...and so have Halle, and Tom, and Liza and Liam.

MOVE over sundried tomatoes - fish and chips rule OK. Just when you thought our national dish had been ousted by chicken tikka masala and other foreign interlopers, it's undergoing a resurgence, helped by some very famous people.

When Britney Spears stayed in a posh London hotel recently, she ignored their highly rated restaurant and sent out instead for fish and chips for her and all her hangers-on. Bet the hotel was really pleased about that - especially trying to get rid of the smell of vinegar.

Liza Minnelli and Oscar winner Halle Berry are said to be fans too.

Maybe they're just trying to toady up to us - rather as Tony Blair does by claiming it's his favourite food. A likely tale. Some go too far. I was at a cricket dinner once when guest of honour, umpire Dickie Bird, ignored the offered meal the rest of us were having and asked for fish and chips instead.

But there are times when fish and chips is the food of the gods. Unlike junk food, it's actually a fairly well-balanced and nutritious meal and sometimes - and not just at cricket dinners - it's the only food that will do. Maybe they're designed to go with the climate. Something about cold rain and sea mist that cries out for fish and fat.

Some very wealthy friends once invited us for a meal between Christmas and New Year. The table was set with gleaming crystal and the family silver and there was a slight delay between the starter and the main course - because they'd gone out to get the chips in. Brilliant. We were stuffed to the gunnels with turkey, ham, pork and other festive fare so cod and chips were a real treat for jaded palates.

It's good to see that the superstars have caught up with us. Liam Neeson and Tom Cruise are said to be fans too.

So next time you queue at the chippie for your fish supper, be proud - for once, top Hollywood stars want to be just like you.

WOMEN take 21 minutes to get ready, says a new report. Very likely... But how long does it take them to get everyone else ready?

For every woman who can recline gracefully drying her nails with all the time in the world, there's another harassed soul emerging pink and dripping from the shower to find someone else's clean shirt or socks.

And there's that age old dilemma of whether you get the children ready first and risk them getting filthy again before you go out. Or get them ready last and risk them doing something unspeakable over your clean clothes.

There are other hazards...

When Smaller Son was a very new baby, my first job a few weeks after his birth was to cover a posh fashion show. I managed to squeeze myself into something vaguely silky and respectable, fed and changed baby and tucked him into his cot, clipped on my dangly ear-rings and went off to work feeling very nervous.

It was very strange to be back in the world of grown-ups, especially such sophisticated grown-ups. But everyone was very nice and seemed to be going out of their way to be kind and helpful to me.

When I got home I discovered why. Getting the baby ready, I'd automatically clipped a spare nappy pin to my posh silk shirt and then hadn't noticed. Seeing it, those who realised I was a new mother were being pityingly kind to me.

The rest presumably thought I was some avant garde punk and were lost in admiration of my daring jewellery.

ART critics, who know what they're talking about, and snobs, who pretend to, are united in their dislike of the new portrait of Neil and Glenys Kinnock. Something about their shiny shoes and their collection of tea pots that is, apparently, terribly naff.

Well maybe. But I liked it. Surely the whole point of a portrait is to give you an idea of the person and that's just what artist Andrew Tift has done by setting them in the midst of their possessions. There's something rather endearing about it.

But if the critics think that the Kinnocks' tea pots are naff, I dread to think what they'd make of my collection of plastic snow-shakers. Just as well I'm not planning to get my portrait painted

FRANK the Cambridge cat with the website monitoring his recovery from a road accident, has had more than two million internet visitors checking on how he's getting on.

Two million... who would have thought there were so many people in the world with nothing better to do?

SO men who stay at home all day cooking, cleaning and looking after small children are more likely to get heart attacks, says new research.

Strange, isn't it, that no one realised how stressful it was looking after children, until the men started to do it?

Published: 01/05/2002