Of a Murdoch divorce of the junk mail kind

It seems that while we were not looking - or following at least News Corp-owned media outlets - Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall were married. Hall - perhaps most famous for being the model that the far-younger bloke than Rupert, Mick Jagger, was married to for 21 years through the 1980s- 90s - it now turns out, reportedly received her husband's decision to divorce her via email.

Not quite 'talaq, talaq, talaq' by instant messaging but equally ethereal, and in bad form. Talking about bad form, the 92-year-old investor and media proprietor called off his engagement with fifth wife- to-be, former Christian conservative radio host Ann Lesley Smith.

The reason for calling off his marriage with Hall was 'I have much to do'. This, in our book, is far pithier than the reason he called off his latest engagement - allegedly because the chairman of Fox News grew uncomfortable with his fiancee's extreme evangelical religious views.It is a man's - and, indeed, a woman's - business why they choose to get hitched or unhitched.


But the least one can do is take either decision without being a full-blown crud. Perhaps things would have been even more unfortunate if Hall had received her 'termination' mail last year and it had gone to her spam folder. In fact, for friends of Hall - which Jagger still remains - a quick mail was a blessing in disguise.