Never too late The north wind doth blow

MEGHAN MARKLE famously asked Kate Middleton to lend her some lip gloss, which we now know the Duchess of Cambridge was reluctant to hand over.

This wasn’t on a par with borrowing someone’s toothbrush, but there’s no denying that lip gloss is rather personal, even between sisters ­ inlaw.

range from the cheap and cheerful to the frankly over­expensive.

Or do what YouTube influencer Charles Gross suggests and use olive oil instead.

According to Gross, any type will do as olive oil is a natural moisturiser and commonly found in skincare products.

two years performed better than a control group on certain cognitive tasks.

A no ­ longer young beginner will probably be happier attending a gentle yoga class, although further options ­ depending on their physical limitations ­ include chair yoga, restorative yoga and Hatha, all of which focus on slow, controlled movements. Not that yoga is a cure ­ all for ageing. People lose muscle, their tendons toughen as they get older and health professionals recommend practising other types of strength training at the same time as yoga.

Meanwhile, instructors and instructed both maintain that yoga is more than physical postures as it addresses the mind, the spirit and the emotions at any age.

And there’s no denying that Spain’s currently icy weather coupled with the effects of a gas ‘estufa’ or a log ­ burner means that everybody, royal or not, has sore lips.

Rather than slathering on lip gloss, most of us are turning to heavy ­ duty balm that’s formulated to prevent chapping, flaking, cracking and even bleeding in the very worst cases.

Forget the agreeable sensation of applying a light satiny gloss and use instead the less glamorous tubes and sticks that can

Those who tried it found that their lips initially felt soft and nourished but soon noticed that the oil was absorbed quite rapidly, leaving the skin feeling quite dry. Subsequent applications produced the same sensation, they said.

The suggested solution of adding Vaseline a few minutes after applying the olive oil got better results, but the experience was not regarded as overwhelmingly pleasant. This got results, but it was generally agreed that it was more bother than it was worth and the best place for olive oil was the kitchen.

Sally Underwood Political Animal

LAST week Matt Hancock was filmed being pushed and harassed by an angry member of the public.

Now while I think most people would probably admit to having some fairly dark thoughts about politicians some days, very few would agree that this behaviour came anywhere near to being acceptable.

Apart from anything else, by resorting to violence, Geza Tarjanyi, the man who shoved Hancock at a tube station, he ended up inciting sympathy for the former health secretary; something which he surely can’t have been trying to achieve.

Engaging in debate in some sort of meaningful way at a local event might have been a better way to go if what Tarjanyi really wanted was a chance of in some way holding Hancock to account.

When I first worked in parliament, I shared an office with a Liberal Democrat lord whose researcher had died saving him from a knife attacker.

Later, in the Commons, I worked in the office next to an MP who still had scars on his hands from when a woman