Popbitch: The Cost Of The Closet

An educational, informative and entertaining article from Popbitch.

Cliff/Rotherham: Bad News

So South Yorkshire police did everything it could to stop the Times reporting the Rotherham sex abuse scandal, yet this month the very same force had been "working with a media outlet" to publicise a raid on Cliff Richard's house. What's the lesson from this? That the media is only tolerated if it can help get a celebrity conviction?

The mishandling of the Cliff operation can't even be put down to a rush for justice. It was a full 18 months ago that we remember police sources starting to brief journalists that they had Cliff Richard in their sights. Hacks had even started checking out Heathrow whenever Cliff entered the country, to see if anything was happening. So, it's unlikely this raid was done on a whim.

What started out sounding like over-eager gossip is now looking more like the police's attempt to get the media to help build the case. With the BBC's coverage of the Cliff Richard raid, they may have got their wish. But all they've managed to succeed in doing so far is making us feel bad for a man who released Livin' Doll and lends his house to Tony Blair.

And that's truly unforgivable.

Popbitch, Silly Season Gets Serious - thanks for joining the dots. x

One celebrity scalp is clearly worth more than 1,400 working-class girls.

From the Battle of Orgeave to Hillsborough and now this shitstorm, this gang of crooks called South Yorkshire Police should be locked up.

Tom Daley: Not The Face!

If you’ve ever wished you could stand next to Tom Daley on the Olympic diving platform then now you can. Sort of.

If you’re browsing the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Google Street View you might stumble on the fact the inside of the newly-reopened Aquatics Centre has been mapped.

Not only that but Mr Daley is perched atop the 10m board in his trademark Speedos ready to jump off. As with all the people caught by the Street View cameras his face is blurred out, but it doesn’t exactly conceal his identity...

To take a look for yourself at Tom and the rest of the Olympic Aquatics Centre click here.

London24.

And here's our Tom unblurry!

PS Fagburn wasn't sure what to make of this story on Popbitch.
But how good to be reminded he's now free enough to go to the London Lesbian And Gay Film Festival without people gossiping.

Julian Clary: And On That Bombshell...

The camp comic, 54, reveals on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, which airs tomorrow on ITV, that the girl had a miscarriage.

He said: “She is unique. The one woman I had that sort of relationship with.”

And that's the Daily Star's story in full. 

PS There's a bit more - about how after making that joke about fisting Norman Lamont at the 1993 British Comedy Awards he was "driven to the brink of suicide" - in the Mirror.

Update via Popbitch...

Julian Clary did Piers Morgan's Life Stories on Friday. There was a slightly odd moment when Morgan sympathised with Clary about the hounding he got after the Comedy Awards in 1993 - when Clary made a joke about fisting Norman Lamont.

The famously kindly Clary somehow managed to smile in response. Perhaps he found something amusing in the fact that the man who was responsible for the coverage was the then showbiz editor of the Sun... Piers Morgan!

Brian Sewell: "I Am An Art Expert"

Oh, this is hours of fun - the Brian Sewell Sampler.
It's like he's right here in the room talking down to me!
Marvellous.

Lovingly purloined from off of Popbitch.

PS You may also enjoy Victor Lewis-Smith giving Mr Sewell a call on the tellybone.

Fagburn Is Sick

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I've been in bed with the lurgy.
Back with you soonest.

x

PS And thanks for the mention on Popbitch! Obviously this lovely plug had to take place the week when there's been nothing new on the site. Ha ha...

Richard Dennen: It's So Super To See You!

"What's it like being you, Richard?” a journalist asked me a couple of years ago. I'd been papped leaving the pub with Prince William and there were a lot of them waiting outside my door next morning.
“It's a bit like being you. Only better.”

That's the opening line to this week's column by Richard Dennen in The Evening Standard.
Truly, some things are beyond satire.
Dennen, a professional upper class gay twit, is already making a name for himself, especially after Popbitch drew attention to the first column by this "quacking and burbling... cock caravan" last week.
Many wondered if it was a Nathan Barley-style parody or piss-take.
No such luck - he really is that posh and that thick (Interesting parlour game; try and make a list of British gay journalists who didn't go to public school).
We may be stuck with the stupid spoilt fucktard for some time.
These days a columnist's success is perversely often measured in angry online comment inches, and Dennen's getting loads.
"Please find another writer to cover gay-orientated topics. Why print this pointless drivel when there are so many serious issues that need addressing?"
"This is some kind of joke, surely? Chris Morris doing a bit on the faddish superficiality of 'the gays'? Because if it's written (and I use that term in the very loosest sense) by someone real, then you've hired the single worst columnist in history."
"I think this has set the cause of gay rights back about 40 years. Anyone who thought gay men were vacuous, stupid and label-obsessed will have had their convictions proved by this absolute plum in the ridiculous hat. And the name-dropping, darling! And the snobbery! 'Two seasons ago I came out'. Jesus Christ. Please go back."
"I can hardly bring myself to believe this is genuine. This is truly the most atrocious piece of writing I have ever seen. And worst of all this article perpetuates the idea that gay men are, as Andrew Thrope says, the most vacuous species on earth. I'm sure there are better individuals out there who could give a far better impression of what it is to be gay than this."
"The sad thing is there are hundreds of young kids out there who'd give their left arms up for a break in journalism. This specimen has obviously had every possible advantage in life, doors automatically opened for him by mummy and daddy and doesn't need this job at all - or deserve it. He can't write - find a young kid who can."
And Fagburn's favourite; "You'd get a better column by throwing a tin of alphabetti spaghetti at the screen."

Richard Dennen writes for Tatler.