Anderson Cooper at the 35th annual luncheon for the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, held in Phoenix, Arizona. He’s among the announced celebrities who won’t be leaving his heirs great wealth. Photograph by Gage Skidmore.

To have and have not

October 19, 2021

Earlier this evening, a publicist sent me a pitch about a law professor’s take on the trend among the rich and famous, like CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, to leave their heirs with less rather than more — the idea being that children who inherit vast sums of money would be de-incentivized to get off their keisters and work for a living.

Beyond thoughts and prayers

October 28, 2018

After a month in which we have seen the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the terror of 14 pipe bombs sent to the Democratic leadership and CNN and the horror of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre, we are once again turned in on ourselves to ask – what kind of world are we, what kind of leadership of that world is America providing?

Fear strikes out

October 25, 2018

The attempt to send crude pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and liberal-leaning CNN Wednesday was shocking but hardly surprising. It is the inevitable progression of an American society unhinged by divisiveness and incivility. And, predictably, the aftermath has not brought people together but set them squabbling about whether or not President Donald J. Trump can be blamed; who’s more uncivil, Democrats or Republicans; and the continuing whataboutism that relitigates past grievances.

Local hero in love: Andy takes a bride

April 13, 2015

Andy Murray, the No. 3-ranked tennis player, wed longtime love, animal artist Kim Sears, April 11 in a ceremony that apparently had the feel of a small-town royal wedding.

Scores of Dunblane residents and reporters braved the Scottish weather (“oh, the wind and rain,” as the folk song goes) to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom – she resplendent in a Jenny Peckham gown with a sweetheart neckline and crystal-beaded bodice and half-sleeves (is there anything more flattering than half-sleeves?) that showed off her figure; he equally dandy in a blue and green kilt. (Male tennis players: To paraphrase another song, ZZ Top’s “Legs,” “They’ve got legs. They know how to use them.”)

The wedding – which took place in Dunblane Cathedral with a reception following at Cromlix House Hotel, which Andy owns – was in marked contrast to last summer’s seaside nuptials for Novak Djokovic and his longtime love, Jelena Ristic. That was a private affair in Montenegro with coverage appearing afterward exclusively in HELLO! magazine, which paid a pretty shilling for the rights. (The money went to the Novak Djokovic Foundation.)

Whereas Andy and Kim just let it rip, and so the day had the feel of a hometown party in which everyone could participate. ...

The new black (Hint: It isn’t orange)

November 2, 2014

I owe the inspiration for this post to my friend and WAG magazine colleague Ronni Diamondstein, a writer with superb taste in literature, as befits a former librarian.

Ronni, who has lived in and written about The Netherlands, recommended Jessie Burton’s new novel “The Miniaturist” (Ecco/Harper Collins, $26.99, 400 pages) – a book that I devoured one evening and that has made me despair of being a novelist as it is such a marvelous evocation of Holland in the 17th century. (Think Tracy Chevalier’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” only darker.) You can almost smell the tang of the water rising from the canals and the sea.

“The Miniaturist” is about a country girl with an old family name but little money who arrives in Amsterdam...