Hit & Run: A Marr, superstar?

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According to the advertisements for his latest book, The Making of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr is "Britain's favourite broadcaster". Marr may indeed be the favourite broadcaster of Britain's media and middle classes, though messrs Paxman, Dimbleby or Davies – Evan, not Alan – might have something to say about it. Surely, however, the BBC's former political editor can't lay serious claim to the title of most popular man on the box when the two big programmes he presents go out at 9am on a Sunday (The Andrew Marr Show, BBC1), when nobody but the cabinet minister being interviewed and a couple of their aides is even awake; and 9am on a Monday (Start the Week, Radio 4), when most of us are out of earshot on a tube somewhere, glazedly wondering where the weekend went.

Think of the other contenders: Jonathan Ross may have made one too many boobs for comfort, but Bruce Forsyth is still going strong. And Adrian Chiles, the corporation's coming man, must be poised to topple Marr from his perch with the forthcoming Ten Show (like The One Show, but at 10). For a brief moment there, the name on everyone's lips was Robert Peston, though you can only be so popular if you're always bringing bad news.

Of course there's always the incorrigible Jeremy Clarkson; Top Gear's soaraway US success might allow him to call himself one of the world's favourite broadcasters, let alone Britain's. Hit & Run suspects, mind you, that Clarkson is the public's "most watched" broadcaster rather than strictly speaking its "favourite". And anyway, if we're going solely on viewer numbers, then right now "Britain's favourite broadcaster" is Dermot O'Leary. And that's just ridiculous.

Tim Walker

The thigh's the limit

Thigh highs. V boots. OTKs. Call them what you will, but boots that reach the parts that other footwear cannot (that V doesn't stand for Victoria, you know) seem to have made the transition from catwalk to town centre far quicker than the average designer look. Everywhere you look there seems to be flocks of females sporting shoes that come (almost) up to their armpits. From stretchy suede flats to stiletto-heeled sky highs, there's nary a knee in sight right now.

To some extent, it's easy to see why this trend has, ahem, legs. OTKs turn a dull outfit into a fashion-forward ensemble and keep you warm into the bargain. However, after extensive analysis (walking down the local high street, looking in shops, reading Grazia from cover to cover), it's clear that very few normal folk can make this look work. The majority fall in to three camps, looking like either an angler sporting waders; a principal boy waiting for panto season to start or a lady of the night – a fisherman's friend, if you will. All strong statements in their own way, of course, but not so great if you just wanted to look hip.

Rebecca Armstrong

The mouse for every house

Hot on the heels of bumper quarterly earnings, Apple is launching a handful of new products for the faithful. Among the goodies is the world's first multi-touch mouse. And, as a confessed Apple evangelical, I can't wait to get my hands on one.

It's called the Magic Mouse (£55) and is one clever rodent. Its entire surface is touch sensitive (first seen on the iPhone), making buttons and balls redundant. Users can navigate using finger gestures to scroll through documents, pan across images, or swipe through web pages or photos.

The Magic Mouse replaces the Mighty Mouse, which I for one found less than mighty. It picked up dirt and dust, rolling them into the mouse and jamming the trackball. Mine's seized up yet again, so I'll be ditching the clammy palm pointer and heading to my high street temple – the Apple Store.

Jamie Merrill