The mags treat royal engagement rumours rather like I play darts - there's a lot of guess work and wishful thinking in the hope that eventually you hit the bullseye. This week it's the old campaigners of the marriage rumour, Prince William and his missus Kate Middleton, who've hit the headlines again.

So before you rush out and buy a hat, what's spawned the rumours this time?

The New Idea reports that Kate and William to announce engagement at some point over the festive season, with details to be made public in January.

Word is that Kate is attending the royal family's Christmas hooley at Sandringham, after turning down invitations for the last two years, and it's this that has started the gossip. Kate spent the last two festive seasons with her own family, telling friends that she wanted to wait til "she was officially part of the family" before spending the holiday with the royals.

I can sympathise. Imagine buying presents for the Windsors' Secret Santa! They wouldn't be satisfied with a novelty ice cube tray or some willy-shaped salt and pepper shakers.

The mag reports that wedding plans are getting under way pretty rapidly, with rather indiscreet British designer Christine Kendall blabbing: "I was encouraged to draw up some wedding dresses for Kate. They thanked me and kept the plans."

Apparently Kate ticks all the right boxes in the royal spouse department, and Prince Charles, the Queen and Prince Philip are all very fond of her.

The Woman's Day concurs, saying the pair will spend Christmas ‘nestled in a secluded shooting estate lodge on the Sandringham Estate.'

And the credit crunch means this year's royal Christmas will not be extravagant, the Day reports. They're reusing wrapping paper, ordering cheaper party favours inside their personalized Christmas crackers, and Camilla's even been spotted buying second hand books.

Breakfast babe Pippa Wetzell graces the front of the New Idea this week, with a headline shouting ‘My Sad Goodbyes.'

Turns out the five months pregnant TV hostess with the mostest hates leaving her sleeping toddler daughter to go to work.

"I go into my daughter's room and I can't drag myself out," says she.

Funny, I often go into my own room and can't drag myself out on a weekday morning. But that's mostly because I don't want to go to work.

Whatever she does, it seems Victoria Beckham is always under fire - but this time around it's not her whippet thin frame or disinclination to smile that's attracting criticism. It's her foray into the field of fashion design. Victoria's range of dresses has been pretty popular, despite high prices, and gained critical praise in both the US and Europe.

Her dresses are posh, but not of her own design, say the mags. They look very, very similar to the designs by Roland Mouret, a favourite designer and close pal of Victoria. The same lines, the same style zippers, even the same custom made labels sewn inside the dress with a personalized message for the wearer from Vicky B herself - all the same as Mouret's.

So has or hasn't the fashionable Frenchman been helping Mrs Beckham with her dress design? Both parties are keeping their lips sealed tightly - rather like Victoria at a buffet.

Race to the altar! Jen and John vs Angie and Brad, says the NW. Somehow this lot is never, ever gonna be out of the news. They say Jen and John are set to tie the knot on Christmas Eve in Mexico - quite different to the rumours I've been hearing lately that their relationship is a business arrangement to make them both look good.

This news, apparently, has made Angelina have a change of heart. She's turned down many proposals from Brad - now she wants to get married before Jen does. Who knew Hollywood's living saint could be petty and small? I like her so much more now!

I didn't know if this story rang true as I read through it, and when I got to the end the last quote convinced me that it was bullpucky. On John and Jen's wedding plans, a ‘source' tells the NW: "They've decided to spend the rest of their lives together, but they don't want the world's eyes on them. They don't want their big day to turn into a circus."

John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston trying not to get publicity? Not wanting the world's eyes on them? That's definitely porky pies. John Mayer pretty much blogs announcing when he passes wind.

Meanwhile, also in the NW, Jen's best friend Courteney Cox Arquette isn't a fan of her fella. She ‘doesn't trust him, doesn't like him and doesn't understand what Jen sees in him," reports the mag.

Courteney has gone so far as to ban the smarmy rocker from the pals' regular Sunday dinners, and may even go so far as crossing him off the guest list for their annual chi-chi New Year's escape to Mexico.

"There's not enough tequila to get Courteney through a week with John," says a source.

And with the wedding rumours come the inevitable pregnancy story. A friend of the Brange told the Woman's Day that the pair don't use any birth control and it's highly likely that the miniscule belly bulge Angie boasted at the Benjamin Button premiere could be a baby on the way. Or she could have just given birth to twins five months ago.

Apparently that's why she's made nice with Brad's parents, who are hardly paid up members of the Angie Jolie Fan Club. They're more the Jennifer Aniston Appreciation Society.

The Day has snaps of Shania Twain on holiday in Florida and New York with Frederic Thiebaud, the ex-husband of Shania's best friend, who supposedly had been doing the dirty with Shania's husband of 14 years.

This guy isn't too shabby at all. A Swiss triathlete, mind. Go Shania! May you spend the festive season eating Toblerone and making fun of your cheating, less fortunate looking ex.

Lorraine Downes shares her offbeat wedding plans with the Woman's Day, and seems to be trying to pull the silk-taffeta over your eyes. She's holding up a designer wedding dress she has no intention of wearing when her nuptials roll around on Valentine's Day.

In their family, fiancé Martin Crowe wears the engagement ring, she reveals, and his famous cousin Russell Crowe won't be attending, which will smarten up the wedding photos no end.

Two of the stars of one of my most favourite shows which doesn't get much gossip mag love, Coronation Street, grace the front of the Weekly this week - known as the magazine for the more mature reading taste. Do I watch an old people's show? Sure, I don't care. Corrie's the best soap on the box!

Tina O'Brien, who plays Sarah Platt, and Ryan Thomas, who plays her builder fiancé Jason Grimshaw, are a couple in real life and recently welcomed a baby girl, Scarlett Jacqueline. It looks like the Weekly's picked up an OK! story - the posed family pics and Q&A style interview look very familiar.

Tina gained weight early in her pregnancy, and describes herself has looking like "a right Jabba."

A word of warning - turn to the back of the NW at your own risk. Rosie O'Donnell's in there sporting a considerable camel toe.

And that's all from the mags this week!