The rumours that Sir Paul McCartney's new amour, the New York heiress Nancy Shevell, owns a huge collection of crocodile handbags puts a spring in the step of those of us bored by the McCartney family's endless bleatings about vegetarianism and the poor ickle animals. While many of us find ourselves conflicted as to whether we warm to Sir Paul or really can't stand him, it would be a churlish heart that didn't hope that after the ghastly Heather he might be choosing a little more wisely this time.

Shevell, 47, has been linked to Sir Paul, 65, since last November, when they were photographed kissing in the Hamptons. Now they have been seen in Antigua, where reports of them riding bikes, relaxing on sunloungers and sailing in a dinghy are clearly concrete proof that they are more than just friends (they were also kissing passionately, according to one witness, “just like any other couple in the throes of a new relationship”).

Adding grist to the mill is the fact that Shevell used to call herself Nancy Shevell Blakeman, but recently dropped the name of her estranged husband, Bruce Blakeman, to whom she was married for 23 years and with whom she has a teenage son with the peculiar name of Arlen. The Blakemans and McCartneys go back a long way: the Blakemans were friends with Sir Paul when he was married to his late wife Linda.

They apparently had a reputation in the upper echelons of New York society in which they once mixed as a couple for being a political team with clout - both made donations to George Bush's 2004 presidential campaign.

But behind her glamorous appearance there is a brush with serious illness - she had breast cancer diagnosed in 1996 but battled back, which probably makes her “plucky” in tabloid-speak, which, come to think of it, is how Heather Mills used to be described, but let's move quickly away from that thought.

Shevell also has to hold down a crushingly unglamorous job as vice-president of administration, New England Motor Freight, Inc, the family company built up by her father. But then all things trucking is clearly her speciality: she took a degree in transportation at Arizona State University and her academic CV includes the gloriously named Fred Hurley Memorial Scholarship for excellence in transportation.

“She's a very attractive woman and exudes confidence,” a colleague said when the rumours of a relationship surfaced. “It's easy to see what Sir Paul would find attractive.”

Let us conclude by going over to Heather Mills for her gracious take on the matter. Contrary to reports in some quarters that she is sitting, fuming in New York, a spokesman was happy to set the record straight: “Heather wishes Paul happiness and all the best in his relationship.” Of course she does.

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