Marlene Dietrich could make movies, but not new friends Gosh, I thought, if I ever get to that age, I'll make sure that all my friends are not dead. Yet when you go through your address book around this time of the year, inevitably there is a symbol of departure against ever more names. Still, I have kept a resolution that I made to myself a few years ago: to try to make new friends each year. And that has been a truly rewarding endeavour. I have indeed made new friends each year, and even more happily, I have rediscovered dear old friends with whom I had lost touch. I am terribly pleased, nowadays, to be invited to old school reunions - I've long been forgiven for being expelled from convent school at 16 - and delighted to hear from the friends of my youth who now have so much to recount about the course of their lives. The great thing about friendship in Bus Pass Land is that there is more equality, less jostling for social position, and no competition for men - though I'm glad to note that there are one or two of my peers who can still pull. I wish I could go back and tell La Dietrich that she could have made new pals, even if Hemingway, Cocteau and Gary Cooper were irreplaceable. When she grew very old, she was indeed extremely lonely, and even poor. One of the nicest things I ever read about Ronald Reagan was that the last phone call he made, before leaving the White House in 1989, was to Marlene, alone in her Paris apartment. What a sweet guy. Ireland has been somewhat harshly portrayed over the abortion question - as though it were some cruel, medieval state which has no care for women's health. Both the EU and the UN have lambasted the Irish for having no abortion provision in their hospitals, and the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar - who contracted septicaemia during a miscarriage - is globally described as a Catholic country's denial of a medical termination. In truth, we do not know whether a termination of her pregnancy would have saved Mrs Halappanavar's life, but there certainly has been pressure - rightly - to clarify the situation legally so that should it arise again, doctors may perform an abortion. And the national conversation about introducing an abortion law in Ireland has been, in my view, thoughtful, compassionate, serious and knowledgeable. Ireland has a good record of maternal health and low maternal mortality and there's been a strong emphasis on maintaining that. Abortion is always a difficult topic and people often get distressed in debating it: but it's right that it should be debated, especially at a time when there is so much scientific development of embryology. It may be about a woman's life and choices, but it is also the ultimate Hamlet question: "To be, or not to be"? I've had a crush on Rupert Everett ever since I saw him in My Best Friend's Wedding, and I'm willing to pay serious money to see him in the play The Judas Kiss. But the West End theatre system is becoming like Ryanair: ever more add-on charges accrue. Ordering my tickets yesterday, I was informed I could pay £2.75 to have them sent by post, or £1.50 at the box office to have them printed. There is no option: the tickets must be printed. The gorgeous Rupert will just have to be worth it.