Kishwar Desai | Kate’s new video captivates UK; ‘dynamic pricing’ for concerts too

The video was shot by an ad film maker — more specifically someone who had shot food commercials for TV. And advertisers know how to tell a story in two minutes and make it look good. Of course, anything royal goes down well but then it also provokes a debate. So ‘royal’ columnists got into the act debating whether this was “over the top” or “heartwarming” or a “cynical ploy”, etc.

There were others who commented too — mostly cancer survivors who were more down-to-earth. But all in all, it was good to see a family —whether royal or not royal — enjoy some carefree moments together after an enormous crisis.

Except, of course, famous stars of the stage and screen often have “rude remarks” to make about royalty. Sir Ian McKellen who has been acting for ages suddenly said that the late Queen was rude. This started a heavy debate. How dare he?

However, this was overshadowed by another debate on the late Queen. A statue was unveiled in Antrim castle in Northern Ireland. They already had a previous statue of Prince Philip. Then they added one of Queen Elizabeth II (it is the second anniversary of her passing away) with her favourite corgis playing at her feet. But, unfortunately, no one thinks it looks like her. Rather she looks just about as regal as an ordinary housewife with a scarf around her head going to the super market. And suddenly the insults piled on. The reality is that unless you can get a 3-D reproduced statue by AI (which no doubt is the future) each sculptor will interpret his subject differently — and we should let it be.

And another area to explore through AI or ChatGPT, especially for politicians, can be: How do they maintain their love affair with the public? Within a couple of months of the election, the popularity ratings of the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have gone from positive to negative. Being in government is good for the Party but it immediately invites much closer scrutiny by the Press and the journalists spare no effort at mocking the good and the great. So the Labour Party MPs are learning fast how to keep quiet and behave themselves.

On the other hand, some people do manage to improve on their popularity, but it usually is only after they are dead and gone. Sixty-one paintings of Vincent Van Gogh are now being exhibited at the National Gallery. “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” as the exhibition is called is said to be the most extensive display of his works — with many paintings appearing together for the first time. The tragedy of course is that the artist was not the recipient of any of these accolades during his lifetime. Yet, the world fell in love with his work, after him— and it is now being sold all over for many millions and is in the hands of a lucky few. Do catch the exhibition as it is also a chance to gaze upon “Sunflowers” on which the “Just Stop Oil” lobby had poured a can of soup. It is now protected by glass — so hopefully no one will attack it again.

While the best things in life may be — if not free, then at least affordable — as the exhibition at the National Gallery certainly is, you cannot say the same thing about pop concerts. Now tickets for pop concerts are ruled by “dynamic pricing”. This is when you think you are going to see your favourite pop star perform live for just £150. But just when you are queuing up, the price goes up. In the old days we called it “black marketing” when people would simply sell tickets for a higher price than announced, because demand outshot supply — but now, hey, it is “dynamic pricing”.

Recently this hit hard when the Gallagher brothers (who were great hits when Tony Blair had come to power 25 years back) and then had broken apart, decided to reunite and perform live again. The tickets went up to £325 even as the fans were lining up. So if you want attend any concert in London remember either to be an early bird — or wait till it is shown on OTT.