In the scheme of things, New Idea's year so far has been about as good as Channel Nine's; in between breaking embargos and paying Wayne Carey to talk about getting wasted and punching his girlfriend, suffice to say it's been a red letter start to the year for the mag.

Well, as though they didn't already share plenty of characteristics with Nine, New Idea is now apparently going on a boning frenzy, with staffers dropping left, right and centre. Health reporter Jane Worthington was apparently sacked via a phone call this week and is the latest to go.

Her firing follows the dismissal of New Idea veterans Patrice Fidgeon and Sue Smethurst last week.

Confidential sources yesterday alleged the sackings were part of a secret hit list poised to target current staffers Phil Koch, Lee-Anne Carter and Donna Ogier for the chop next.

Publisher Suzanne Monks denied the existence of such a list, confirming the trio's on-going employment.

"All (are) valued members of the New Idea team and are part of New Idea's plans going forward," she said yesterday.

In other staff changes, the magazine's beauty writer Chelsea Clark has been promoted to associate editor.

It's worth noting, too, that Smethurst is considering legal action as her sacking occurred two weeks before the end of her maternity leave, as is Worthington, both fighting the bonings on unfair dismissal grounds.

Awesome, top work New Idea! Walkleys all 'round!

Following intimations on his Enough Rope appearance on Monday that he and girlfriend Kate Neilson were assessing whether they were "good for each other", it looks as though Wayne Carey has split with his girlfriend of two years.

Only we're not so sure Neilson knows it's for real this time.

Family sources close to Carey said last night they believed it was a final break-up rather than a separation.

But Ms Neilson denied their relationship was over.

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We're almost - almost - starting to feel sorry for New Idea magazine these days. To say it's been an eventful few months would be an understatement, and things just seem to be getting worse.

Apparently editor Mirella Cestaro - who is only a month into her role as the women's mag's editor - decided to cough up mad bucks for the Michael Clarke and Lara "Intellegent" Bingle engagement story. Problem is, if New Idea's competitors' decisions are to be believed, her readers probably don't even want to hear about Bingle.

The Pacific Magazines title paid a massive $135,000 for a two-part love story of the blonde couple's engagement, despite ACP competitor Woman's Day pulling out of negotiations at $80,000 - saying it wasn't worth more because Bingle does not resonate with female readers.

Following poor sales after Monday's "exclusive", billed as such despite the fact the news had already broken, Cestaro is understood to be facing criticism for orchestrating an overpriced and unsuccessful deal.

We suggest a tell-all cover story about Ivan Milat's high school sweetheart, the readers will love that!

It's shaping up to be a red letter year for Australia's favourite emergency toilet paper substitute women's magazine, New Idea.

First they blew Prince Harry's cover in Afghanistan, then they claimed they had no idea (ho ho) that there was an embargo on the Prince's service (which suggested it was possible New Idea had contacted neither the Army nor the Palace to confirm or deny their leads), then they put Wayne Carey on the cover amid a storm of criticism that by paying him a rumoured $180,000, they were in essence supporting violence against women.

Well, said criticism has reached fever pitch as it is beginning to emerge that New Idea's advertisers are pulling lucrative contracts left, right and centre so as not to be seen to be 'supporting' Carey's alleged assault of girlfriend Kate Neilson by way of providing, in essence, the money the magazine - allegedly - used to lure the Fallen AFL Superstar™ to spill his guts.

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In case you thought Wayne Carey couldn't get any shitter, and if you figured New Idea wouldn't stoop any lower than, you know, opening the third-in-line for the throne up for a grenade to the head, think again!

It seems New Idea think that the best way to rehabilitate blokes who allegedly bash their partners is to hand them a sweaty wad of cash and get them to talk about feelings while their partner sits at their side like some Tammy Wynnette song writ large.

New Idea reportedly paid $180,000 to Carey and his girlfriend Kate Neilson for an interview in which they discuss drug abuse and their tumultuous relationship.

Women's Domestic Violence Crisis Service board member Jane Ashton lashed out at the payment.

"If they're paying for a story based on someone beating up somebody else it's sleazy and it goes back to the fact that most people think that it's not criminal," she said.

"It undermines all these people who work in family violence who are trying to reassure women that it's not normal and it is criminal."

...

The magazine last November launched a massive campaign - endorsed by celebrities including Nicole Kidman - denouncing family violence.

Look, we know celebrities - especially celebrities gone wild - sell magazines, but surely they could've just interviewed Neilson? They still could've used the phrase "WAYNE CAREY" on the cover, which presumably would make all the vultures who think they'll never (allegedly) get a champagne glass to the face in a Miami restaurant happy to drool over someone else's misery.

We told you this morning that Prince Harry's deployment was now in question thanks to loose-lipped media outlets breaking the embargo the British Army had requested.

Well, it looks like the British Army, Lleyton Hewitt and Terri Irwin are not the only "fans" of New Idea out there - we wonder what point the News.com.au team are trying to convey here:

New Idea's response to their part in the fiasco essentially entails, "Enburgo, wat's dat? We dun no bout dis fings!"

They've said they were not advised of the embargo; however something tells us had the clowns at New Idea, you know, contacted the Palace press department, or perhaps the Army's PR team, they may have wised up. Heaven forbid they actually research a story before running with it!

Rumours Queen Elizabeth was planning to have the entire staff of New Idea kicked out of the Commonwealth could not be confirmed at time of press.

You may recall that early last year, Prince Harry cracked the sooks because there was talk the British Army wouldn't let him go to the front line, fearing his "fame" would make him a target for a kidnapping or murder; his response at the time was the very princely, "There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."

Well, it turns out he did get his wish, but those clowns at New Idea thought they'd join forces with a gaggle of other questionable news portals and break the embargo agreed upon by the Army and the press, letting all and sundry know where Harry is, and what he's doing there.

Prince Harry has been fighting the Taliban on the front line in Afghanistan, the defence ministry in London said overnight.

The 23-year-old prince, an officer in the Household Cavalry regiment, has spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in the volatile southern province of Helmand, where most of Britain's troops are based.

His deployment makes him the first British royal to be sent on active military service in nearly 26 years, when his uncle, Prince Andrew, flew Royal Navy helicopters during the Falklands War with Argentina in 1982.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) had kept the young royal's deployment secret under a news blackout agreed by British media to prevent details reaching insurgents and endangering the prince and his comrades.

But the arrangement broke down after news was leaked out on the US website, the Drudge Report, which said that the Australian magazine New Idea and the German tabloid Bild were the first to break a world embargo.

At least Terri Irwin and Lleyton Hewitt will go in fighting for his honour - they, too, hate New Idea!

We found so much to enjoy in the August 11 edition of New Idea that we would be hard-pressed to choose a favourite article from the enlightening and intellectually stimulating pieces the magazine contained.

Inside Thorpey's Secret World? No, because while the piece was a rollicking insight into Ian Thorpe's post-swimming adventures, there was a disappointing lack of rainbow action, or even a reference to his spectacularly named line of fragrances Ian Thorpe For Men.

The 283-page souvenir tribute to the late Princess Diana? We liked the trip down memory lane, especially the photo of the People's Princess shaking hands with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman captioned "Nicole Kidman was a good friend" (she was? How did this beautiful relationship ever pass us by? Was there a Good Weekend The 2 Of Us we missed?) but the delightful mix of snaps just can't compete with the results from the New Idea Book Club survey.

It would seem New Idea and Harlequin recently quizzed the good readers of the mag about all things book related, and the results are quite brilliant/insightful.

WHAT TYPES OF BOOKS DO YOU MOST LIKE TO READ?

Crime - 10%
Thriller - 19%
Romance - 18%
Biography - 17%
Non-fiction - 12%
Self-help - 9%
Literary - 6%

Literary comes last, we note. As it should. Also, what sort of stuff belongs in the low-rating "literary" genre?

WHICH MALE CHARACTER WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO DATE?

Mr Darcy - 34%
Rhett Butler - 20%
James Bond - 18%
Inspector Morse - 10%

There must have been some kind of funny business with the voting forms, as we are completely befuddled as to why sexy investigative crumpet Inspector Morse didn't top that list. Which company was responsible for the counting of votes - Legion Interactive?

WHICH NAME IS BEST FOR A ROMANTIC LEADING MAN?

Robert - 42%
Alfredo - 18%
Wayne - 13%
Fabio - 13%
Bruce - 9%
Duke - 4%

No offence to the Alfredos, Waynes and Bruces of the world, but we find it somewhat puzzling that those monikers made the list of the top six leading man names.

Nonetheless, we believe the results of this survey to be an illuminating and revealing glance into the reading habits of New Idea readers, and we give it two hearty thumbs up.

*Erotically charged post title shamelessly pilfered from this incredibly exciting sounding romance novel.

In the latest issue of the magazine, New Idea have published an article which talks about Rosie O'Donnell' s plan to "out" Oprah Winfrey in her new book. There's nothing we love better than a good outing, except perhaps the following staggeringly enjoyable paragraph.

"Rosie is dishing the dirt on some of the biggest names in show business," an insider says. "And Oprah is on top of her hit list. She wants to reveal what she feels is the truth about Oprah and Gayle's little secret - and she's holding nothing back."

"Oprah is heartbroken that a venomous Rosie could turn her gay rage on her and close friend Gayle. They have always denied the lesbian slurs, and now Rosie is dredging them up again. What makes it even more devastating is that Oprah and Rosie were once friends."

Can you guess which bit delighted us to the point of our head exploding (metaphorically)?

GAY RAGE!

Presumably "gay rage" is a particularly vicious, rainbow coloured strain of rage. Give us reasonable heterosexual rage any day, or even the somewhat confused bi-curious rage... Just not GAY RAGE!

TERRIFYING, BLOODCURDLING, HAIR-PULLING, BITCH SLAPPING GAY RAGE!