Ease up on the Photoshop

One of the great inventions of recent years is Adobe Photoshop. Pictures can be edited (for which read manipulated) and unsightly blemishes can be removed (I think Tony Blair would like to Photoshop Gordon Brown out of Downing Street, but that's another matter).

However, some magazines are taking Photoshopping too far. Take, for example, the latest edition of Hello! There is a nine-page interview and photo shoot with the model Rachel Hunter. Rachel is 37 and the mother of two children. Now while no one would dispute that Miss Hunter is beautiful she is, as I said, 37 and the mother of two children. So why has the picture on page 78 been Photoshopped to within an inch of its life? Not a line, not a blemish in sight. Why? Is anyone really fooled?

For God's sake woman, smile

Once again Victoria Beckham's "friends" have come forward to say how lovely and caring she is and how much her friends appreciate her sense of fun. She is apparently cheering up Katie Holmes and Geri Halliwell.

It's not the first time that we have been told that Vicky is a laugh-a-minute girl.

If it is true, why does she always look so miserable in public?

The Minds of Women

I will never understand women if I live to be normal.

The free newspaper London Lite has a weekly column about dating. This week, it told the story of one girl who "fresh from dating hell" wanted to avoid men. So, she announced, she was going to a party where she could drink and flirt. Er, if she was off men who was she going to flirt with?

The boys duly appeared and she described them as "dressed to impress". Again, what does this actually mean? The one chap pictured had a plain white shirt, black shoes and jeans that were full of holes. Why is that impressive?