Cathy Dobbs: Air fryers? Prepare for a lot of hot air from your friends

Instantly their face lights up as they tell you about their mini-oven that cooks the crispiest chips they’ve ever had. They can sauté vegetables and create delicious roasts, bacon and sausages – and did they mention how crispy the chips are? It hardly uses any oil and costs next to nothing, so it’s not surprising these must-haves for Christmas 2022 are soaring in price.

They are like the Labradoodle of 2022 – although an air fryer costs a lot less than a puppy and won’t chew your furniture. At least I don’t think air fryers chew furniture, according to friends they will do pretty much everything else. My advice though is, as with Labradoodles, wait until everyone has bought theirs and they come down in price. The thought of those crispy chips will give you something to look forward to in 2023.

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We all need something to look forward to especially if, like me, you are having to remortgage your property. The shock of seeing the extra hundreds that will be leaving your account every month is beyond sobering. It’s easy to hit out at the Government, but after being in charge for 12 years it’s clear that they don’t have the powers we thought they had.

It’s like the joke when someone new to government is surprised and dispirited to finally get their hands on the levers of power, only to discover they’re not connected to anything. They pull and push the levers all day long, and yet achieve nothing.

Do we expect too much from our MPs who behave more like frightened sheep, pushed into a corner by civil servants, the Bank of England and outspoken socialists? What we need is someone who doesn’t care a jot – like Elon Musk.

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Musk has proved he not only stands up to the bullies, but he is actually amused by their anger and outrage. Take his recent Tweet about the piles of T-shirts he’s discovered in a cupboard at Twitter HQ, which had been left behind by the previous employees.

The T-shirts had the slogan #StayWoke, which won’t surprise anyone who’s been on Twitter in the last few years.

As one of the world’s richest people, it’s good to see he isn’t joining in the virtue-signalling contest that celebrities and socialites take part in. Instead, he came up with his own hashtag for a T-shirt #Stay@Work.

With a focus on hard work instead of petty political censoring, Musk will make Twitter a huge success.

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Why couldn’t we have had the World Cup in January? The build-up to Christmas should be about writing cards while watching It’s A Wonderful Life/Elf/Miracle on 34th Street etc. Couldn’t we have filled the dark and dull month of January with football instead?

Yep, football and crispy chips would have made January a lot more bearable.