Chris Noth-owned Saturday Night Live hangout The Cutting Room will close on January 13th because of rent hikes, though it may re-open in another location at some point. [P6] If you're hanging out in Chelsea or Times Square on New Year's Eve, P. Diddy (and Ciroc Vodka) will pay for your cab home. [NYDN] Actress Zooey Deschanel ...

Sir: Toby Young ('Status Anxiety', 29 November) tells of his daughter's present to him of a swear box. She has set an important precedent that deserves maximum support. Let there be such boxes in school classrooms and their considerable contents serve to foster educational projects. Police should be armed with them and empowered to extract on-thespot fines from football ...

THE SOUND OF NO HANDS CLAPPING by Toby Young Abacus,

'Why do your tales of degradation and humiliation make you so popular?' a fellow drinker at Moe's Bar asks Homer Simpson. Homer replies, 'I dunno, they just do.' The toper would have been wiser to have addressed the question to Toby Young. No writer in Christendom has made a ...

Sir: Poor old Toby Young ('My interview from hell with Lynn Barber', 2 September)! It must be appalling to be tipped over the edge by such a rapier thrust as 'If your wife was kidnapped, would you pay the ransom?' I really don't know how important people cope with her. But at least it must have been some consolation ...