The world’s most pampered, self-entitled victims will feature in a two-hour primetime special, airing on Monday night, where they will “speak their truth” to Oprah Winfrey.Honestly, you’ll see far more depth, self-awareness and intelligence watching the vacant dolts on Married At First Sight than the formerly royal couple. Since splitting from the Royal Family more than a year ago, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have done little more than one exclusive interview after another.Megxit was supposed to free the couple from media intrusion but it’s clear that they not only need the media’s interest, but they crave and actively seek it. Only last week we saw Prince Harry — who has quickly gone from the most popular, relatable royal to the most derided — make a clown of himself with late night TV comic James Corden.As his grandfather lay ill in hospital, Harry was singing The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song and swanning around Los Angeles on an open-top bus. Say what you will about Prince Philip but he did not retire from royal duties until he was 96 years old, and he understood the meaning of public service.But Harry and Meghan want all the fame, fortune and adulation that comes from their privileged positions without the tedious duty. They are the very personification of “having your cake and eating it too”. The pair said they had to flee the UK to escape the media but after a brief sojourn in a sleepy corner of Canada they set up house in a $20m-plus mansion in Santa Barbara, in an area favoured by some of the biggest stars in the world.Far from being scared of media intrusion, they regularly invite an increasingly disinterested public to peer into their lives and their “pain”. What they don’t want is any form of criticism. And, when criticism, much of it well deserved, comes their way they blame “racism”, the media or The Palace.The latest storm sees Meghan accused of bullying multiple staff members, so much so that some resigned. Indeed Meghan lost no fewer than nine staff in just 18 months with the Duchess accused of reducing her underlings to tears on a number of occasions.As Buckingham Palace launched an investigation into the bullying claims the couple again played victim claiming sinister forces at “the firm” are pushing a false narrative.Reportedly, some of the angst between Meghan and her staff concerned the former actor’ desire to keep free designer garments sent to her. How perfectly vacuous.DAN KARDASHIANVictorian taxpayers are funding Premier Dan Andrews’ vanity project with almost $800,000 spent on Facebook alone. What possible justification is there for public money being squandered on boosting Facebook “likes” for the Dan Andrews’ page? Does the Victorian premier have ambitions of being an Australian Kardashian?A cursory glance at the Dan Andrews page, which has 960,000 “likes” or “follows”, shows pictures of him with his children, a selection of waterfalls, plenty of political messaging and an update about a lost dog. Not a single cent of public money should be spent on this indulgence, let alone $770,000 since 2014.This isn’t an official government or departmental account used for disseminating public health messages but a Dan Andrews branded page designed to boost his presence and popularity on Facebook. No doubt there’s also been public expenditure on Andrews’ other social media platforms and none of it is justifiable.If the premier wants to buy “likes”, then the Labor Party should be footing the bill, not Victorian taxpayers who are already funding the salaries of Andrews’ social media team. Compare Andrews’ social media presence with the Premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian, who was well ahead of the pack in re-opening her state and managed to keep her citizens safe while taking the majority of overseas arrivals including many Victorians and Queenslanders who could not quarantine in their home state.Right now NSW is taking just over 3,000 overseas arrivals a week, more than the rest of the country combined. Meanwhile, Victoria’s program is suspended again after the latest hotel quarantine mishap. NSW has a COVID-19 death rate of just seven per million of population, compared with around 130 deaths per million for Victoria.But never mind, Andrews has way more Facebook likes with Berejiklian on just 90,000. Get with the program, Gladys. During the pandemic Andrews’ Facebook page has seen a massive jump in likes/followers compared to other Australian politicians.One wonders why Andrews needs to spend taxpayer funds to spread propaganda on social media when so many of his foot soldiers in the mainstream media do it for free. Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun [email protected]@RitaPanahi 



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