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The end of the World

Well, Bitch never thought she’d see it – the closure of the News of the World has been the talk of the media circles for the last 24 hours, and none less so than at the annual media get-together (think Media Week Awards, but outside), the House Festival in Chiswick, organised by media luvvie hangout Soho House.

Enjoying the refreshments, and food, which included all the lobster and oysters you could eat (it’s a hard life).

On the entertainment front, there was Noah and the Whale, Tiny Tempah, Plan B and The Stereophonics, but despite the musical line-up, talk never really veered from the closure of the tabloid that had been announced earlier in the day.

The various tents fought it out (with Walker Media and creative agency/digital media owner Beta, both providing great entertainment), and the guest list was like a who’s who of media, including Walker chairman Phil Georgiadis, Tracy De Groose and Rob Horler from Aegis, Marcus Rich from The Mail on Sunday, Nick Bampton from Channel Five, Garry Lace and Robert Campbell from Beta, Bobi Carley from Disney and Jenny Biggam of the7stars (fresh from an appearance on breakfast television news).

One surprising arrival was Dominic Carter, the trading director from News International, who toughed it out despite the closure of one of his stable of papers

Carter was widely supported by his peers including Rich – right up to the last minute that was, when the managing director of The Mail on Sunday, said "Still, every cloud has a silver lining, eh?", in a blatant reference to his own title’s (newly elevated) place on the Sunday breakfast table…

Remember my name

Bitch hears that this week  Bauer Media hosted a ‘Fame Day’ in the presence of older man (and friend of Bitch’s secret crush Lord Sugar) Nick Hewer of ‘The Apprentice’.

The results were judged by Bauer Media chief executive Paul Keenan (quite the silver fox himself) and the company’s marketing director, Anne-Marie Lavan.

In an attempt to "promote our creativity and influence" (bit w@nky, darlings), each team was asked to present in 10 minutes the tangible and measurable results of their activity.

Four magazines were commended; best team effort went to Closer for their ‘Puppies for Puppies’ campaign, where the girls got their kit off (a bit of nudity always works girls) and the best presentation went to women’s magazine More.

Apparently, Bitch hears the mainly tone-deaf (that’s from a source) Q team got the left- back (in the changing rooms) awards for "sheer persistence, determination and originality" for its War Child single.

Bitch hears that top-class nerd, Zoo’s Simon Ward was singled out as Hero of the Day for his 24-hour Tweetathon in aid of Help For Heroes.

However, the overall winner of Fame Day was Bitch's favourite gossip rag Heat, which included mock-ups from photographer Alison Jackson of "stunt pictures" of Ashley and Cheryl, which made the front cover of the Star, and double–page spreads in the Mirror and The Sun. Richard Bacon also broadcast his Five Live show live from the Heat office and took banners saying: "Andy, Murray Me", to Wimbledon.

Rock, not House music

Bitch has always wondered what politicians get up to (she’s sure it’s not all oranges and fishnets – sorry, poor taste that).

So she’s delighted to hear that the Houses of Parliament recently played host to a battle of new bands entitled ‘Rock the House’, organised by publisher Future.

The winners of the competition were a group called Angry Vs The Bear, who played the first rock gig (in January 2010, Biffy Clyro became the first band to play an acoustic set on the terrace, but this is the first time a fully amplified gig has been allowed in the House).

Bitch is glad to see the gig was attended by various MPs and Commons speaker John Bercow, who turns out to be quite a rock fan. However, it seems not as rock ‘n’ roll as Future UK CEO Mark Wood (seen in this picture pulling the devil horns with a Conservative MP).

Bitch doesn’t want to be unkind, but she thinks there’s a little bit less Metallica about this photo and a little more ‘Wayne’s World’ or ‘This is Spinal Tap’.