Max Clifford thinks that this explains this week’s handling of the Dent-Brocklehurst wedding (which OK! has ring-fenced). “The couple had been bought up so the papers think ‘We’ll have some fun here.’” A ploy which resulted in the bride and groom coming a poor second to Liz Hurley’s rhinestone drawers. They were all over the tabloids, but OK! has taken the unusual step of focusing on Mr and Mrs Dent-Brocklehurst and Hurley’s knickers ended up firmly on the spike: ”We’ve simply used a nice shot of her where they’re not showing,” says Ring demurely.This sounds like an editorial decision made on taste grounds but is more likely a veto by the Dent-Brocklehursts who are unlikely to have waived picture approval. This craven attitude to celebrity muscle is the chief criticism levelled at Hello! and OK!.In fact, Hello!’s very blandness can lull the celeb into stitching themselves up far more comprehensively than the journalist ever could As one former Hello! writer says: ”It’s a trust thing. Should the Duchess of York at some future date ’share’ with Hello! her elopement with Colin Stagg, the newspapers would be forced to report the fact and buy the pictures.

The outrageous sums paid can be partly recouped in syndication rights if a magazine buys out the photographer.Barber remembers a recent gamble: ”OK! spent a rumoured $2m for Michael Jackson’s first baby pictures but they made half their money back – and they go on selling.”If they cannot outbid the opposition the tabloids are obliged to put a fresh spin on events. The ones with the Euro- Royals that no-one except the proprietor is interested in.”Hello!’s outdated fascination with the Almanach de Gotha has allowed OK! to make significant strides in the market. It’s more British, less of a house magazine for the continental aristocracy, but like Hello! it has deep pockets and nice manners and it beats the tabloids at their own game.”The tabloids are green with envy at the stories we get,” insists Ring. Richard Barber, former editor of OK!, explains the attraction: ”They go to Hello! or OK! because they know they’re not going to be mucked about.”Often the papers have to cover the stories at second hand. For everyday use, though, you couldn’t beat the Diana, whose perennial loveliness caused mags to just walk off the shelves – 61 times. Hello! is now without its fall- back cover and publishing director Sally Cartwright is determined to use her posthumous image sparingly: “It would be exploitative.”But a lot of copies are impulse purchases and the remaining royals are not an automatic draw. OK!’s Ring notes rather astutely that although the tenth anniversary edition of Hello! proudly lists its best-selling covers ”they don’t tell you the ones that bombed.

Paul Gascoigne’s breathtakingly vulgar brocade- fest is widely alleged to have set them back pounds 100,000 Worth every penny. The 694,000 sale topped the infamous shots of Andy and Fergie ‘’sharing some intimate family moments” (changing nappies).Until the funeral of Princess Diana (1.2m copies), Gazza and Shezza at the altar was the bestselling cover to date. THE European Parliament voted for Dutchman Wim Duisenberg to become the first president of the European Central Bank yesterday, despite raising serious objections to the manner in which he was given the job, writes Katherine Butler in Strasbourg. Mr Duisenberg is cleared to become head of the Frankfurt-based bank, set to become the most powerful monetary institution in the world, on 1 June.
In a gesture of defiance to the French President Jacques Chirac the Strasbourg Parliament urged Mr Duisenberg to stay on beyond June 2002 when the Paris government expects him to give way to Frenchman Jean Claude Trichet. Two of his predecessors captured the Free World’s imagination and wrote their names in the history books respectively with “Ich bin ein Berliner” – John F Kennedy – and “Tear down that wall, Mr Gorbachev” – Ronald Reagan.. The Soviet Union imposed a year long blockade on West Berlin 50 years ago.Today, President Clinton will be at Tempelhof airport to mark the event and deliver his keynote address to Berliners The speech-writers have a tough act to follow. Chancellor Kohl was on hand again for a joint appearance, both statesmen dwelling on trans-Atlantic ties at the dawn of European Union and Nato expansion towards the east.Mr Clinton then met Gerhard Schroder, the Social Democrat politician expected to settle into Chancellor Kohl’s armchair after the September elections.