Remember how everyone was getting those terrible helmet bangs about a year and a half ago and how Janet Jackson popularized it? My hairdresser had a big poster up from Jose Eber featuring that style, and when I asked him about it he just shook his head and said he hoped it would pass.

The severe bangs were flipped to the side until they slowly grew out to make way for more classic hair trends, but now they’re back again in all their forehead-blocking glory. I blame Katie Holmes for bringing back this questionable style. She manages to pull off a severe interpretation of her daughter’s bowl cut, but only because she has either naturally thin straight hair or enough volume has been taken out of her hair to make it flat and sleek. In my opinion this style just doesn’t work with thicker hair and looks silly.

Here are some celebrities who work it, and others who just should flip it to the side and wait for the trend to pass. Rather than group them according to my opinion, I’ll just post the photos and let you discuss. I don’t think this style works with hair that isn’t straight and thin, but you may disagree.

It’s just hair. It will grow out eventually and can be styled to compensate, but unlike a bad outfit you can’t just switch it for something else the next day without some effort.

Shown are Katie Holmes, Heidi Klum, Kate Hudson, Christina Ricci, Elle Macpherson, Selma Blair, Kylie Minogue, Kelis, Paula Abdul in a messy interpretation of the style, Rihanna, Myleene Klass, and Janet Jackson.

Paul McCartney is one of England’s most eligible bachelors, and just about anyone could have a crush on him. So perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that Renee Zellweger has a crush on the newly single Beatle.

Renee, 38, said: “I do have a big crush on Paul McCartney. I feel quite embarrassed saying it because I haven’t even told him yet.

“I’ve told my friends and I think they might have told him. Well I guess if he doesn’t know he will find out now.”

The Sun

Unfortunately for Renee, Paul denied the recent reports the two are dating, saying, “We’re not dating. We’re in the same group of friends and that’s it.”

We’ve all heard the ‘just good friends’ line a few times, maybe there will be no official announcement of romance until, say, Paul is actually divorced from his previous wife Heather Mills!

Of course, Paul is hot property, and even though he’s almost twice Renee’s age, she’s not without competition. Australian papers are trying to link Paul with supermodel Elle Macpherson, after they were photographed together at the GQ Man of the Year Awards.

At the Man of the Year event, where Paul was the Man of the Year, he was also photographed flirting with Natalie Imbruglia, an Australian pop star. She’s probably not linked to the Beatle as she’s married to equally attractive Australian rock star Daniel Johns. No one wants Aussie pop royalty to split up, we’re still grieving the loss of Tom Cruise as Australia’s favourite son-in-law.

Anyway, even at 65, I’m beginning to suspect that Macca may have plenty of women on hand to help him recover from his divorce.

There’s this doubtful story that Elle Macpherson was almost mugged across the street from an event. She was said to have felled the mugger with her skill in, uh, Tai Chi. I took Tai Chi for a while and found it kind of mentally taxing but boring overall. It’s a meditative martial art and goes really slow. How anyone could use Tai Chi to kick someone’s ass is beyond me. It seems more likely that Macpherson distracted the guy with her great boobs, which were on full display that night.

Our suitably impressed source said: “Elle’s car stopped across the road from the party as there was a snarl-up outside Koko, so she jogged across to get into it.

“Everyone was watching her – well it’s hard not to – and we all just looked on in horror as we saw a figure in a hoody come out of the shadows.

“It looked like a man, about 6ft 2in and stocky. We were all panicked but the traffic was in full flow so everyone just ended up gawping in horror.

“It turned out that he didn’t stand a chance, though. As soon as he grabbed for Elle’s bag she swung around quite calmly, just went for his arm and got her bag… it looked so simple.

“The mugger reacted like he’d been floored and staggered back, then ran for it. The lights changed and we tried to follow but he managed to get away.”

And according to friends of the super supermodel, her swift reaction to the nasty ne’er-do-well is all down to the hours of body work she puts in.

A mole told us: “Elle practises T’ai Chi which is one of the softer martial arts but a martial art nevertheless. It’s primarily used for meditation and for toning the body.

“But it does, after a certain level, ensure that the pupil is proficient in self-defence. It’s also brilliant at developing core strength.

If that’s true then Elle deserves a lot of credit for fending off a mugger with her bare hands. It sounds like something out of a movie - a half-dressed former supermodel uses slow-mo martial arts on a street thug.