SIMON WEBBE IS WORRIED BY MADONNA

Good god, we should have worked harder to keep Blue together - as if it wasn't bad enough having Lee Ryan and Duncan James all over the place, Simon Webbe is now pushing himself, fretting his single (his second, apparently) is going to struggle this week because it's on sale at the same time as Madonna's.

Simon, your single is going to struggle because its on sale at the same time as butter toffees and baked beans.

"The single has just come out and normally I'm good at channelling all the negative vibes, but the first one did so well and I do really want to top that."

And you have, Simon - people have actually heard about this one.

But it's not just music. Oh no, he's doing acting as well:

He recently achieved high critical acclaim for his part as a hip hop artist in the new film Rolling With The Nines, which won Best Feature at the Raindance awards.

He describes the movie, released here in February, as being like Brit flick Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, but "without the jokes".

There were jokes in Lock, Stock? Whatever, it's heartening to hear that there is no end in sight to the churning production line of unlikeable gangster movies. Not that Simon is always going to restrict himself to playing, erm, himself:

"I wouldn't fancy myself as the new Bond," he joked. "Who knows, maybe in years to come? I'm an actor and acting is acting, so never say never."

That was almost so meaningless as to be meaningful.

Back to the music, though: there's an album to come next week:

"There are no album fillers on it. If you want an hour to yourself, it's perfect for chilling out to. Trust me, it will do the job."

Hang about... if you want an hour without anyone else around, it'll do that? So it's the sort of record you put on when you want to clear a room, then?

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