MY Auntie Mary’s serving hatch was the height of sophistication. Or at least it was to the seven-year-old me.

She was a neighbour who picked me up from school. We watched General Hospital together, (she was in love with Adam Chance), and I marvelled at the splendid decor of her home. As well as the serving hatch, she had a beige trimhone - much nicer than our plain black rented ‘phone - which sat on its own little table, seat attached, with a wooden money box bearing a pithy verse...“Pay for your call, it keeps the bill small”.

And in her bathroom was a fluffy blue rug around the toilet base, with a matching cushion on top of the seat. It goes without saying that this was a house of the Seventies, and I thought it was fabulous.

Now I think: Why was it ever a good idea to wrap a bit of tatty fabric around the bottom of a toilet?

Not surprisingly, the loo rug has been named the biggest interior design crime of the last 50 years. It tops the list of the worst interior trends in Britain, based on a Samsung survey of 2,000 people and a panel of home design experts. Other ‘crimes’ include rag rolled walls, tribal carvings, ‘inspirational quote art’, round beds, living-room bars, professional family portraits, stone cladding, wallpaper borders and shabby chic. One of the judges, Daniel Hopwood, president of the British Institute of Interior Design, blames TV shows like Changing Rooms for popularising “tacky” trends such as the feature wall - or, as he calls it, the “wall of fear”.

I agree - Changing Rooms has a lot to answer for. Inspired by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s floral wall stencilling, I once attempted to stencil a trail of ivy creeping up my bedroom wall. It looked like the hastily put-together set of a school play...hardly the bohemian boudoir ambience I was aiming for.

According to the survey, the 1970s was the dodgiest decade for interiors, following by the ‘80s. But some of today’s trends are naff too, not least the flatscreen TV on the wall which I think strips a room of its soul.

The design crimes top five includes invisible technology; a device Hopwood endorsed for concealing a television set. He advised covering the TV wall in a dark wallpaper to hide it. Now you can get TVs which blend with the wall - a trend that already looks dated. I’d rather have Hilda Ogden’s mural on my living-room wall than a huge flat TV screen failing to look invisible.

Interior decor is a fickle beast. Today’s invisible technology is tomorrow’s fluffy toilet rug...

* SHE’S been labelled the ‘cost-for-wear’ poster girl and, although her average designer outfit is worth more than a week’s wages for many folk, the Duchess of Cambridge does appear to be a champion for clothes recycling. She was seen in the same maternity wear during all three of her pregnancies and often repeats outfits for Royal engagements. Even the suit she wore for Harry and Meghan’s wedding was said to be one she’d worn before.

Kate’s thrifty approach extends to her children too; Prince Louis, in his first official photographs, is wearing a sweater and trousers that Princess Charlotte wore as an infant. And Charlotte’s cardigan, in the same pictures, was once worn by her older brother Prince George in a photo shoot.

It’s good to see the Royals embracing frugality, but of course it’s nothing new. As a child, most of my clothes were hand-me-downs or from jumble sales. I’ve still got clothes I’ve had for years. A black denim mini skirt I wore in the 80s now belongs to my niece.

She calls it ‘vintage’. I call it a distant memory.

* CORONATION Street actresses have called for photographers to stop taking revealing pictures of female stars. Nicola Thorp said a photographer tried to take a picture of her breasts in a car after the British Soap Awards. And Kym Marsh said she often experiences similar treatment. She told OK! Magazine: "I've lost count of the times I've got into a car after a night out and a photographer's trying take a picture between my legs."

It seems that while the #MeToo and #TimesUp campaigns are tackling gender inequality in the entertainment industry, sexism continues to thrive in red carpet reports. What's also unsettling is that many of these photos end up in women's magazines, exposing celebrities' cellulite or 'flabby bits'. It is these publications that create demand for such images.

* THE prospect of a whole month of World Cup football doesn't exactly fill me with joy...

But, having met a fabulous group of female City fans recently, I feel I could be missing out. Photographs of the women appear in City Girls, a striking exhibition at the National Science and Media Museum, soon moving to the Cathedral. They told me of the joy and despair of football, and how they love its drama. What shone through most was their sense of pride and unity, and the enviable sense of belonging there is at Valley Parade. If it wasn't for the football, I'd be tempted to go along myself...