As a founding father of modern advertising, Charles Saatchi clearly knows a thing or two about image. He understands how to influence public perception, and how to get a message across powerfully and effectively.

As 'The Apprentice' returns to BBC1 for its eighth series this week, Sarah Morrison discovers that the multimillionaire host has a softer side

Ten years ago when you walked into an estate agent you knew what to expect; rows of desks, sharp young men in sharp (ish) suits and hard young women in heels. Tack on to that a slight sneer at your proposed budget and a (never fulfilled) promise to call you when the right property came in, and the whole business of moving was liable to make your heart sink before you even put your house on the market.

What do a female plumber from Somerset, an Arab property magnate with a fondness for buying English football clubs and an eco-friendly Los Angeles architect have in common? The answer is they all feature in an intriguing legal battle over just who gets a share of the $1m dollar prize money from a Middle Eastern version of The Apprentice.

They're hardly classic pin-up material, so why are women falling for them?

It's a good job this isn't a task,given how angry the fearsome Lord Sugar gets when contestants on The Apprentice lose him money. What then to make of his latest tweet? "Bank shares seem too low: I bought Lloyds, RBS, Barclays on Friday," he tells his loyal followers. Since then, almost inevitably, the shares in question have fallen further. Still, we're sure Lord Sugar is in for the long haul and to be fair, he does warn followers that he's not an expert and that they should take advice before copying his lead.

The average amount of television watched by UK viewers each day reached a new high of four hours and three minutes a day in the six months to the end of June.

What a year it has been for Sarah Millican.

It started with DJs mixing tunes together. Then the internet generation began cutting and pasting video clips. Now, thanks to a Top 40 entry and Barack Obama, the mashup has gone mainstream, says Rhodri Marsden

Greggs

All this excitement on the markets over the past few days hasnaturally prompted plenty of hyperbole – the sort of breathless commentary inspired by the requirements of rolling news channels trying to keep viewers excited.

As this column suggested just a month ago, George Clooney has a reputation as a "guy's guy" that left onlookers less than surprised when he and his long-term lady friend, Elisabetta Canalis, recently split. Sources suggest, however, that the star may have found someone else to roll around on the floor with already: a former professional wrestler, no less. Stacy Keibler, the fighter in question, is famous for having particularly long legs and has, in her time, been nicknamed "The legs of WCW", "Super Stacy", "The Weapon of Mass Seduction" and "The Duchess of Dudleyville".

We had a couple of beleaguereds in the newspaper on Thursday.