Esther McCarthy: I think I might have a crush on Bill Nighy — I’m leaning in to it

I’m sure you’ll all have your words you’d like banished, a lot of people seem to have a problem with ‘moist’ but let me tell you, since Vagifem has become part of my bedtime routine, moist is alright by me

Bill Nighy attending the special screening of Ride or Die, at the Ham Hotel in Soho, central London. Picture: Ian West/PA Wire.

Bill Nighy — 76 years of unimpeachable cool, a man who can say more with a slightly arched brow than most of us could in a lifetime — has taken to Instagram to banish words from the English language. I just happened across it, and now I am obsessed. I’m so easily distracted these days, like Homer Simpson chasing a dog with a pouffy tail. “Heeheehee! Here, pouff!”

This week’s casualties on Bill’s stiff cue card are “lean in,” “fur baby,” “simps,” “babe” and “gimp”. He is seeing these for the first time, he reminds us, as he reads them out and passes his decree, so they must be suggested by followers. It’s very off the cuff and unrehearsed. He delivers each verdict with the weary disdain of a man who has seen too much.