Red Ken won’t get my vote, says Madonna - Mar 28 2008
Pop Queen Madonna has hit out at London’s transport network.

The star criticised the congestion charge, the Tube and complained that traffic was worse than ever. Madonna, 49, often spotted cycling around the capital but also using chauffeur-driven limousines, told Q magazine: "I would make it so that young musicians, aspiring musicians wouldn’t have to pay the congestion charge or pay taxes.

"They would be exempt from those kind of things so they would have more money to do other things.

"Will Ken Livingstone get my vote? No. The traffic in London is worse than ever now. All Red Ken wants is roadworks going on everywhere."

She added: "Don’t use The Tube; can’t use the roads? No. I’ll just have to walk I guess."

Madonna has criticised various aspects of UK life since moving to Britain, including lazy builders, officious parking wardens, fuel prices, old-fashioned hospitals and the weather.

Friends of the Earth London campaigner Jenny Bates said of the star’s most recent complaint: "The C-charge has reduced congestion and cut carbon dioxide emissions."

A spokesman for the Mayor said: "If we hadn’t had the C-charge we would now be in gridlock. The roadworks she refers to are long overdue."

Madonna denies split rumours - Mar 18 2008
Pop queen Madonna has dismissed reports that her marriage is on the rocks.

It has been suggested that the 49-year-old singer and her film director husband, Guy Ritchie, 39, are to split.

The pair, who have not been photographed together for weeks, were said to be leading separate lives.

Madonna was reportedly planning to take the couple’s children to the US, while Guy would stay in London.

But Liz Rosenberg, Madonna’s US spokeswoman, said: "I am delighted to confirm that Mr and Mrs Guy Ritchie remain happily married.

"Though they were in different countries recently - Madonna in the US doing promotion for her upcoming album Hard Candy and Guy finishing up post-production on his new film RocknRolla as well as completing a Nike commercial and working on several scripts in England - the family are joyfully back together at home in London.

"All is well and wonderful in the Ritchie household."

Rumours of trouble in the marriage intensified when Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director Guy failed to appear at Madonna’s induction into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame in the US last week.

It was also reported that Guy furnished a wing of the couple’s Marylebone townhouse for his private use.

The pair married at an exclusive ceremony in the Scottish Highlands in 2000 with actress Gwyneth Paltrow as maid of honour. They adopted David Banda, two, from Malawi and are parents to seven-year-old Rocco. Madonna’s 11-year-old daughter Lourdes is from a previous relationship.

Madonna ’has panic attacks’ - Mar 12 2008
Madonna has apparently admitted she suffers from suffocating on-stage panic attacks.

The singer has performed to millions during her 30-year career but according to reports she still occasionally freezes with panic when under stage lights - to the point where she feels she might die.

"I have moments where I feel incredibly invincible and know that I have the audience in my hand - I know that everything is absolutely perfect," The Sun quotes her as saying in an interview with Dazed And Confused magazine.

"And then I have panic attacks where I feel like everyone is breathing my air and I cannot live up to everyone’s expectations and I might just die on stage."