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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab: All Muslims Are A ‘Genuine Threat’

155094101THE papers all hang on the words of a Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (his career in pictures), who allegedly tried to bring down a plane and kill hundreds of people by setting fire to his knickers. The Star calls him a “syringe nut”. And who can you listen to and believe if not a nut when he says there are plenty more like him?

The Telegraph calls his words “chilling”. The Mirror agrees. Yep, a man with his trousers on fire is “chilling”.

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Posted: 29th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)


Escaped Burglar Craig Lynch (Craig ‘Lazie’ Lynch) Updates Facebook From Scotland Yard: Pictures

craig-lynch-fingerCONVICTED burglar Craig Lynch – aka Craig ‘Lazie’ Lynch – is on the run from Hollesley Bay open prison, near Woodbridge, Suffolk. He left the prison in September. Lynch, of Edgware, London, is passing the days not getting caught by updating his Facebook page.

Craig Lynch, 28, is keeping his Facebook friends up to speed on all the news about his life on the run. If he can pad out his day and write well enough there’s a book in it. For now his bon mots encompass his views on life:

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Posted: 28th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True | Comments (8)


Amanda Holden Rescues Katie Price To Be Alan Sugar’s 3D Apprentice Finger

katie-price-apprentice1KATIE Price is “set to star” in The Apprentice, the show that’s made Sir Alan Sugar’s pointy finger a thing of entertainment.

With Surralan’s finger and Katie nipples, this is 3D TV that makes itself. So Katie will be on the show. The Daily Star has the fact. Or as the Sun reports:

The glamour model – real name Katie Price – was introduced to Sir Alan Sugar by actress Amanda Holden at a London Christmas party. Amanda, 38, asked Lord Sugar: “Why don’t you hire Katie for one of the tasks next year?”

Katie, 31, told him: “I’m not the brightest but I know how money works.” And Lord Sugar agreed to consider her proposal, saying: “I think you’d be an asset to the show.”

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Posted: 28th, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment (1)


After Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Second Nigerian In Hot Pants Causes Stink On Plane

nigerian-bombersUMAR Farouk Abdul Mutallab, Ivana Trump and now another man has been ordered from plane. He’s Nigerian. He’s on Northwest Airlines flight 253 – the route that Abdulmutallab flew in his hot pants on Christmas Day.

The man is in his 30s. He locked himself in a toilet for more than an hour. The Daily Telegraph says:

Before locking himself in to the toilet the man had already been up and down to the same cubicle several times.

Nigerian man on same flight route where another Nigerian man set to his trousers in an apparent bid to kill everyone onboard shows signs of nerves and spends ages in the toilet to spend a penny? Everyone stares and shits themselves.

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Posted: 27th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)


Jade Goody Is Dancing With Michael Jackson

7364007HAVING spotted Jade Goody’s mum Jackiey Budden by her daughter’s grave for a tabloid Christmas special, the Sunday Mirror hears from Jade Goody’s husband Jeff Brazier. It is:

Our Christmas without Jade

Having experienced Easter without Jade, and already made the best of Christmas without Jade, this is more like the Christmas Sales without Jade, to be followed by New Year without Jade, Valentine’s Day without Jade, Mother’s Day without Jade and every slow news day when hacks are off in the corporate gyms with Jade.

Bobby and Freddy miss their mummy so much. They think she’s up there dancing with Michael Jackson. It was their first Christmas without her…but Jade Goody’s little ­sons Bobby and Freddy were ­determined to make sure their mummy didn’t miss out.

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Posted: 27th, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (5)


Susan Boyle Lives Off £200 A Week As ‘Burglars’ Attack Home

8086823SUSAN Boyle is in an “intruder alert”. It is thought the intruder is recovering in rehab. But what of The People’s front-page horror story?

Singer Susan Boyle has had a panic alarm fitted at her home after finding intruders in her garden.

Susan Boyle is used to having intruders camped outside her front door, voyeurs armed with cameras who think little of debasing her with calls of “Show us your wiggle, SuBo” and other name calling and sick catcalls. But to have intruders in her back garden is news, indeed. Who were they? BBC gardeners? Tabloid reporters? The People knows:

Burglars target SuBo’s semi

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Posted: 27th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts | Comment (1)


Destroying Brittany Murphy: Simon Monjack Admits, And Blaming Ashton Kutcher

monjack-murphy2BRITTANY Murphy is dead. She died the bathroom. The actress has been buried. And the media is still tying to bury her husband Simon Monjack. Today, as the husband grieves for his loss, the Daily Mail delivers the Christmas message of cheer and goodwill:

Has Mr Brittany Murphy got something to hide?

She’s dead. Brittany Murphy is dead. The actress has died. Did anyone think to tell the Mail? She’s not hiding. She’ is resting. Permanently. But not in peace.

In pictures: Brittany Murphy (1977-2009)

The voice at the end of the line was barely coherent. ‘I have not slept for more than two days,’ explained Simon Monjack, when we spoke to him on the phone earlier this week.

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Posted: 26th, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (3)


Big Brother: Injured Soldiers And Doulgas Bader To Star

douglas-baderWHILE we wonder who is going to appear on Celebrity Big Brother, we get to wonder about who is going on the Big Brother show proper, which starts next summer for the final time. The Daily Mail delivers the front-page screamer:

Reality TV ghouls target injured soldiers: C4 bosses spark fury by asking wounded troops to appear on Big Brother

Yeah Big Brother. Douglas Bader got his own film! Big Brother is a pathetic effort. We demand more for our brave few. The Mail tells us:

Soldiers who have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan are being targeted to take part in Big Brother. The Channel 4 show’s producers were accused of sinking to ‘a new low for reality TV’ in a desperate bid to make the last series the most sensational ever.

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Posted: 26th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)


The Ghost of Christmas Presents Past: Number One: The K-Tel Record Selector

The Ghost of Christmas Presents Past: Number one: The K-Tel Record Selector

BACK in the heyday of vinyl records, when chart-topping singles regularly sold a quarter of a million copies and sometimes considerably more, there was also a thriving cottage industry knocking out albums of cover versions.

The session musicians would assemble in the studio and, with no time for rehearsal, bang there way through a dozen or so hits from the current charts. (Famous names to have earned an honest crust in this way included Elton John and David Bowie, to name but two.) The most famous brand was the cheekily named Top of the Pops (cheeky because the records had no connection to the popular TV show of the same name).

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Posted: 24th, December 2009 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (7)


The Ghosts of Christmas Presents Past: Atomic Bomb Kits

Number two: Chemistry Sets and Atomic Bomb Kits

ONCE upon a time, kids didn’t only wear shorts, shirts and ties at school; they wore them at home too, and probably in bed. But then, in those days playing at home was a bit like being at school.

In fact it was a lot like being at school, especially if one’s “toy” was the ever-popular Merit Chemistry Outfit (tie not included). With this kit, a young boy (or girl, providing she hid her pigtails and wore shorts, short and tie) could experience the fun of a double-science lesson at any time in Room B (bedroom) or Room K (kitchen).

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Posted: 24th, December 2009 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (7)


The Ghosts of Christmas Presents Past. Number Four: The Football

THE Ghosts of Christmas Presents Past. Number Four: The football

What’s that under the tree, the round parcel that won’t sit still?… A big black bomb from a comic? A giant fat-ball to hang above the bird bath? A soap-on-a-rope for Vanessa Feltz?

No, it’s the ghost of the former king of the Christmas present hill: the proper leather football.

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Posted: 24th, December 2009 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (3)


The Ghost of Christmas Presents Past: Mr Microphone

THE Ghost of Christmas Presents Past – Number Three: Mr Microphone

LAST month we looked at the K-Tel “Various Artists” compilation albums that took Britain by storm in the Seventies. But that wasn’t the end of the story.

K-Tel was the brainchild of Philip Kives, a salesman from Winnipeg. In the mid-sixties he was flogging new-fangled Teflon pans by demonstrating them on TV. It worked a treat, so he went to Australia, where he used the same method to shift a million knives in five months, making a profit of a million dollars.

This didn’t go down too well with his supplier, Seymour Popeil, who refused to do business with him after that. Kives responded by temporarily shifting his attention to records, releasing 25 Great Country Artists Singing Their Original Hits in Canada. Then he set up K-Tel, which sold both gadgets and records, and pushed both with maximum energy and minimum subtlety.

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Posted: 24th, December 2009 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Photojournalism | Comments (5)


Tiger Woods Keeps His Heuer

tag-tigerTIGER WOODS: Headlines such as “Tag Heuer ‘to drop Tiger Woods from US ads’” (BBC) and Tiger Woods dropped by Tag Heuer (Telegraph) may have created the impression that Swiss watch marker Tag Heuer was to sack Tiger Woods. Management consultancy Accenture has already ignored its own advice and sacked Woods.

Tiger Woods: Using Gillette Gets You Laid And Other Tiger Woods Endorsements

But Tag Heuer (say that in a Geordie accent) would like you to know that removing Woods from its marketing bunff was a “supportive move”.

AG Heuer confirms today that it will continue its relationship with Golf n°1 Tiger Woods but will respect his desire of privacy by modifying his role in the coming months’ marketing programs.

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Posted: 24th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment


Brittany Murphy’s Husband Simon Monjack Tells All: In Pictures

brittany-murphy-monjackBRITTANY Murphy’s has died and the tabloid media continues to stare at her widower, the “cloudy” Simon Monjack. He’s been talking with People magazine:

In pictures: Brittany Murphy (1977-2009)

“These rumors that she was anorexic? It’s crazy. She was slim but that was her natural physique. This is what’s killing all of us? How did it happen? Her mum, myself and her family, we want to know why we lost our baby.”

Murphy’s physique is a matter of public debate on the Huffington Post, where readers get:

Brittany Murphy’s Weight: Eating Disorder Denials Despite Changing Shape

Young woman grows up and body shape changes – read all about it!

As her career took off her weight plummeted while her chest was bigger than ever, she dyed her hair blonde, capped her teeth and appeared to have had plastic surgery although she repeatedly denied having been under the knife. As she brushed off persistent rumors that her ever-shrinking form was the result of an eating disorder.

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Posted: 23rd, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment


100 Great Pop Music Photos Of The Decade: Part 2

PART 2 of our decade in pop music photos, with Michael Jackson, Take That, Oasis, Madonna, Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Susan Boyle, Rihanna and more… In no particular order: 100 Great Pop Music Photos Of The Decade: Part 1

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Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Michael Katherine (center) is comforted by family members at a memorial service for the music legend at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Tuesday, July 7, 2009. MCT/POOL /Landov

Posted: 23rd, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment


100 Great Pop Music Photos Of The Decade: Part 1

THE decade in pop music photos,with Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson, Radiohead, Girls Aloud, Will Young, Gareth Gates, Pop Idol. Madonna, Britney Spears, Pete Doherty, Bono, U2, The Black Eyed Peas and more. In no particular order:

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Babyshambles front man Pete Doherty leaves Thames Magistrates court after admitting possession of heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and cannabis in east London, Friday January 20 2006. He was earlier charged after answering bail at Stoke Newington police station in northeast London this morning following his arrest on December 4. See PA Story COURTS Doherty. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Photo credit should read: Cathal McNaughton/PA

Posted: 23rd, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment (1)


Brittany Murphy, Simon Monjack, Drugs And Lindsay Lohan: In Pictures

lohan-beachBRITTANY Murphy has died and the papers are filling in the space between news of what drugs were or were not in her system by destroying Simon Monjack, her grieving husband..

BRITTANY Murphy has died and the deckchairs on the Hollywood ship are rearranged to make room for Lindsay Lohan. Thanks to Twitter, we all have a direct conduit to the celebrity mourner. Says Lindsay Lohan:

“My deepest condolences go out to all of Brittany Murphy’s loved ones and may she rest in peace. … She was a great talent w/a beautiful soul xo.”

The part about the soul is mawkish. But Lohan does as expected. Nothing reminds the world that you are alive better than one of your peers dying. So enjoy these self-published pictures of Lohan on the beach.

In pictures: Brittany Murphy (1977-2009)

Meanwhile, the Sun lists on its front page the drugs found in Murphy’s home. Don’t bother working out what they are (you can read the details on the labels in your own bathroom cabinet later), just know that it is a:

“PRESCRIPTION FOR DEATH”

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Posted: 23rd, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment


The FBI Files On Michael Jackson: Stalkers, Terrorists And The Best Bits Not Redacted

WANT to know what the FBI thought of Michael Joseph Jackson? The FBI has released the files on the dead singer. Well, those files it wants you to see.

The Most Controversial Michael Jackson Pictures

Jackson is “a celebrity pop star, was born on August 29, 1958. He died unexpectedly on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50.”

The second thing on his file is:

Between 1993 and 1994 and separately between 2004 and 2005, Mr. Jackson was investigated by California law enforcement agencies for possible child molestation. He was acquitted of all such charges.

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Posted: 22nd, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment


Brittany Murphy Is Dead And The Media Destroys Her Name

BRITTANY Murphy has passed away. The talented actress died age 32. The coroner reports that Murphy died of “natural causes”. End of story. A sad end. Right. Right? It’s only just beginning. The media gets to work on speculating:

The actress’s rep, Nicole Perna, said in a statement Sunday afternoon, “In this time of sadness, the family thanks you for your love and support. It is their wish that you respect their privacy.”

In pictures: Brittany Murphy (1977-2009)

So here’s the Times:

Brittany Murphy ‘was on prescription drugs’

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Posted: 22nd, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (35)


Tiger Woods: Dancing Girls Woo Tiger Back Top Golf

tiger-woods-buickTIGER Woods will be spending Christmas in the Bahamas aboard a huge yacht called Privacy. His wife Elin will not be aboard.

All the women linked to Tiger Woods (NSFW)

Golf fans with gigantic life preserving devices on their chests should mass at Old Port Cove in North Palm Beach for the official piping aboard, as the French say. The yacht has a gym, Jacuzzi and sky lounge bar, fully stocked with waitresses of all shapes, colours and flavours.

All the women linked to Tiger Woods (NSFW)

There is enough room to sleep 21 people. So golf nuts had best hurry. Space is limited. But afterwards, will Woods returns to the game he has graced?

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Posted: 22nd, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment (1)


The Brittany Murphy Murder: In Pictures

8151324BRITTANY Murphy: Anorak’s at-a-glance look at the death of Brittany Murphy in the news, featuring cocaine, anorexia, Simon Monjack and pharma parties.

The cause of Brittany Murphy’s death was a heart attack. There has been an autopsy
To discover what caused the heart attack. Mr Brittany Murphy, ask Simon Monjack, has reportedly said that no autopsy should be carried out.

In pictures: Brittany Murphy (1977-2009)

The media gets to work making sideways looks and nudging you in the ribs:

The Sun says British-born Monjack was once arrested by immigration officials in April 2007 for overstaying his visa.

A month alter he married Brittany and was forced to deny hurtful rumours [now published in the Sun] that the wedding was arranged to avoid deportation.”

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Posted: 22nd, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (3)


Pete Doherty Escapes Jail And Immediately Arrested By Celebrity Police Force: Photos

PETER Doherty is at Gloucester Crown court posting for photos with the Celebrity Police Force. The CPF always get their photo. The canteen walls at the cop shop recall meetings with the some of the brightest and biggest stars of their age. Right now the star division are drawing lots to see which of them get to park outside Amy Winehouse’s place and attend the Spurs Christmas party.

As for Doherty, well, he was set free after admitting careless and drink driving after a gig in the city. Having been fined £2,050 and banned from driving for 18 months, the CPS got to arrest him again, this time on suspicion of possessing a controlled drug. Is this why they let him go, to give the copper in the picture a chance to see his face in the papers and on the canteen walls?

Pete Doherty and the CPF – working in tandem for each other’s fame. Says one copper: “The sooner Pete gets back behind the wheel and off his face the better for all of us. My kids keep having a go about never seeing me in the papers.”

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Pete Doherty is led away by police (for reasons unknown) after appearing at Gloucester Crown Court where he faced charges relating to dangerous driving and marched towards Gloucester police station on the opposite side of the road.

Posted: 21st, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment


Christmas Nostalgia Wins As Rage Against The Machine’s Old Song Beats Joe McElderry X Factor Dirge

jimll-fix-it-for-joe-mcelderryRAGE Against The Machine (their career in pictures)  follows Mr Blobby, Bob the Builder, Cliff Richard (3) and X Factor winners (4) into the pop annals as the Christmas No.1.

The cover of the Sun predicts RATM front man Zack de La Rocha with devil horns. To his side is Joe McElderry wearing a Joe-nas Brother ™ purity ring halo.

Well done, Sony, which has both acts on the books. Well done to Simon Cowell, whose latest product sold 450,000 records. This is the Simon Cowell who told us that if Jedward won the X Factor he’d leave the country. They lost and he left anyhow. He’s in Barbados.

RATM’s Tom Morello says:

“Killing In The name is an anthem of rebellion and of liberation… It was about breaking the stranglehold these insipid X Factor ballads have had on the UK and this idea of a guaranteed No.1 single a prize on a TV show.”

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Posted: 21st, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (7)


Brittany Murphy RIP: In Pictures

BRITTANY Murphy is reported to have died. The talented actress was 32. Her, perhaps, biggest role was as Luanne Platter on Fox’s animated “King of the Hill. Gawker speculates:

To die at such a young age of cardiac arrest could be a sign of either an underlying condition—or like many of the young actors we’ve seen pass away over the last few years—drug use.

The celebrity is not even conformed dead by their family but already the media speculation begins. Sad:

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Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy kiss and flirt at the after show party for the CQ premiere in New York. Half length, funny, cap.


Posted: 20th, December 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment (1)


Tiger Woods: Drugs, Women And A Secret Deal

mens-fitness-woodsTIGER Woods: After the women (see them here) Let’s make it worse, with John Steigerwald, who writes a Sunday column for Pittsburgh’s Observer-Reporter, has a question about drugs:

What if Tiger Woods cheated at golf by using performance-enhancing drugs?

It’s open season on Woods. But lest you reads the headline and think Steigerwald uses a sub header:

Guilty until proven innocent.

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Posted: 20th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (2)