1.A politician in charge of maintaining standards of political decency has been forced to step down after being filmed snorting cocaine off the naked breasts of a prostitute.
Britain’s Sun On Sunday reports that Baron John Sewel, 69, a married father of four, was caught out with the women at his rent-protected London apartment.
A 45-minute video shows him telling one of two $425-a-night call girls that he wanted to “be led astray”.
The Sun says: “Hunched over a table, the crossbench peer is pictured holding a rolled-up bank note and snorting white powder.
Minutes later, he is seen lying naked on a bed before calling over one of the women, pulling down her top and snorting more powder off her breasts.
“One of the escorts is filmed saying to him, ‘You’re such a party animal!’, to which he allegedly replied, ‘I know. Disgusting, isn’t it?’ “
He was also caught saying he wanted an Asian prostitute to join them, adding: “They sort of look innocent but you know they’re wh***s. That’s a really nice combination isn’t it?”
2.NINE Network favourite Karl Stefanovic is going to try his hand at a late-night panel show.
The Australian’s Media Diary column says that Karl wants to take a more “irreverent fun look at the week’s news and sports events than the ABC’s low-profile Q&A”.
The show is expected to air in a post-10pm slot. Karl has long wanted to do something like this. He’s spent the past 10 years as anchor of Nine’s Today breakfast show.
3.There are reports that Tom Cruise – previously married to Katie Holmes, Nicole Kidman and Mimi Rogers – wants to take a fourth wife, in the form of his 22-year-old personal assistant, Emily Thomas.
She’s the daughter of a billionaire British banker who has been working with Tom on his latest film.
This may of course be a publicity stunt, but if you must know more, go here.
4.Meanwhile, The New York Times magazine has published a profile of South Australian born Terence Tao, describing him as possibly the greatest mathematician of our times.
Terry, as he was known when he lived in Adelaide, is resident at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has a brother who works at Google.
“When I was growing up, I knew I wanted to be a mathematician, but I had no idea what that entailed,” he told the Times, in what was described as “a lilting Australian accent”.
“I sort of imagined a committee would hand me problems to solve or something.”
One colleague describes Terry as “super-normal” and one of his students jokes that Terry “defies all the Hollywood mad-genius tropes”.
“They will never make a movie about him,” he said. “He doesn’t have a troubled life. He has a family, and they seem happy, and he’s usually smiling.”
