Opinion Matrix: Sussex Royal row rumbles on...and on

In his column Robert Hardman says Harry and Meghan are being peevish and tin-eared and asks just who is advising them?

He said: "The latest pique-filled statement on the sussexroyal.com website is enough to test the patience of the most sympathetic observers.

"Yes, it must be extremely irksome to spend a great deal of time and money creating a new brand for yourself and registering a plethora of trademarks, only to be told that it's all a non-starter.

"Yes, the Sussexes may well feel there is one set of rules for those still inside the royal compound and another for them.

"Yet the couple have only themselves to blame, not that they seem willing to acknowledge that.

The Daily Express

In his column Leo McKinstry says the Sussexes must calm down while there is still time.

He said: "When they married in May 2018, there was tremendous affection towards them. Far from serving as an agent of racism, Meghan’s bi-racial background was welcomed as an emblem of a changing, modern, diverse Britain.

"I wrote that “a mood of profound humanity enveloped the wedding, infused with inclusivity and generosity”

"Yet the Sussexes have now squandered most of that goodwill. They had a golden opportunity to strengthen the monarchy, but instead they leave behind a legacy of hostility and division.

"What is particularly sad is the dramatic transformation in Prince Harry. The fun-loving, warm-hearted, heroic soldier is now the dreary social justice warrior, his rascally charm supplanted by introspection.

"Just as disturbingly, the couple’s hopes of global influence and riches could all be self- delusion. Beyond their crumbling Royal associations, they may not have much to offer.

"There is no crisis for the monarchy. With the Queen at the helm and the line of succession secure, the throne’s future is safe. The real crisis could be faced by Meghan and Harry if they cannot overcome their bitterness to their family."

The Guardian

Nesrine Malik says in her column says that immigrants built Britain, but now their Conservative children are disowning them.

She said: "There are few people who have done more work for recent Conservative immigration policy while not actually being in government than Sajid Javid’s father. In fact, he’s doing two jobs at once. The first is to advertise that the Tories are now the party of social mobility: Javid senior was a bus driver. The second is to be invoked constantly as a defence against charges of Conservative racism and Islamophobia – as a Muslim man, born in Pakistan, who migrated to the UK in the 1960s.

"Once this brownwashing is complete, Javid senior plays one final role, with a biblical twist – he is to then be denied by his own son. The route that brought him here – paving the way to his son’s spectacular rise through the City and the government – has been blocked. Under new migration policies, Javid senior would not have been allowed in.

"When Javid was asked, in 2018, if he was sad about supporting laws that would have barred his own father, he replied that he was “very optimistic about our future because … we will remain the global-outlook nation that welcomes people from across the world.” Just not people like his father. Last week Priti Patel was a little more blunt when she conceded that her parents, Indians from east Africa, would no longer be welcome. “This is the point,” she said. “We are changing our immigration policy to one that’s fit for purpose for our economy, based on skills.”

The Scotsman

Its editorial looks at budget cuts and the impact on child poverty.

The paper said: "For more than a decade, the party [SNP] preferred to cut services rather than allow local authorities to increase council tax. One doesn't have to be an expert in the field of child poverty to see how government rhetoric on the matter has been desperately undermined by the reality of local authority funding.

"A realistic debate on properly tackling child poverty must have room for debate about income tax rates and about current government priorities."