What’s wrong with people? I don’t mean ordinary people. I mean the superpeople. The excessively talented, the wildly successful, the world-famous, the widely adored, the wealthy beyond measure. Take Cristiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams and Taylor Swift, a triumphant trio for the ages. Each is blessed with the two things you need to reach the top: huge talent coupled with a ferocious work ethic. There’s an awful lot to love – if only they didn’t seem to love themselves quite so much.

Swift’s talent and generosity are as awesome as the wealth they’ve generated for her. Why, in a Disney docuseries about her huge Eras tour, we saw her distributing envelopes to emotional crew members, sharing out some of the profits. Wonderful! Who does that? On the other hand, who has themselves filmed doing that?

And now she’s married, which is wonderful, too. Millions shared her joy. But was it necessary to book for the purpose one of the world’s most celebrated venues, bringing New York City to a standstill? At the moment the deed was done, in the manner of smoke puffing out of the Vatican chimney, the billboards at Madison Square Garden flashed up the glad tidings for the world to see.

I was famous once, and I’m quite sure I let my ego race ahead of any talent I had and became insufferable. But even in my prime – if that’s the right word for it – had I happened to get married, it would not have occurred to me to book out the Crystal Leisure Centre in Stourbridge and flash the happy tidings up on big screens for the interest of bewildered........

© The Guardian