this is fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and his wife, Dee Ocleppo, who is also a designer.
Tommy is a Joe E Brown lookalikey (Oscar from Some Like it Hot) while his wife seems to have lost her luggage and compensated by wrapping herself in the hotel shower curtain, displaying an excessive amount of thigh and red fuck-me shoes.
Almost the whole Kardashian clan was in attendance, including Momager Kris Jenner with her new $100,000 facelift and daughters Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie. Here is Kim arriving in Venice wearing a Balenciaga tit bandage and matching skirt and very pointy snakeskin bootees by Amina Muaddi.
Why are these women tottering around in a boiling hot Venice, known for its cobbles, in this ludicrous footwear? And why has she borrowed Boris Johnson’s Covid facemask?
And here they are, Lord Byron and Teresa Guiccioli heading for their $400,000,000 yacht. This sad picture goes to show that however many monkey glands you ingest and however much silicone you have injected into you, there are still bits and bobs which defy even the most proficient plastic surgeons. Like your legs and your knees.
Kninckles. And badly applied fake tan wth foot blotch. Yurgle.
And more formally, here is the new Mrs Bezos in Schiaparelli.
The dress is gorgeous, but not on her. It is designed for someone with smaller tits and more class. Whereas tits are Lauren’s whole raison d’être, spilling over the pelmet like an over-excited ice-cream cone.
The whole effect was eerily remisicent of Fraülein Maria cutting up the curtains in The Sound of Music.
And now, to the winner of the Summer Stinker 2025. It is….
Lisa Rinna! The actor and former Real Housewife of Beverley Hills edged into an early lead and won with 10.67% of the vote with singer Harry Styles and actor Dascha Polanco tying in second with 9.33%. As for Lisa, the combination of hair, spotty top and creased skirt made her a worthy winner.
Ok Readers, that’s your lot for this week. Please keep sending in your top suggestions for It’s Got to Go as well as your comments, which WTF much enjoys. Not just that, but she gets upset if she does not get them. Don’t let that happen! You can follow her on @wtffashionshark.bsky.social. Let us meet again next Friday. Be good x
