Theatre: I recently went to see a reading of a new play called 'Coalition'. It was a political satire about the present coalition government. Written by Tom Salinsky and Robert Khan, it was witty, fast moving and hugely enjoyable. It started me wondering about the nature of great satirical comedy. I immediately thought of 'The Thick of It' and 'Yes Minister' and realised that one of the features of both is the paradoxical ability to be specific and non-specific at the same time. Subliminally one is constantly aware of contemporary resonances, but the resonances are never specific enough to give history the chance to overtake the comedy and render it redundant. That was my one reservation about 'Coalition'. It was so particularly about Clegg's Lib Dems that there is a danger that history will creep up and date it overnight. I hope not, because it was a terrific script.

Icap, the inter-dealer broker, attracted a host of celebrities to its annual charity day yesterday, with all revenues donated to charity.

Christmas books of the year

August is the cruellest month, for gossip columnists at least. Little gets “launched”, “premieres”are postponed and story-barrels are well and truly scraped.

Shoplifting! Nudity! Drugs! Banned from the US! A boyfriend who punched a monkey on TV! A husband she met while he was in prison... Just how 'bashful' are you, Béatrice? Robert Chalmers meets the divine Ms Dalle

In these days of spring and romance, it is reasonable to imagine Cupid can fire his arrow almost anywhere. Yet it is hard to imagine a place less imbued with matters of the heart than the smudgy black-and-white grid of a newspaper crossword, even if it is the Washington Post.

See it first

If you have a particular fetish for Rupert Everett in drag, or, more feasibly, for leggy twentysomethings in skimpy school uniforms, you may be tempted by St Trinian's 2.

Nearly 200 years after Byron's death, writers and dramatists are still in his thrall. Benjamin Markovitz's recent novel, A Quiet Adjustment, recreated the poet's brief marriage to Anabella Milbanke. Then last year came Rupert Everett's flirtatious televised homage, involving dressing up and stripping down. Edna O'Brien, a writer naturally drawn to matters romantic, says that her own interest was first whetted by a remark of Lady Blessington that he was "the most extraordinary and terrifying person [she had] ever met." That, and the fact that she likes the idea of "writers writing about other artists."

The Sun and The News of the World were forced to pay the actress Sienna Miller damages yesterday for publishing nude photographs taken against her will during the filming of a movie.

Tomorrow The Independent is to turn RED, and half of all the revenues from that day's newspaper will be donated to fighting Aids in Africa. The paper will be edited by the U2 frontman and activist Bono, who, along with the leading American philanthropist Bobby Shriver set up the Product RED partnership.

Rupert Everett is rich, handsome and best mates with the stars. But, as Liz Hoggard discovers, he's also unguarded and engaging on everything from toe nails to Tony Blair.

"Forget everything modern and trendy. You need to be a terrific snob and have a plummy voice, otherwise it simply doesn't work. To get the performance right, you have to model yourself on fictional characters - read Wodehouse and watch John Gielgud's performance in Arthur, it's perfection. Like these examples, you need precisely the right blend of unctuousness and contempt - but only offering your opinion on your employer's behaviour if asked. Remember that a good butler must always be ready with an apparently spontaneous epigram, preferably a dry one.