The Punch and Judy rules of domestic violence are always the same

SHE’S deaf in one ear and has some tongue on her.

You’d notice the second. You’d never notice the first. She has invested in the most expensively discreet hearing aid ever built. Not a sign of it to be spotted. But that’s only part of it.

She’s as glam as a catwalk celeb. Not quite famous enough to have designers presenting her with their clothes to wear for free, but famous enough, mainly on the business pages, where her reputation as a smart operator puts her now and again. In pictures only, though, not much in print. She doesn’t go out of her way to talk to media and her PR people have long since abandoned their guff about it being beneficial to her to be seen as a “more rounded person who shows her human side”. They’ve given up, partly as a result of her implacability, but also because they’re slightly afraid of her. The tongue, you know? When she decides to cut someone down to size, they end up like Danny de Vito.