“Not so long ago, celebrity gossip was a moribund art form, domesticated by punch-pulling softies like Liz Smith, neutered by the red-carpet suck-bots of Entertainment Tonight. Once urbane, sophisticated even, a fizzy cocktail of venom and cynical wit, celebrity gossip had flattened into tepid stuff, a supermarket staple aimed at housewives. But then the Web came along to resurrect it. Visual, voyeuristic, convivial to rumour and speculation, the Internet is to gossip what sheep dung is to azaleas.”