Rich pickings on the Golden Mile

          Underbelly ,The Golden Mile is almost upon us. The third in the series of hugely successful mini-series about the real life Australian underworld brings us up to the present day. Where the original Underbelly dealt with a 10 year crime spree in Melbourne in the late 1990's when around 30 gangland murders took place, including 2 rival gangsters being blasted to death with shotguns as they sat watching their kids play football. The Golden Mile takes us into the heart of Sydney's Kings Cross.

         But what is this "golden mile'  business?. One newspaper writer has picked up on the theme (conveniently after the Shuttle mentioned it ) as often stated by tSS-the Golden Mile has always referred to Darlinghurst's Oxford Street gay strip replete with pubs, drag bars, sex clubs, heavy leather bars, saunas, male peep shows, adult book stores and everything in between.

          Walk a half a kilometer to the north, via the infamous underage male hustler hangout The Wall and one enters Kings Cross which has had an extraordinary revival in the past 5 years with numerous smart nightclubs popping up all over the place. But this area has never been referred to as the golden mile.

         Adverts are running thick and fast for the new series, shot in a downtown suburban Crows Nest shopping center which was turned, for a few short weeks into a garish neon lit Kings Cross of the 1990's . Bewildered pensioners thought they had stumbled into an alternative reality as they encountered yelling barkers outside The Pink Pussy Cat and the odd baseball bat wielding rival gangs in pitched battles.

         However a phone call to Underbelly's publicist brings a 'no comment' on whether series 3 will actually incorporate the real Golden Mile. The 2 areas have always been intricately linked with no qualms over sexual preferences when a quick buck was to be made or a bent copper to be nobbled.

        Indeed the history of gay Oxford Street has been as bizarre and dangerous of that of the Cross at times with murders, mysterious nightclub fires and stand over merchants threatening rival disco owners.

        And no mention has been sighted in the advertising for Underbelly ,The Golden Mile of whether the legendary Mr Sin, Abe Saffron is featured . Saffron, who died in 2006 was considered one of the most powerful organized crime figures in the country. The tiny 5'2" 'property developer' had a controlling interest in just about every strip joint, bordello and nightclub in Kings Cross. He left an estate of over $20 million dollars although experts estimate plenty more was squirreled away abroad. Saffron even successfully saw off the US Mafia when they tried to muscle in on the action in the 1970's.

       Kings Cross had a bohemian atmosphere from the 1920's on but it was in the 60's and the Vietnam War era when it blossomed into a full time chaotic nightclub and disco center. The influx of R&R (rest and recreation) US army personnel in their thousands saw the suburb bloom overnight into a land of nightclubs, strip joints, live sex shows (inviting audience participation) brothels and lots of illicit drugs. Amsterdam by comparison looked quite tame. And the local cop shop overlooking the area seemed oblivious to then illegal activities happening right at it's front door. 2 Royal Commissions later found dozens of corrupted policemen had become very rich by turning a blind eye.
      Along with the Yanks came some mysterious characters like Bernie Houghton of no fixed background who opened the Bourbon and Beefsteak that still operates for 22 hours of the day. Hougton was thought to be an ex-CIA agent involved with the infamous Air America. Bernie arrived with a suitcase stuffed with cash.
       Abe Saffron's Les Girls transvestite cabaret show was another runaway success as busloads of suburban mums and an occasional husband came night after night to watch the extravagant drag shows.

          And then there was the crossover to Oxford Street. Saffron become the backing partner for the lesbian entrepreneur Dawn O'Donnell who died in 2007.  O'Donnell's first career was as an ice-skating star. She settled down to run a butcher's shop before discovering there was more money to be made under the table by operating a gay drinking spot, the Trolley Bar.
     Followed by a lesbian sauna, Dawn was soon in her stride with a string of nightspots and sex bookshops on Oxford Street. always with Saffron in the background.
Jools, Patches, Flo's Palace, The Exchange Hotel, Ruby Reds, Capricos were all owned by Dawn and packed to the rafters night after night and when business got slow, there was always a mysterious fire and an insurance policy to collect. Or as Saffron  would put it, "time for a fire-sale !"
      Both Saffron and O'Donnell were at times in partnership with  Roger Claude Teyssedre who amassed a fortune in property from the proceeds of a number of gay saunas before he expired under strange circumstances from the effects of an Aid's related illness while being cared for by his newest lover Ludwig Gertsch who had kept friends from visiting the dying Frenchman in his last days. Low and behold, a new will appeared ,written 17 days before his death leaving all of his multi-million dollar fortune to Gertsch, cutting out previous beneficiaries.
         The cream of Kings Cross and Darlinghurst nightlife figures including Saffron and O'Donnell , a few dozen favored weeping Greek lads and dozens of drag queens made up Teyssedre's funeral cortege.
      In the family pew at the crematorium sat Gertsch with four of Teyssedre's ex-lovers. As for Gertsch, whatever the circumstances surrounding the will, Roger's fortune did him little good.
           An increasingly paranoid Gertsch said he was receiving death threats and fortressed the Paddington mansion left to him by Teyssedre.
           Less than 2 years later his trussed up body was found in bush land in the Blue Mountains. Gertsch had been strangled. Stories abound of spurned Teyssedre lovers hiring Italian hit men to do away with Ludwig. When police broke into his wall safe a week after his body was found, the million dollars in cash that had supposedly lain there since Teyssedre's death was missing. In it's place was a $5 note wrapped in a black cloth.

       If Underbelly 3 doesn't include some of these events it's really missing the plot. So far we know from advertisements that the likeable 'Teflon' John Ibrahim  (left with Paris Hilton ) features heavily. Ibrahim started out as the gangster George Freeman's bodyguard before becoming a nightclub entrepreneur who seems to have a share in most of the Kings Cross nightclubs and a few in Oxford street to boot.

             Police say he's an "organized crime figure". Word around town is that Ibrahim is shopping around for a publicity firm to help him cash in on the certain fame that will spread country-wide with the screening of the series but hasn't found a taker yet. Unlike Melbourne's Mick Gatto who featured in the first Underbelly series who has just published his life story. Gatto was charged with murdering the hit man Andrew "Benji" Benjamin , admitted shooting Benji dead but successfully claimed self defense. Publicist Max Markson looks after Gatto but apparently he declined Ibrahim's approach.

           And what of the department store heiress Juanita Neilson who went missing when she was running an activist newspaper and agitating to prevent rows of beautiful Victorian terraced mansions in Kings Cross from being razed to the ground by property developers ?. She disappeared after visiting a Saffron nightspot supposedly lured there by an advertising order. Everyone who lives in the Cross (including tSS) can point out a a different tall building where Neilson's body is supposed to lie, buried in concrete.

        tSS lives a few stories above the Cross in one of the lovely art deco buildings just a few meters from the El Alemain fountain that signals the beginning of this new 'golden mile'. Far enough away from the hullabaloo but close enough to hear the odd scream, bullet shot and police siren,. We'll be a fierce critic of this new series.

Current state of play :

Underbelly 1 :. Crime family matriarch Judy Moran  (right) whose family featured in the series (shooting others dead or being murdered themselves) has just been charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, in connection with her brother-in-law's death.

 Mick Gatto is now an "employment and building consultant" and operates a crane hire business and is constantly perplexed why people think he's a criminal.

Drug lord Carl Williams serving 25 years to life for murder. (he was murdered in jail in 2010).

Underbelly 2 A Tale of 2 Cities : Abe Saffron-dead, gangster George Freeman-dead, drug baron Robert Trimbole-dead.

Underbelly 3 The Golden Mile: no-one has been charged over Ludwig Gertsch's murder. Dawn O'Donnell leaves $3M out of $16M to her widow Aneik Baten while a Lucien Freud painting listed in the estate is found to be a fake.

Underbelly3 The Golden Mile will begin screening in April on the Nine network.

Jonathan King probed by Madame Arcati

For the unenlightened, Madame Arcati is one of the UK's most famous bloggers with an extremely healthy and envious world-wide following. And she has a habit of getting up the collective noses of British tabloid editors and journalists.

Although one suspects Madame may also have a large fan base on the Street Of Shame as she exposes some of the nonsense and vagaries of the variety of pompous poseurs who now eek out a living writing the drivel that appears in many British newspapers as they plunge towards an uncertain future.

MA reminds tSS of the former News Ltd journo, ex-Liberal Party flack and shareholder activist Stephen Mayne who has become the bane of Rupert Murdoch's life by asking difficult questions at News Corp shareholder meetings.

Mayne started the website crikey.com.au in 2003 and (with help from tSS) quickly built it into the leading political, business and social comment website in Australia. Despite having to sell his house to pay a few libel lawsuits (without our help) he sold crikey in 2005 to former Editor-in-Chief of the Sydney Morning Herald Eric Beecher for a cool one million dollars.

That's a long-winded introduction to say, why comment on a book when Arcati gives such good review ? Read her views on pop mogul and self confessed "vile pervert" Jonathan King's autobiography. 65 My Life So Far by Jonathan King.

King has been penning best selling songs since he was a university student in 1965 when he wrote the much recorded 'Everyone's Gone To The Moon". His book is flying off the shelves and apparently has become a wildly popular read for holidaying Brits on the Mediterranean. tSS will read it when Amazon finally get's it's act together.

A small extract from Madame Arcati's review :

"Oh, JK! How could you? Or rather, how could you not?

What with all the celebs you've fucked, discovered, promoted, befriended, detested, wanked, created, re-invented, guided, supported and, yes, fucked again with your self-proclaimed 8" phallus over the decades, how could you not have had an index compiled for this monster-sized tome of star goss that is your autobiography? It took me half an hour to find the Madame Arcati mention on p570. And then I only found it by deductive reasoning.

Please, please get one done for a future reprint! Listen to a gnarled old index-loving clairvoyant."

Madame's wish may come true. On his website King says his self-published book may be about to be picked up by a major publisher.

Watch one of King's great hits-Johnny Reggae by The Piglets

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## Friday-we set our sights on Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, climate denialist and the man who single handedly won the Falklands War !

batty Lord returns...

     3.34am- Our favourite Peer of the Realm in the form of Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley has flown back into town and will host a gala dinner at the Sheraton Hotel on Tuesday night.

      tSS has secured a one-on-one interview with the leading climate sceptic and expects much fun as we probe his Lordship on his wacky views. On Tuesday he will continue the theme that all this climate change nonsense is simply a rallying call for the left, devoid of a cause since the Berlin Wall fell !.

      Monckton also financed a film in response to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

    
     The Great Global Warming Swindle starred Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols and was directed by Malcolm NcLaren (err..note to sub-editor: Mildred, please check this !).
    

       

The guest list should be most illuminating. Monckton enthusiast, the like-minded Alan Jones will be MC.

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 #   The latest issue of Cleo has taken our advice and done a piece on the website Passive Aggressive notes.

a friendly Freudian slip

    That's how writer Mandy Miami described the diminutive Mathew Freud in a British magazine many years ago, long before he became the "most influential public relations executive in Britain"  according to PR Week magazine. Freud is boss of Freud Communications: motto:  "Sometimes we upset people.."

   But what is this statement all about in the New York Times ?. According to the newspaper Freud says:

 “I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to,”

       Oh really ?. Shurley shome mishtake as the English satirical magazine Private Eye would say. Freud is referring to the boss of the US cable network Fox News, Roger Ailes.

      Rupert Murdoch had just heaped praise upon Ailes and his skilled management of Fox News and it's capture of every right-wing ratbag US viewer and it's slavish devotion to Republican Evangelism.
       Mathew Freud is also married to Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth.

       But what about his dad-in-law's UK publications The Sun or the News of The World which have been dragging journalistic standards down to gutter level  for over 2 decades ?. Not that they had far to fall.

       A little too close to home perhaps.

        Murdoch's British rags dole out tosh by the tonne each week but who could forget some shining moments like the 'Gotcha' headline of The Sun front page in 1982, celebrating the horrible death of 323 young Argentinian sailors in a useless war for the sheep-shagging Falklands Islands begun by the Murdoch adored Margaret Thatcher.

     And let's not even go near the once respectable Sunday Times which reached it's lowest point in 1983 when it published the hilarious Hitler Diaries which contained nonsense like ""Eva gave a glorious supper party tonight at the Bergdorf with boiled veggies. Hermann G. doped to the eyeballs as usual. Heinrich H. reports excellent results with Zyclon B (wife Margarete still an old cow).Tomorrow we take Poland. Dinner after with the Thyssens " or words to that effect.

        Despite being informed the diaries were a hoax, Murdoch published anyway declaring "we're in the entertainment business".

    Which is just what Fox News is. Entertaining to a point but with rather serious consequences. Along with Murdoch's worldwide media outlets it was a major drum beater for the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions.

     Where was Freud at that time ?. Probably hosting wonderful PR events at his Notting Hill house with guests like Prime Minister Tony Blair who was declaring that Saddam Hussein's (non-existent) WMDs were "45 minutes from London", a line fed to him by perhaps the former most influential public relations executive in Britain, Alastair Campbell and possibly dreamed up by a gossiping London taxi driver according to the newspaper of alleged repute, the Times (which previously promoted the bogus "45 minute" claim without question-owner: R.Murdoch)

     What is happening here ?.

      Fox News is horrendous, as can be seen just recently in one small example when a group of Los Angeles fire fighters who had travelled to Haiti under their own steam and expense were pictured dragging a 70 year old lady from the earthquake rubble on one TV network while at the same time the atrocious pill popping lard bucket and radio host Rush Limbaugh was interviewed on Fox telling Americans not to donate to the various Haitian relief funds as a solemn Sean Hannity nodded in agreement.

      The Sydney Morning Herald (article removed) speculates that Freud's statement is some sort of power ploy within the Murdoch family: "Authorised by the committee"as Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff puts it.. The committee being Lachlan Murdoch, Elisabeth and possibly presumptive heir James Murdoch. Or against James by the others. Wolff speculates that the statement has been released deliberately.

Mathew's great grand-dad Sigmund

 Perhaps Mathew Freud has dreams of taking over the News Corp empire with wife Elisabeth's help when Rupert kicks the bucket. After all with clients like Kentucky Fried Chicken and Nike (both still ripping off workers) the world would be Mathew's oyster with a global media empire to play with.

       Forget it Mathew. News Corp is a teetering financial dinosaur riddled with cancer and when Rupert is called to account before his maker it will crumble like the deck of cards it is, currently superbly juggled with a magician's skill and sleight of hand that has bedazzled bankers and money lenders worldwide. Settle just for the News of The World, it's more your style.

(Roger Ailes suggested Freud see a psychiatrist ! )

                                                          

calling private eye Frank Monte

    An alarming report as an heir to the US Rockerfeller fortune goes missing from Melbourne airport shortly after collecting a hire car. Herman Rockefeller (pictured) hasn't been heard from by his family since arriving in Australia last Thursday which family members say is unusual. But is he from that family ?. Police aren't quite sure.

   Sounds like a case for the world's most famous private eye Frank Monte, currently moving digs from the luxury Horizon building into the even more salubrious Ikon apartment block in Potts Point.

    Monte says the "walls were too thin " at the Horizon and besides, he was just living out the end of society doctor Dr Robert Fox's lease. Fox is now living in Melbourne.

     "I always planned to live at the Ikon" says Monte. "The views are better and the rooms larger".

      Will this missing heir be found ?.

Unlike his relative Michael Rockefeller Jnr, the son of Nelson Rockerfeller who was the New York governor when his youngest boy disappeared in the wilds of the Asmat region of southwestern New Guinea around 1961. The Rockerfellers are one of the most powerful and richest US families and they called upon a young Italian born investigator Frank Monte to search for the heir.

Monte with Donald Trump

Rockefeller Jnr was never found alive although Monte says he tracked down his final movements and found the missing man's skull, duly delivered to to Nelson Rockerfeller in New York. The subject of Michael Jnr's disappearance is never discussed by the Rockerfeller clan.

                                               Frank Monte on the Larry King show

      Monte went onto become one of the most famous gumshoes in the world, working for Aristolte Onassis and various Arab sheiks and royal familes out of offices in New York and Los Angeles. He detailed his life in a book, The Spying Game and has been the subject of hundreds of magazine profiles, appeared on the Larry King and Howard Stern TV shows and ran one of the world's first internet live shows when he hit New York nightlife with thousands of viewers watching real life action via Monte's tiny spy cameras.

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      Friday night was the last appearance in Australia for Tallulah Rendell on her world tour. Song-writer and singer Tallulah is the daughter of former London and Hello social scribe John Rendell, famous more recently for his best selling book Christian The Lion. Tallulah's mum is the top British publicist and co-host of the hysterical Ladettes to Lady TV show Liz Brewer.

                                                   Tallulah Rendell and father John

 Tallulah made several appearances at the Vanguard in Newtown and the Oxford Art's Factory in Darlinghurst before jetting out today for New Zealand and Japan while dad John tours local schools lecturing kids about animal conservation in Africa.

exclusive : Sydney snares film awards and Morgan's on the way

            On the day NSW premier Kristina Keneally ( with Cate Blanchett in tow) announced that Sydney has lured the Australian Film Awards (AFI) away from their usual home in Melbourne, tSS can exclusively announce plans are well underway to film a science fiction epic based on the Sir Arthur C.Clarke's award-winning 1972 novel Rendezvous with Rama ,some of which will be shot in Australia.

           The rights to Rama were purchased by actor Morgan Freeman several years ago and he has raised $US200M to produce the film. tSS's Hollywood spy disguised as Freeman's co-producer says that script problems are nearly over with Freeman, a perfectionist  demanding re-writes to steer the movie away from Hollywood sensationalism and to stay more faithful with Clarke's original concept, much like Stanley Kubrik's epic 2001 A Space Odyssey, based on another Clarke novel.

        Rendevous with Rama is set in the 22nd century when an alien ship suddenly appears in Earth's solar system and an expedition is sent out to explore the first alien artifact. The film has been Freeman's pet project for over 10 years now.
         tSS was fortunate to visit Sri Lanka in 2006 to meet with Freeman and Sir Arthur when the actor arrived to spend a week with the science fiction master in his rambling beachside bungalow to discuss aspects of the production.
         Much of the film is to be shot in New Zealand at Lord of the Ring's director Peter Jackson's studios with dates now being lined up at Sydney's Fox Studios and the Gold Coast's Warner Bros studios in 2011. Freeman will produce, direct and star in the film and is expected to visit Australia later this year.
         Freeman and Clarke formed a close bond as far back as 1996 when he first contacted the writer about purchasing the rights to his book. He, along with most of Sri Lanka were rocked when Sir Arthur was accused of sex crimes by one of the UK's most tawdry tabloids in 1998.

           Unkown to the outside world, Clarke had been paralyzed from the waist down for over 15 years putting paid to some of the physical claims by a reporter. Like the US president FDR, he would have himself propped up for media photographs to give the impression he was mobile on his legs.
           Clarke was regarded as one of Sri Lanka's most honoured citizens having spent almost his entire life living there. Despite Sri Lankan diplomats demanding the British newspaper hand over their proof, it continually declined to or ignored them.

            Then 3 young men admitted they had been paid cash by the newspaper to make the claims and withdrew their allegations. To this day, a Sri Lankan arrest warrant is still outstanding for the newspaper hack who filed the original report. Several NGOs who picked up on the false claims citing rumours alone, were only relieved from million dollar defamation lawsuits upon Clarke's death in 2008.
           At the time of the allegations, stories swirled about that the false claims were an attempt to embarrass HRH Prince Charles who was to travel to Sri Lanka in 1998 to invest Clarke with his knighthood. tSS has some inside credible knowledge on that, which we may publish one day.
            When Clarke died, he left most of his milllion dollar fortune to his Sri Lanka male partner of over 40 years and their extended family. The lurid tabloid stories contained tales of children living in Clarke's compound of an old English style house and half a dozen smaller houses. The kids turned out to be the children of his partner's brothers and sisters, all who had been housed by the British born writer.
          

you call that a drag queen ?

       Trolley dollies on Air New Zealand have got their knickers in a twist over their new uniforms (pictured right). The hosties complain that their new threads make them look like 'drag queens off the Mardi Gras 'pink' flight".

     

One commented to a NZ newspaper "I haven't worn that colour since I was 5".  The uniforms were designed by top NZ fashion designer  Trelise Cooper (left).

He based the print design on the Maori symbol, the 'koru', a name given to the new unfurling fern frond and symbolizes new life, growth, strength and peace. It's also the corporate design of Air NZ.

tSS hasn't been to the Land of the Long White Cloud ( and is not sure if we should after reading Duncan Fallowell's Going As Far As I Can) but we do have a rather batty aunt there who married a confirmed bachelor Knight of the Realm so he could get respectability and she in turn, the title Lady.

       Once when she visited Sydney tSS drove her to see Bondi Beach where she commented on the number of dark-hued folk about and upon hearing they were mainly Maoris who seemed to love the beachside suburb she replied.."really ! New Zealand seems to be getting lots of them there too !". Well she is slightly crackers and drinks a lot of gin.

            If we ever do travel there (which is likely to be soon on a mysterious project at the amazing Peter Jackson film studios) we will surely catch the Mardi Gras 'pink' flight".

     

      

 But do these uniforms really look like 'drag queen ' outfits ?. More like furnishing coverings to us and really-who cares what the person asking "beef or chicken ?" really is clothed in ?. The only requirement I have is that the pilot is sober, unlike me, on long haul flights.

And they certainly don't look like our favourite Maori drag queen Carmen (left).

            

 tSS has found the perfect Hostie outfit for the new Mardi Gras 'pink' flight. (right). We think we might put the idea to Virgin airline boss Sir Richard Branson (left) with the idea he launches regular Mardi Gras 'pink' flights.


Afterall he took up tSS's suggestion to introduce live entertainment on his first London to New York flights a long time ago. We reckon it's a winner of an idea.

Hollywood loves Toni-Sydney adores Cate

While Toni Collette was receiving plaudits at the Golden Globes in LA where she was voted Best Actress in a TV series-the terrific show The United States of Tara, a much smaller get-together was happening in Kings Cross when a number of media theatre critics gave their own awards for the year's local productions at the Sydney Theatre Awards.

It wasn't going to be too difficult to guess who would receive the top gong-Cate Blanchett for her Sydney Theatre Company's production of A Street Car Named Desire, directed by the legendary Liv Ullmann and which wowed audiences throughout the USA.

Cate is one of the most bankable stars in the world, one of the most gorgeous with flawless porcelain skin, captivating eyes and is the least affected by her amazing success.
There's no chance she'll trade in long time husband, playwright and director Andrew Upton, she adores him. Still commanding up to $15M a movie, she has a few homes dotted around the world but prefers her stately homestead in the fairly suburban Hunters Hill, albeit with superb harbour views where she can give her kids a kind of normal life.

And she still hangs out at the bar after an awards affair or opening night and always look quite beautiful.And she treats tSS to a glass or 2 of champers and drops us home in her limo. Our kind of gal.

Under Blanchett's stewardship the Sydney Theatre Company goes from strength to strength drawing endorsements from the likes of Giorgio Armani who has flown into town to see 3 productions including Streetcar and this year's critics award for the best production The War of the Roses.

Other theatre types who dropped in included Leah Purcell and actor Marcus Graham (left)-Nic Kidman's secret long-time ex. Marcus tells us he has another gig in a new series of the US show Sins of The City and is ploughing through half a dozen Hollywood scripts.

Tiny actor Tom Burlinson (right ) handed out a few awards. He tells tSS he is still in such high demand for his Frank Sinatra tribute show he could spend the rest of his life in the Catskills or Las Vegas making a fortune.

Actor Josh McConville was named best newcomer for his roles in The Call and Strange Attractor. And in mid-presentations, word came through that the lovely Caroline O'Connor had just received 3 standing ovations at the opening of Cell Block Tango on Broadway (clip below)

Cate tries her hand badly at the piano...

and (below) poses with something in a frame.

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Tomorrow tSS goes to Redfern where HRH Prince William meets some indigenous kids. What fun !

tabloids...not quite dead but on the way out

     The UK blogger Madame Arcati posts the following in response to a letter : "I take the view that newspapers by and large have outlived their usefulness, are generally bullying and vulgar, and do more harm than good in their present form."

      tSS agrees and nothing demonstrates this more than today's Galaxy poll conducted for the Murdoch Sunday Telegraph about the new premier of NSW, American born Kristina Keneally.

     Keneally's rise to the top has given her a 73% approval rating with the punters, as opposed to state Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell-now into his 6th year in the job and floundering at 42% approval. Significantly-70% of Coalition voters approve of Keneally. In other words, they, as tSS has been saying for yonks-haven't warmed to their own party leader.


 
Keneally and Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt
 
          tSS outdid all other news outlets-television, radio and print by predicting Keneally would be Premier by November-she was on the 3rd December. At the time of the prediction one well know political pundit said at a party we were 'batshit crazy" .
         Following Keneally's election in a party-room spill both News Ltd and the normally sane Fairfax Newspapers went on a crazy rampage-accusing her of being a "puppet premier" to Labor powerbrokers Eddie O'Beid and Joe Tripodi .

      Both newspaper outlets ignored the fact that the Federal Coalition dumped their best chance at scoring a hit against PM Kevin Rudd by sacking the only man who-given time-would give him a run for his money, the extremely clever ex-merchant banker Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull was dumped via the influence of right-wing Coalition power brokers like Nick Minchin who seem determined to lead their party to oblivion with the 'Mad Monk' Tony Abbott (right) in charge.
   That's power brokers on all sides of politics guys-just like it's always been and will be ever after.
     Even the pompous Peter Harvey of Channel Nine news tonight pontificated that  a certain percentage of voters perceive Keneally as a "puppet" !. Yes Peter-you have been one of the dingbats pushing the line since she was elected but get a grip-the majority of the state's voters aren't buying that line. Political journalists like Harvey have completely lost their way once they repeat tosh from tabloids.
    Both newspapers ran bizarre 'people's petitions' demanding an immediate election seemingly oblivious to the fact that 4 year fixed terms are now mandatory and could only be changed by a referendum  in 18 months time at the next state election and the end of the err.. current 4 year term.

        The tone of these 'people's petitions' changed slightly after about a month when both newspapers changed tack and began demanding Keneally and Labor visit Governor Marie Bashir and offer themselves up for election (still an impossibilty under current law) .
         The Fairfax Sydney Morning Herald's law expert Richard Akland, who describes NSW politics as "some of the nastiest on the planet" finally felt obliged to point this out to his own colleagues.

        If an 80 year old social snapper, a 6 a day G&T drinking blogger and a useless sub-editor cat at tSS can get these things right, as opposed to some of the oldest and most established news outlets on the planet, what hope is there for the printed media that cannot perceive that the great unwashed public just isn't interested anymore in their attempted machinations of public opinion ?.

       In 2007 Kevin Rudd made a conscious decision to ignore Murdoch's hysterical political pundits who were out to destroy his election campaign-furious that he wasn't paying the appropriate homage to them. Murdoch's pride and joy The Australian leapt into the fray with gusto reporting in shock and horror a lunch Rudd attended with lobbyists Brian Burke and business partner Julian Grill . Burke was a former WA Labor premier who had served a jail term.

        The Australian thought it was on a winner until ex-Labor PM Paul Keating-himself the victim of a vicious News Ltd smear campaign stepped in to describe Burke ( right )and Grill as the "Arthur Daley and Terry of West Australia politics", delightfully trivialising the whole affair. The only victim was then Murdoch favoured PM John Howard who had huffed and puffed with outrage at Rudd, but then had to accept the resignation of one of his own ministers who had also lunched with the pair.

       

    Again they came up with the startling story that Rudd, as a diplomat , had visited a New York strip club with New York Post editor and  Murdoch favourite Col Allan ( in the USSR it used to be called a honey trap). It backfired badly-the church attending Christian Rudd was just seen as a bit more human-his approval ratings dramatically rose.

        Then came the great 'utegate" scandal when Malcolm Turnbull-supplied with dodged up emails by a News Ltd hack, accused Rudd of attempting to assist a car dealer friend. The resulting damage winded Turnbull but The Australian political writers leading the charge were mortally wounded-their credibility shot.

         President Barack Obama deliberately sidelined Fox News in his campaign. He was vindicated. Only Britain is still enthralled by the tabloids as both PM Gordon Brown and Conservative Leader David Cameron fling themselves at the feet of tabloid writers and in particular, grovel for the affection of the Murdoch clan.

          Unfortunately one important matter is being lost with the plunging credibility of tabloids and newspapers. Real investigations. To their credit it was Murdoch's Australian journalists who perservered and uncovered the appalling fibs and illegal activities of the Australian Federal Police who had incarcerated the innocent Indian born Dr Haneef after the Glasgow Airport bombings in 2007. 

                  
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       Next Wednesday sees the first Australian singing appearance of Tallulah Rendall-the daughter of 'Christian The Lion' author John Rendall and London publicist and star of 'Ladette to Lady' Liz Brewer.

       

The Vanguard,a small venue in the very alternative suburb of Newtown says the night is already a sellout with a 100 booked for dinner. Expect Rendell to pull out all the stops for Tallulah's gala appearance with guests like Lady Sonia McMahon and her pal Glen Marie Frost along with Lady Atwill. Presumably John, flush with cash will deliver Tallulah in the vintage Roller he has just had shipped from London.

For those who have already forgotten the Christian the Lion saga-here is the youtube clip that made Rendall and partner Anthony 'Ace' Bourke famous. (It's a vicious rumour a camera assistant was standing behind the pair waving a hunk of raw meat.) Followed by a piece on Ivana Trump with Tallulah's mum Liz Brewer.

 

avoid Los Angeles this week..

Is Skippy on the menu tonight ?

           LA must be thrilled with it all-'G'Day USA' kicks off today with "Come Walkabout in Beverly Hills'. No it ain't a guided tour of movie star homes but an Australian 'cultural' event at the The Paley Center for Media, where the general US public is invited to sample Aussie wines, take walkabout travelogues and view cultural performances. Presumably a didgerdoo player-that always dazzles the crowds and maybe a few indigenous kiddies dancing.

         Tonight is the gala black tie dinner at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom where invited guests include Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward, Nicole Kidman and hubby Keith and acting brothers Chris and Liam Hemsworth. Liam is currently dating Miley Cyrus and the pair just jetted out from Melbourne after a secret visit.

        Other guests have been invited to accept an inevitable award-Greg Norman for sport, Toni Collette for 'Excellence in FIlm and Television' and the USA's current TV heart-throb who has just been voted the most popular man on television, ex -Home and Away star Simon Baker whose series The Mentalist may be pulling small audiences in the UK but is the USA's current Number One show.

 

There is no way the organisers could get away with not inviting Olivia Newton John of course and Honorary Aussie John Travolta who literally parks a vintage Qantas Boeing 707 in his backyard

 And it would be impossible to get this one of the ground without Avatar star-Sam Worthington.  Oh, and needless to say Russell Crowe along with Rupert Murdoch and wife Wendi.

    

But where is our favourite lady Dame Edna ?. Sadly her manager Barry Humphries says she has other duties back home to perform which also means no diplomatic representation in the form of Minister for The Yartz, Sir Les Patterson.

Entertainment sounds fine-with boy band Human Nature -but celebrity chef Peter Evans who will be feeding the guests ominously specialises in Kangaroo recipes and may present his take on the prawn cocktail-'prawn and avocado stack'.

Tickets-at from $5000 to $10,000 each sold out weeks ago.  And yes, of course Hugh Jackman will be the MC !
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ps : an email arrives to inform us we forgot to mention another star guest at tonight's LA dinner-former Miss Universe winner Jennifer Hawkins who will be with her boyfriend, the handsome model Jake Wall who has become a gay pin-up in the USA. Very re-miss of us, particularly as Hawkins hit a few headlines around the world recently with her Marie Claire magazine "un-air brushed" photo shoot.

The cover was the concept of Marie Claire's brilliant editor Jackie Frank, daughter of Melbourne social scribe Lillian Frank.

         tSS accompanied Jennifer on her triumphant 2 week tour of Oz when she won the title. Having been up close and personal on numerous occasions and in back stage dressing-rooms with Jennifer we can assure there are few imperfections that need to be air-brushed. Yet another superb campaign by Frank who fronted interviews stating she couldn't understand all the fuss !.
     tSS's snap of Hawkin's unscripted wardrobe malfunction (above) during that tour also hit a few front page newspapers worldwide earning tSS enough for a recuperating rest in Bali after the hullaballoo died down.
       Hawkins has gone onto to become the most successful Miss Universe ever, earning up to $5M a year in endorsements. She recently told tSS she has been offered a role in a US TV series. More about that soon.

Kate's lawyers after Aussie paparazzo....

        The report that Kate Middleton has instructed the Queen's lawyer's to pursue 2 photo agencies over the sale of snaps of Prince William's girlfriend adds more woes to Sydney based agency Ikon and it's likeable boss, the roguish snapper Peter Carrette. (right in white sunglasses)
   The report -on Murdoch's News Ltd website says the pics were offered to British newspapers, presumably The Sun and other News Ltd outlets but were graciously rejected but published in Germany (forgetting to mention the slight fact that the German publication is part Murdoch owned ).
   Carrette, who lives in a Bondi apartment owned by friend and actor Jack Thompson and originally from London, has lived most of his life patrolling Bondi Beach and snapping topless stars .
    He came a cropper in 2006 when he organised himself and 2 aides to squirt actor Heath Ledger with water pistols at a film premiere.

      "You need us " was their claim and Carrette fronted several TV interviews broadcast world-wide proclaiming his right to do just about anything to get a saleable snap.
    That stunt backfired badly when the giant film corporation Village Roadshow banned him from all future events. 2 days later Carrette was filmed walking up the steps of the late Ledger's recently purchased Bronte Beach seaside house and leaving a bunch of flowers at the door with a note.
       As he departed a male opened the door-ripped up the note and hurled the bouquet after Carrette. Within 2 months Ledger announced he was flogging his much loved house and moving to New York to escape probing cameras. He died there in 2008.
     But another blast from the past is about to arrive Downunder and is seeking an apology.

Mick Jagger's ex-girlfriend Marrianne Faithful will be in Sydney in a fortnight and has said she is still smarting from a snap taken as far back as 1967 when she and Mick arrived here for Jagger's film role as the bushranger Ned Kelly. Faithful ended up in hospital on day two after a suspected drug overdose.
      A photographer sneaked into the hospital in a doctor's coat with stethoscope and snapped Faithful as she lay in bed looking like death. The pic went around the world in a flash.

     tSS spoke to Faithful via telephone a week ago about her up-coming appearance at the Sydney Opera House where she will be joined on-stage by the Federal Environment Minister and fromer Midnight Oil's singer Peter Garrett and actor Tim Robbins in a show conceived by actor Johnny Depp.
      Asked about the infamous snap, Marrianne said she  had "sort of forgiven the photographer but  I might just give him a kick in the balls if I run into him "
       Step forward Peter Carrette . According to the News Ltd piece Middleton's lawyers have asked for financial compensation. Carrette claims he receives $50,000 a picture-even claiming that was what he received for the Faithful hospital snap in '67 (which in today's money would be about half a million). Plenty enough  for a lead-lined jock-strap to protect those bollocks.