Barbara Windsor/Peggy Mitchell QUITTING Eastenders. Nooooooooooo!

As I sit here enjoying a glass of red wine (PURCHASED FROM PARIS) I am mourning.

Eastenders has become one of the best programmes on TV as of late and now, it seems, its biggest (just double-thought that and yes it is correct) star, Barbara Windsor, IS LEAVING.

Peggy Mitchell, the stalwart of the Square, will serve her last pint next year as she is quitting that bitch in favour of spending time with her toyboy husband.

Now of course, at 72, it is her prerogative to retire. But Barbara Windsor is without doubt one of the best things about the show.

She screams at her family while staring up at them from her two foot height (in heels), she bitchslaps Pauline/Pat when they get out of line (BEST. EPISODES. EVER.) and she has hair that never thins and in fact has got bigger in recent years (how does she do it?).

Yes, Peggy Mitchell/Barbara Windsor IS Eastenders. And her leaving will undoubtedly be a big blow to the show.

Now, at the moment, there is a lot going on in the soap that make it great. The Heather baby thing, that Maryfairy getting with the Muslim boy and Stacey (if she comes back), have all made the show compelling viewing.

But Peggy, and more generally the Mitchell clan, are the East End in Eastenders and without their matriarch they will be leaderless - who will tell them that they need to "GET BEHIND THAT BAR" or "SHADDAP" or "GERROUTTAMYPUB"? There is no one. Unless Auntie Sal comes back into it? Even then, she is no Queen Vic landlady.

OMG as I write this it is on the 6 o'clock news. Amaze. I LOVE ENGLAND!

Anyway, basically, Eastenders looks likely to be heading towards another downturn with Peggy's departure.

I just hope they manage to fill the void left by her presence with someone equally as exciting.

Anyway, as a little tribute, here is a good scene with Peggy and Pat I found on YouTube - LOVE the eye roll and 1:32.




Queen Peggy of Walford. I love ya.

Katie Price and Alex Reid - Britain's most beautiful couple

Katie Price - what's left to say that hasn't already been said?

She is pure trash. Funny. But gross.

I once read her autobiography when I should have been writing my dissertation in my third year. It was the vilest thing I have ever read. "NEVER TRUST A POP IDOL" - ew gross Katie, you shagged Gareth Gates. We know. It was your fault he dumped you because errr...YOU'RE GROSS.

Anyway, here she is looking at her absolute best as an Amanda Lepore impersonator.

Her poor Incredible Hulk boyfriend. He isn't a trannie is he? Not a real one?

The funny-nosed thing has been totally swept up in the huge vacuous hole that is Katie's life and in a bid to get even more publicity, she probably went "OHMIGOD IT WUD B SO FUNI IF U DRESD UP LIKE A GIRL HAHAHAHA YYEAHHH GO PRICEY IM AN INDERPENDANT WOMAN YEAHHH."

And I imagine when you are with Katie Price, you don't have much choice otherwise she will strangle you with hair extensions. The weight of her tits could easily hold the cage fighter down while she did it.

Can't wait for him to get dumped and to REVEAL ALL to....Reveal. Or something.

Anyway I must go and watch the news, this Nick Griffin on the BBC (completely bad decish, by the way) thing is really rather interesting.

He really does look like a Bond villain doesn't he?

CHERYL ROCKED IT - Whitney on the other hand...

I was going to try and avoid it, but Cheryl Cole's performance on X Factor was actually too good not to talk about.

The hair, the hat, the glass-shard lapels, the slit trousers, the dancers. It was damn near pop perfection.

I'm not 100% sure whether or not she sang live, fans seems to be simultaneously claiming that she both pre-recorded all the vocals and that she sang it all live. So who knows.

All that can be said about it, was that it was a good performance from a good pop star.

My favourite bit was the breakdown - AMAZING - why is that not in the single remix?!

Last night I heard her second single, 3 Words, with Will.i.am and that's a pretty good follow up too.

All in all it looks set to be a solid album campaign right now.

There was one thing that was noticeable though - Cheryl was rather quick to hit out at Kandy Rain when she thought they were dressed too "provocatively".

Her outfit was not exactly demure. I could see her ass cheeks. So she needs to maybe think a little more before she opens her tiny, veneer-filled little mouth.

STILL though. Good performance, well done. And I like that she listened in the end and didn't pre-record it. It seems that the power of the internet may have at least helped her perform live, even if she didn't sing live.

On another, but related note. What the FUCK was up up with Whitney?! You could see her bald head underneath her weave, she didn't even bother to sing the high notes, she was barely coherent when speaking to Dermot. Bitch - you were good once, but carry on like that and no gaygaygay Freemasons remix is going to get you back on top.

Cheryl Cole's debut solo performance - X Factor 2009

I don't want to appear that I am anti-celebrity. I am completely the opposite. I totally love them. Nearly all of them.

But things like this do disappoint.

Cheryl Cole, the first member of Girls Aloud to attempt a solo career, is not going to sing live on X Factor this weekend.

This is a poor show.

The entire programme is based on the idea that singers need to perform live to have a successful career, but Cheryl's decision not to do so make it look as if, really, it actually is all about being pretty. Everything else comes second.

A source told the Daily Mail: "Cheryl is the break-out star of Girls Aloud and there are big plans for her. Nobody - neither on the X Factor nor her record label Polydor - wants to see her fail, which is why we thought it was better for Cheryl to mime her performance."

Surely, the way to avoid "failing" is for her to rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more? Then there would be no need to not sing live.

I love her solo song, but it does feel that everything about this is so rushed. She spent a matter of days in LA recording it and on the making of the video the choreographer noted the super-short amount of time she had to come up with the routine.

Get it done, get the profile high, make it big. Money in pockets. Done.

If she truly, truly does care about her music career, she would sing live for this first performance.

Even if for the rest of the album promo she didn't, this is the one performance that she really really should.

It looks bad to the X Factor contestants, bad to the fans and bad to anyone who wants to believe that there is a tiny amount of talent in the pop industry.

But she won't.

And having said all that, if she pulls an amazing performance out the bag, then I'll probably still love it. Maybe she can just sing some bits. ANYTHING. Just don't mime it all the way through please love.

Lady Gaga at the Washington gay rights rally

Firstly, I really like Lady Gaga. She produces good pop music and she looks fun and she does twatty things and I don't think she cares what people think.

I also like the fact that she cares enough about the gay community to turn up and make a speech.

I get it. The gay movement in the US is still miles behind the rest of the world and it is consequently important that people like her bring attention to the situation.

But what's with the Judy Garland reference?? Is this something I am missing? It comes, right in the middle of her speech, like she just had a moment of gay tourettes. OH AND YEAH JUDY GARLAND. AND KYLIE MINOGUE AND MADONNA. AND AND...LIZA. I'm running out of "icons" (David don't judge me for not knowing proper icons...).

Anyway, not important really I suppose. Like I said its good she turned up.

And I totals love that she dressed up "dykon" with the braces and monochrome. Not that I know why black and white is particularly gay lady, but do you know what I mean?

I don't have much more to say on the matter. But next time love just maybe be a bit less cliche!?

Oh and how amazing is her new album artwork? LOVE YA GAGS!

Sophie Ellis Bextor - new material January 2010

Sophie Ellis Bextor is not someone who I can I be particularly balanced on.

I am a big fan, like huge, like when I was at school I tried to get everyone to know who she was by attempting to play Murder on the Dancefloor at a charity fashion show. No one liked it. We played Steal My Sunshine instead.

I digress – as I am such a fan, I was tentatively pleased when she announced on Twitter that January 2010 would see her comeback.

Tentative because she has done this many times before.

Her last single, Heartbreak Make Me a Dancer with the Freemasons was gaygaygay great. Although it only made it to the top 20, it hung around in the top 40 for nearly 2 months and was her biggest chart success since Murder on the Dancefloor.

Rumour has it that there will be a second Freemasons song on her fourth solo album, as well as collaborative songs with Metronomy, Calvin Harris and Richard X among others.

But here is the problem.

Despite the big collaborations, her previous success (her first album, Read My Lips, sold over a million copies) and her working with Rimmel, it is not likely that her next offering will set the charts on fire.

Sadly for her and for the fans that have bothered to hang around, she has simply taken too long to make her albums and as such, many people have lost interest.

She could have released a single straight after the Freemasons song, when her profile was at the biggest it has been for some time. She could have released it now, before the Christmas rush when this year everyone will be talking about Susan Boyle and the new X Factor winner. But instead, January it is. A full seven months after her last single release. I'm a fan and I can honestly not name one thing that she has done since then. Oh she went to Russia.

I am going to go back to my original point here, I love her. Like LOVE her and her music, but why can she not just release a damn song?! Surely one of these songs she has recorded is good enough? Even if the album is not done, she could release two singles just to keep her profile high.

Fingers crossed for a big hit. I think it sounds like their could be potential dynamite on the album. But if it doesn't go down well, I think this is the end of the road for Ms Ellis Bextor. Still, as has been pointed out before, she would make a lovely TV presenter. But that's not really the point is it.

If Sophie ever reads this, I TOTALS love you and am probably wrong anyway. Let's hang out some time yeah?