POP STAR SECRETS

The Association of United Recording Artists (AURA) made a bit of an awkward slip, popping the personal details of a bunch of pop stars into an envelope and accidently sending them out.

Now, it's not quite Paul McCartney's PIN number or a photo of Madonna kissing a man who is her husband:

They include a copy of David Gray’s driving licence, Bjork’s bank details, passport copies of Paul Heaton and David Rotheray from The Beautiful South — and details on Geri Halliwell.

After all, David Gray isn't likely to be victim of an identity theft as he doesn't really have one; Bjork might be a more tasty target but with such a singular person, pinching her identity would be like stealing a Munch painting - you'd never be able to take it onto the opne market without someone noticing. And Geri Halliwell? The name is familiar - wasn't she a question in the 1990s Trivial Pursuit box?

That the stuff was sent not to Junky Meer's Dodgy House of Card-swiping and to, erm, Price Waterhouse Coopers does lessen the problem somewhat. But we do like AURA's response:

“We take all normal precautions.”

We love the bristly implication that, you know, any company might find itself accidently sending out lists of home addresses and bank details, and there's hardly anything you can do to stop it happening.

The Aura spokesperson then went on to say no, that wasn't their PIN number written on their palm and why would we think the post-it stuck to the computer with "CHANGEME" was their system password, before looking horrified and leaving saying "Oh, shit, I left the iron on..."

music geri halliwell bjork aura