The Long Game

Jennifer Aniston certainly knows how play the long game. Her husband might have left her for another woman but Jen can still throw a little chaos into his life. By maintaining a relationship with Brad's mother, who clearly yearns for the old days before Angelina, Jen has the power to piss off her replacement. What better way to eat away at Brad and Angelina's relationship than by hanging out with your ex-mother-in-law? You just know Jen and Brad's mother are not going to be talking about how Angelina is the best thing that every happened to him.

When you pitch Jen against Angelina in the mother-in-law league table, you just know who's going to win. Nice, inoffensive, good with parents-in-law versus weird, tattooed, good with perverted obsessives (Billy Bob Thornton). Angelina wins in the beauty stakes but that's not really going to win over all but the most superficial mother. She's going to want to see her son happy and settled not flitting round the world collecting children like this season's must-have handbag.

All those years of carefully nurturing her relationship with the Pitts is paying off. Never let it be said that Jennifer Aniston lacks strategic vision. Angelina might have Brad now but Jen has the trump card: his mum.