Times are tough across all media, but particularly so in the delicate world of glossy magazines, judging by how far some are rumoured to
be willing to stretch the boundaries of good taste with their readership. With the advertising downturn already hitting News Ltd’s magazine division – staff at titles such as Vogue have been urged to voluntarily work reduced hours and take a pay cut – this column hears a whisper that one of its flagship foodie titles, Donna Hay, is accepting ads from a very unusual client: a petfood company. Not the usual advertising fare for a magazine promoting gourmet meals, one would think. A News Ltd spokesman, Greg Baxter, told The Diary that he was unaware of any such ads. MUSIC WON’T WASH The carwash king Anthony Sahade has added Waverley Council to the growing list of local governments he is doing battle with in the courts. The latest stoush involves his rub and scrub joint at Curlewis Street, Bondi. When the council first approved Sahade’s Crystal Carwash Cafe it specifically included a prohibition on amplified music in its conditions of consent. All was fine until the council was forced to issue a breach notice in late 2006 about “very loud music”. A council spokeswoman reports that the council issued two penalty notices in 2007 and 2008. Sahade’s application to the council for the right to continue to play music has landed him back in the Land and Environment Court. Sahade, who studied classical violin, has fought Woollahra Council over his Rushcutters Bay operation and had a restraining order taken about against him by the Mayor of Ryde, Ivan Petch. TICKET FEE OUTRAGE A sneaky $5 fee introduced by the Opera House for over-the-counter ticket purchases – exposed by The Diary last week – has had readers fuming. A spokeswoman said the fee was introduced in February to cover extended opening hours for the box office. Writing on a theatre reviews blog, “Noel” accused the Opera House of “behaving like a bank I guess this means the next time I’m at the greengrocer’s he can say to me, ‘The apple is 50 cents but there will be a 10 cent fee for me to hand it to you because I’ve decided to stay open for an extra hour on Thursdays’.” Another unhappy patron, Robert Lamb, contacted The Diary to tell his tale. After buying tickets to Arts Unite, a benefit concert for Victorian bushfire victims held on Sunday February 22, Mr Lamb was encouraged to “arrive by 3.30pm in order to collect your tickets” only to turn up at 2.15pm and find the box office closed until 3.30pm. RUDD SHOWS CHARITY While Kevin Rudd was hunkered down at the Lodge yesterday afternoon swotting up for his trip to Washington, Kirribilli House was thrown open for a charity function for the Bonnie Babes organisation, which counsels families that have suffered miscarriages or stillbirths. The surprise invitation came after much hectoring of the PM last year by the former Opposition leader Brendan Nelson over a lack of financial support for the charity, one of Nelson’s declared favourites. The ACP and Channel Nine-heavy crowd included the Women’s Weekly editorial directorDeborah Thomas and TV types Richard Wilkins and Ed Phillips. Rudd will fly out of the RAAF Fairbairn base in Canberra at 9am today for Washington and then go on to London next week for a summit of the G20 grouping of big economies next week.
FISHY BUSINESS