Front Row Dress Circle

Maybe these two should thrash it out in a ring - or get a room or whatever - but the latest incident had these two hissing like cats at each other down the phone. Depending on which version of the story you read one will tell you that Reid threatened Andre first and then the other will tell you that Andre called Reid a ‘fag’ and a ‘tranny’.

But this whole Andre vs Price saga has become tiresome and neither should be using the media or their respective reality shows (and they both are) to score points against the other. They are both using various magazines to shoot down the other over the latest thing being said or done - Pete whines about her constantly in his show while moaning at the same time about ‘moving on’. He needs to know that the media will not let up about the breakup with Katie until he ends all the speculation by revealing his reason(s) why; we can all speculate - personally I suspect he and his side of Can Associates decided among themselves that he could do better without Katie, that he no longer wanted, or needed, to share the limelight with her (that being with her gave him…) and he wanted to be just ‘Peter Andre’ and not ‘Katie and Peter’. I also suspect something deeper regarding one issue that seemed to be a bone of contention between them when Katie did her recent interview with Piers Morgan - regarding the miscarriage - but that’s as far as I will go on that one, let’s wait and see. His show does make for cringeworthy stuff at times as his sycophantic entourage work overtime to constantly reassure Pete how wonderful he is, looks, sounds…

I remember that nasty row on TV between Peter and Katie in that shop in LA and I remember being surprised at the side of Pete that emerged during it. All I’m seeing lately is a very bitter Peter Andre starting to show a rather unpleasant side to himself - just as Katie has already shown hers - and I am wondering if he is at all aware of it…

Popularity: 23% [?]

Isn’t it nice to know that if someone is overheard calling you a silly name, and you are not bothered or insulted, that there are thousands of other people to get offended on your behalf…? in fact, complete strangers will don their cloaks of sanctimony and wade right into your personal business almost pushing you aside in the process.

Strictly Come Dancing’s Anton Du Beke did a really silly thing in telling his half Morroccan/half Indian partner, Laila Rouass, that she looked “like a paki” after she had been to a tanning salon (kind of an odd thing to do given her naturally olive complexion anyway…) to deepen her skin colour for the show. Apparently she was momentarily annoyed but Anton apologised, she accepted and that should have been that.

But no, some pedantic little eavesdropper overheard and, voila, you have the latest racist row!

I think it is a load of rubbish and it should never have been allowed to get this far, it was between Anton and Laila and not the rest of the population. In my opinion there is nothing insulting about being compared to a Pakistani person…is there Laila? if I was Pakistani I would be offended that SHE was offended, and that the rest of the WORLD is offended that being told you look Pakistani is a derogatory thing to say…

Get a grip folks. this was one silly word, it is not an act of racism - if you want to complain about REAL racism then talk to some South Africans, or some African-Americans who live in certain parts of America. Talk to Koreans and Muslims in China - and if you want to really jump up and down in anger then read about the fate of albino Africans in Africa…it will really make you sick.

Popularity: 29% [?]

I saw this inspirational young man being interviewed on television last week and I thought how very unfair life can be at times. Alex has been called everything from genius to child prodigy but one thing is absolutely certain - Alex is a supremely gifted musician and every single day in his life matters more than anything.

Alex is nineteen, he also has cystic fibrosis and lives everyday with the knowledge that he could be just one infection away from dying. Those are not nice words for me to write so heaven only knows how it is for Alex to live the reality. But he does; he gets up each day and gets on with it. Alex studies music at Cambridge University and is a talented pianist and conductor.

In April Alex conducted Bach’s mighty St Matthews Passion - a work of which the score is a book 2ft square and 300 pages long. For weeks and months he lived and breathed this momentous work with an energy and exhuberance that his health at times could barely afford. But for Alex, as with most fine musicians, music is a matter of life and death and the day after he conducted this work to a sell out audience he entered hospital - in his own words - “at death’s door” . He gave his all for his love of music and at the same time raised money for research into CF.

I wish Alex all the best in his future and may it be a very, very long one.

Popularity: 29% [?]