NEWNHAM COLLEGE, Cambridge, the militant girls-only college that nurtured Germaine Greer, may open its doors to men at last. There is talk of a vote by students after pressure from activists who think that single-sex education is outdated. The vote comes after St Hilda’s, Oxford, voted this year to keep men at bay. Newnham was founded in 1871 “to promote academic excellence for women” at a time when other colleges did not accept female applicants.

Bigger than Jordan

JONNY WILKINSON is the hottest property in cyberspace. The search engine lycos.co.uk says that searches for the fresh-faced rugby genius outnumbered such pressing topics as “Prince Charles rumours” and “Jordan” last week, while an e-mailed video clip of him taking his top off is circumnavigating the globe at a rate of knots. “Not since Beckham have we seen a man so universally loved by both men and women,” said Alex Kovach, managing director of Lycos UK & Ireland.

Rival book launches provide food for thought

It was far from a meeting of the minds last night in one of New York’s flashiest restaurants.

In one corner of the Four Seasons was a party to celebrate the launch of a new book by Robert Rubin, the distinguished former US Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton.

In an adjoining room was Lord Black of Crossharbour, the current (but for how long?) owner of The Daily Telegraph, who was toasting his magnum opus on an earlier Democratic President, Franklin D Roosevelt.

Let’s hope that Black picked up a (free) copy of Rubin’s book, In an uncertain World: tough choices from Wall Street to Washington.

Rubin argues that the economic prosperity of the Clinton years has been unnecessarily squandered. Black’s growing number of detractors doubtless argue that he has done much the same to the Telegraph.

An unrepentant Black said at an earlier book signing in Toronto: “I have given a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘struggling author’.”

He can say that again.

Not satisfied with a knighthood and more than 40 international acting awards, what Sir Ian McKellen really wants is to play the pantomime dame Widow Twankey. The actor and gay rights campaigner told next month’s Reader’s Digest magazine: “It’s one of my few remaining ambitions.”

PS...

Gere, a devout Tibetan Buddhist, countered: “How can you not believe in the death penalty, but reserve that right for certain cases? I believe only God has the right to take life.”

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