Airs And Disgraces

GB News has finally announced its launch date, but it doesn’t seem as if the project’s frontman, Andrew Neil, is going to be back to GB in time for the grand début. Thanks to travel restrictions, he’s been trapped chez Neil in the south of France for the last little while – a country currently on the amber list.

The whispered workaround? Andrew’s show is going to be broadcast from a studio somewhere on the French Riviera.

Critics will no doubt scoff at the idea of GB News’s flagship show getting beamed in from France, but in fairness it was always the plan to break the London media stranglehold. And besides, if you want to take on les élites what better place to find them than the glittering Côte d’Azur?

As HBOMax wrings out nearly two hours of content for the Friends reunion, here’s a couple of previously unpublished Popbitch titbits about some of the cast – with the added benefit of featuring no James Corden:

* Matt LeBlanc used to sign into hotels under the name “Joey Clams”

* Matthew Perry’s dad was an Old Spice Guy in the old 70s and 80s ads

* David Schwimmer tells a good story about being on a set with Sly Stallone where Sly accidentally left his wireless mic on when nipping to the loo. Not for a piss or a plop but (as became obvious when things got going) a quick servicing from a willing lady.

* Jennifer Aniston used to have a carb monitor who followed her around on sets. Whenever Jen reached for a baked treat from craft service, this mystery woman would shout “JENNIFER! NO!”

Ex-Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre has had his nomination to become Head of Ofcom scratched. He always did seem a bit of an odd choice though. Renowned on Fleet Street for his sweary newsroom outbursts (the notorious “Double Cuntings”) it would have been terrible for a man of such delicate sensibilities to be put in that particular post.

During Dacre’s tenure at the Mail, the paper famously started gunning hard for Cherie Blair. Things got so bad at one point that Dacre actually had to publicly deny it was down to any personal vendetta, insisting that his only agenda was “good journalism”.

Behind the scenes though, one of the reasons it’s always been suspected Dacre had it in for her was that she once dared to breastfeed in front of him at Chequers.

After declaring “ROCK’N’ROLL NEVER DIES!” on stage, Eurovision winners Måneskin instantly trashed whatever rock cred they had by spending most of the following week desperately trying to convince people they hadn’t been snorting gak off the green room tables.

Disappointing though it is to confirm, it seems the band are actually as tediously clean as they say. Sources who spent a lot of time at those same tables say they were so stupidly made that there was barely space to rest a drink – let alone rack out a good line – so the “smashed glass” excuse stacks up.

Besides, everyone there knew there were cameras on them the whole time. So if you want to figure out the most likely sniffers, a better place to start would be the ones who were conspicuously absent whenever the cameras swept by.

Even accounting for nerves, there’s only so many times you can piss in four hours…

Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw has become part of the Eurovision furniture ever since he won the contest in 2015. A handsome, wholesome sort, he presents parts of the Swedish coverage, co-hosted a few of the UK’s national selection shows, and is forever inserting himself into those annual history-of-Eurovision montages at the main event.

But though he has a very clean cut reputation in front of the cameras, he has a weirdly X-rated motivational technique for his band backstage. He bucks musicians up before gigs by telling them they have to “Play like we’ve got our cocks out.”

Kay Burley is due to start back at Sky News next week after her six-month suspension for breaching Covid rules. Things might be a little awkward on her return though as, even in her absence, Kay has still managed to piss everyone off.

Because of her well-publicised antics, bosses have been ultra strict on the colleagues she left behind, demanding total adherence to the strictest letter of the law, which has made life especially tough there. Kay, meanwhile, was put on leave for practically the whole of the third lockdown – on full-pay – returning just in time to see all the regulations relax.

Nice work if you can get (suspended from) it!

The big industry story of the last few years has been harassment and workplace bullying – be it in film, TV, music, sports, news or media. Though a great number of the incidents have been sexual in nature, that isn’t the only gross way that higher-ups could exert their dominance over their charges.

For instance, someone who got their start on a famous Saturday morning kids’ TV show maintains that one of their managers used to get them to steady a ladder for them backstage. Then, just as the manager began to start climbing, they would casually drop a fart that the poor runner would have no choice but to stand and endure as they held their position.

Know of a weirder power-play? hello@popbitch.com

Teen star Olivia Rodrigo has been breaking all sorts of chart records this year – but the thing we were most interested to see is that she’s also managed to break a peculiar UK chart curse too.

* Britney’s I’m A Slave 4 U peaked at… No.4

* Irv Gotti’s Down 4 U peaked at… No.4

* Hi-Tack’s Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U) peaked at… No.4

Olivia Rodrigo’s Good 4 U? Debuted at… No.2

Great song for the summer: Girls Like Sex by L Devine
[Listen/download here]

What happened to all the shirtless Abercrombie And Fitch hunks?
[Read on Slate]

How SoundScan changed the US charts
[Read on The Ringer]

Måneskin x Nicki Minaj
[Hear on TikTok]

Baby seal learns to swim
[See on YouTube]

Last weekend to catch Dan Rawlings’ Give Way exhibition
[Take a look here]

Big otter: back from the dead
[See on The Guardian]

Still Bored?
Dunstan Bruce from Chumbawamba has made a documentary…
[See the trailer]