True Blue, Boris I Love You?

Blonde ambition looks set to take on a whole new meaning. Is Madonna about to come out as a Boris Johnson fan?

The singer, who has a home in London, has laid into Ken Livingstone over the capital’s traffic problems. “Will Ken Livingstone get my vote?” she says in Q Magazine. “No. The traffic is worse than ever. Now all Red Ken wants is roadworks going on everywhere. I would make it so that aspiring musicians wouldn’t have to pay the congestion charge, or pay taxes. They would be exempt from those kind of things.”

With a personal wealth estimated in the hundreds of millions, of course Madonna doesn’t quite fit into the “aspiring” bracket. Still, Boris knows what to do.

— Most amusing that the Queen was recorded remarking “The Prime Minister has got lost!” at the royal banquet on Wednesday. But are we quite sure this was entirely unintentional? Moments later Ma’am was to be seen subtly indicating the device hidden in a flower arrangement to President Sarkozy.

— We are told that The Mighty Boosh (comedians, whimsical) were set for a court battle with Sugar Puffs (cereal, sugary) after an advert appeared with the Honey Monster (monster, orange) and friend rapping in a surreal style similar to the Boosh’s “crimping”. Then Sugar Puffs wrote to say: “Honey Monster is heartbroken that he has upset you.” Crisis averted.

— What next for Ian Paisley, now he has retired as Northern Ireland’s First Minister? According to the Irish press, he will be heading for a spot of missionary activity. The raving Rev is the proud owner of a converted camper van, which has “Transporting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified” emblazoned on the side, and a speaker system. He will be journeying south, seeking converts. Oh yes, the man likes a challenge.

— Still no word of a new Editor at the New Statesman, six weeks after the departure of the last one, John Kampfner. Speculation now centres around Steve Richards, chief political columnist for The Independent, and formerly the left-leaning magazine’s political editor.

— Gareth Thomas MP (Harrow West, Lab) has written to his constituents about the closure of a local post office. Among the many solutions on which he solicits their views is the suggestion that it should be taken over by the nearby Harrow School. Eton would love that.

Postscript

— The occurrence of body dysmorphia is, apparently, mostly confined to females but nevertheless appears also to affect Little Britain’s David Walliams. Who is a man. “I think I’m just too big,” he tells Heat magazine. “I’m quite cumbersome and ungainly. When I try to dance, girls just laugh at me. When people ask me what my waist size is for costumes, I say 36in when really I’m 38in.”

— Writers at the pugnacious American gossip site Hecklerspray are not exactly overflowing with sympathy at news that Robin Williams’s wife has just asked him for a divorce. “Marsha Garces Williams has had enough of him always recounting the time that Julia Roberts magically turned life-sized and kissed him on the mouth,” they carp. She’s also tired of him always carving exquisite clocks and living for 1,000 years.

— Sir Elton John is giving a concert for Hillary Clinton in New York next month. The Washington Times wonders if this could be illegal, as US law 'prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds.' in connection with an election. The Clinton campaign says not, as Sir Elton is not being paid.

— The singer Norah Jones tells Newsweek she’s taken up pottery. “Everything I make turns into a face. I usually end up putting a nose and some silly eyebrows and eyes on it.”

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