Wags to riches…
Worried footballers are beefing up security after the latest in a series of raids on their multi-million pound homes.
Manchester United star Darren Fletcher became the 14th premiership footballer targeted by violent robbers while he was in Italy for the Champions’ League clash against Inter Milan.
A gang threatened his fiancée, Hayley Grice, at knifepoint, ordering her to hand over her £30,000 engagement ring, after breaking into their £2 million home.
The robbery comes just months after similar attacks on the homes of Steven Gerrard and Emile Hesky, must have left petrified WAGs across the country wondering if they will be next.
I can’t begin to imagine what it feels like, but I do know how scared I am when I stay in the house alone – and I don’t have any expensive jewellery or a fleet of luxury cars sitting in the driveway.
But some people are saying that is precisely why they are being targeted.
It’s no secret that footballers earn millions and flaunt that wealth by turning up to training in flashy cars or treating their WAGs to huge diamond rings.
And everyone knows when footballers are going to be away from home - in this case Fletcher had been photographed flying out to Italy for the game just hours earlier.
But they can’t be blamed for it when all they are doing is enjoying their hard-earned cash.
How many people can honestly say that if they had the same amount of money in their bank account, they wouldn’t go out and buy everything they wanted and then show it off?
Whether they are targeting the rich or poor, it’s the thugs who are to blame, not the footballers and their girlfriends for simply spending their own money they have worked for.
Written by Gemma
Twitter - The good, the bad and the celebrity…
Twitter is currently taking the UK by storm - So what's it all about? Here are two very different views on the online micro-blogging sensation...
Twitter.com
FOR
Have you ‘Twittered’ yet today?
If that means absolutely nothing to you, then where have you been hiding for the past few weeks?
Twitter is fast becoming the latest social networking craze that is taking the world by storm, and despite signing up less than two weeks ago, I’m already hooked.
You no longer have to face the ‘plenty more fish in the sea’ messages from Facebook friends after you change your relationship status to single, or the heart-stopping moment of seeing pictures of your ex-boyfriend with his stunning new girlfriend.
Instead, Twitter is a simple micro-blogging website that allows you to post short messages of absolutely anything that pops into your head, which your followers can then read and reply to.
But as well as keeping up with what your friends are doing, it has the added bonus of acting like a window to the lives of the rich and famous.
For the celeb-obsessed among you (OK, I admit it - that includes me!), Heat magazine is no longer your bible. Twitter has just made it so much easier to find out what your favourite star is up to.
Today for example, I have logged on today to find out that Davina McCall is being treated to a trip to Paris for Valentine’s Day by her husband, while Jonathan Ross had red mullet for lunch with his wife.
And Chris Moyles has spent the majority of this afternoon walking around London in training for his Comic Relief trek up Mount Kilimanjaro , taking the occasional photo to post on the site as he goes.
I can kiss goodbye to my social life though as my Sundays are now spent logged on to keep up to date with the happenings on the set of Dancing on Ice, thanks to the Philip Schofield’s updates live from the ice rink.
ITV even bought the ‘silver fox’ a laptop so that he can also keep his followers updated on what’s going on behind the scenes at This Morning each morning.
Where else can you get this kind of insider information on celebrities without being branded a stalker?
So forget Facebook, Myspace and Bebo - there’s a new kid in town.
Twitter - What are you doing?
AGAINST
I’m in two minds about Twitter – on the one hand I love celebrities and welcome the opportunity to learn more about their insane lives, but on the other I find it inconceivable that these people haven’t got better things to do with their time.
I devour celebrity magazines; I jump straight to the Bizarre section of the Sun and 3am in the Mirror to follow the latest gossip; and I watch any Z-list celebrity based reality TV programme going. So I’m not saying I wouldn’t be interested to find out that Philip Schofield has taken a ‘snow day’ from This Morning, or to see pictures live from the Chris Moyles studio.
But don’t you think it is slightly ridiculous that well respected celebs such as Philip Schofield and Stephen Fry are on Twitter every five minutes with stupid updates like “Aha! A vehicle awaits to take me to a costume fitting” or “supper is on the table and I'm chuffing starving”.
Am I really so desperate to follow their tragic lives that I need to know when they are waking up, eating, going to the toilet?
Have these well paid celebrities (who by the way earn thousands of pounds more than you and me) really got nothing more interesting to say or better things to do with their time?
And on the subject of pay – doesn’t it rile you a little bit that Chris Moyles, who is reportedly paid in excess of £600,000 a year, has plenty of time during his radio show to ‘twitter’ with all and sundry about newsreader Dom’s bald head?
In the name of research, I have spent a couple of hours trawling through the Twitter website, looking at the entries made by various celebrities.
And I’m saddened to find out they are just as boring as I am and their entries reveal little about their ‘exciting’ celebrity lifestyles.
I’m truly disappointed to find out that the ‘Schofe’, who I have adored since his days with Gordon the Gophur in the broom cupboard, has nothing better to do with his time than build snow balls.
It irritates me that funny man Moyles, earning thousands and thousands of pounds for being the so called “saviour of Radio One”, isn’t spending his spare time working on his precious radio show.
And I can’t believe Holly Willoughby chooses to inform everybody that she’s putting her feet up in front of ‘The Wright Stuff’ of all programmes – the blooming lovely presenter must be able to afford more channels with better viewing?
I guess I have to admit Twitter is addictive, and I might even go on it again; the stalker in me definitely wants to know more.
But please celebrities, give me something to drool about and a reason to want your fabulous lifestyles.
I want to be given an insight into the world of celebrity, I want to know who is snogging who, who hates who, and who’s cheated on who, I DON’T want to log on and find out my idols are as boring as me.
Written by Emma
Jade’s personal battle in the public eye…
Jade Goody
So today’s newspapers are filled with the tragic news that Jade Goody may not recover from cancer, as doctors have informed the former Big Brother star her cancer has spread to her bowels, liver and groin.
But the question is, should Jade be sharing her most personal battle yet with all and sundry? Do we really want to be party to her lowest moments? Shouldn’t she be suffering in silence in the privacy of her own home?
Since Jade was first diagnosed with cervical cancer last year she has come under fire for using her illness to promote herself in the public eye.
And she has. But what mother of two in the same position wouldn’t? At the end of the day Jade has two young boys who may well end up without a mum. As well as fearing for her life, Jade’s primary concern is going to be the welfare of her children, and the future they face without her.
Jade has had a hell of a life, her drug addict father served several prison sentences, and her lesbian mum Jackiey Budden, who also took drugs, lost the use of one arm in a motorcycle accident when Jade was just 5.
Goody went on to train as a dental nurse before entering Big Brother 3 for the first time. Her lack of general knowledge only served to endear her to audiences and she finished in third place.
She then went on to earn herself a small fortune writing a book, launching a perfume, making numerous TV appearances and attempting to run a marathon.
Perhaps the worst mistake of her ‘career’ was her second appearance on Celebrity Big Brother 2007 where she became the centre of a race row with Shilpa Shetty which saw all her money-spinning contracts dry up.
In a dramatic turnaround, Jade was diagnosed with cervical cancer in August 2008 and was told live on air on the Indian version of Big Brother. How convenient.
Jade then came under fire from anyone with an opinion – did she really have cancer? Was it all for PR purposes? Would she honestly have entered the house knowing she was waiting for cancer results?
Well, yes she did do it for PR purposes. She did really have cancer. And now she’s dying from it.
So Jade will be pocketing thousands of pounds for the sake of her children on the back of her cancer ordeal; I say stop slagging the poor girl off and let her get on with making as much money as she can for her children while she still has the chance.
I applaud her guts, wisdom and strength, good luck Jade.
Written by Emma
72Point Blog
72 Point are national news PR & survey specialists. Achieving daily print & online news exposure for the UK’s largest brands and PR agencies.
