New York Post fires columnist Liz Smith

Psst! This just in. Liz Smith, the New York Post's veteran gossip columnist, has been fired. Smith, who is 86 and has been writing her eponymous column for 14 years, said that the paper's editor, Col Allan, told her that the decision was not due to its lack of scoops, which have been pretty thin on the ground in recent times, but due to necessary cost-cutting measures forced on the Rupert Murdoch-owned title by the economic downturn. 

"Friday will be the first day in forever that I wont have a column in a New York newspaper," Smith, who has also worked for the New York Daily News and Newsday, told Bloomberg press agency.  

Some say the writing had been on the wall for a while. The New York Post had trimmed the column to three days a week from six about a year ago. And some say her writing style - here is an example from today's column: "IT'S A grand and glorious feeling, but I'll be wearing the same size hat tomorrow," said Clark Gable after winning an Oscar back in 1935. Hmmm, maybe that's what was missing from the Academy Awards on Sunday night - A galaxy of r-e-a-l-l-y big stars" - was a little off the mark for modern audiences.

Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch has apologised for a cartoon that ran in the Post last week that some critics claimed could be construed as depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee.

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