L AST summer's 10-year anniversary of the Spice Girls' debut single 'Wannabe' was marked with a lot of pontificating. What had their role in 20th century feminism been, intellectuals wondered? Where was the legacy of 'girl power', the concept/catchphrase synonymous with them? The rest of us, meanwhile, were still marvelling at the fact that after all this time, the girls, or women as they can now surely be categorised, can still rack up tabloid column inches like no other females bar Kate Moss and Britney Spears. Naturally, their music or any other talents have little or no bearing on the coverage of this famous five anymore.

Instead, messy liaisons, accusations of being poor role models for young girls and diva behaviour now keep them (or most of them) in the news, as a look at these headlines from the last two weeks indicates. What did they really, really want back in 1996? Surely not to be remembered solely for their hair extensions, fertility problems and questionable taste in men. Girl power indeed.

SCARY SPICE TURNS TO WITCH DOCTOR TO GET EDDIE MURPHY BACK - Daily India. com, 24 December In which Melanie Brown, in a valiant effort to woo the father of her unborn child, film star Eddie Murphy, back, hires a voodoo priestess called Tabitha. The five-month pregnant singer was devastated when Murphy publicly and humiliatingly dumped her, saying that only a DNA test would prove whether or not he was the father. Tabitha, who charges £450 an hour, has carried out a series of rituals which will not only bring Murphy back into Mel B's arms again but which will also get rid of his party-loving posse.

The post-Spice years have not been kind to the outspoken Leeds lass in terms of career or her personal life. Failing to build on her initial solo success and dropped by her label, a move to LA with daughter Phoenix Chi in 2003 did not kickstart her career again, as she'd hoped. Her 2005 album, LA State of Mind, charted at a terrible No 453. Relationship-wise, after a fling with Peter Andre, an acrimonious divorce from dancer Jimmy Gulzar (Phoenix Chi's father) and a long-term relationship with British actor Max Beesley, Scary must have hoped her luck had changed when she hooked up with Eddie Murphy. They had met each other's families and allegedly got matching tattoos. "We're in love and get on really well. . . I can't wait to spend Christmas with him and I can't wait to have this baby, " she said.

Murphy had other ideas however, and in December told a Dutch journalist: "I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir."

Brown has now called in top lawyer Don Engel, who charges $500 an hour, and who has previously represented Cher and Meatloaf, to fight her cause Soundtrack of her life: 'Say you'll be there' GERI HAS DOG TROUBLE AT MILL!

- The Sun, 3 January 2007 In which Geri Halliwell's post-Christmas fitness regime is in jeopardy after she was asked to leave the gym where she works out after tying her dog to a piece of training equipment. Staff at plush LA Fitness in Kensington were not impressed when she tethered her dog to the treadmill as she worked out. The dog became agitated by the noise of the machines and started barking, distracting the gym's other clients. When informed that dogs were not allowed in for obvious health and safety reasons as well as animal welfare ones, Geri said she wouldn't return. She hasn't been seen at the gym since.

Geri was always the Spice Girl with the most chutzpah and the one most likely to carve out a successful solo career for herself. 2001's Scream If You Wanna Go Faster delivered a number of hits; 2005's Passionwas a complete flop but as with all of the Spice Girls, it's never been about the music.

She's tried being a UN goodwill ambassador, written not one, but two autobiographies (both bestsellers) and released two yoga videos. Flings with Chris Evans and Robbie Williams (who later described her as 'a demonic little girl') kept her profile high. Becoming a mother to Bluebell Madonna last year seems to have centred the singer, who once ate food out of George Michael's dustbins at the height of her eating disorder.

Just don't mention the father of the child, scriptwriter Sascha Gervasi, who parted from Halliwell in the early stages of her pregnancy and who has reportedly seen Bluebell very occasionally. Amidst rumours of a Spice Girls reunion, Halliwell says she will not be recording another solo album and is happy being a mother. "As far as music is concerned, I feel like I've given it my best. When I see how desperate people are for that chance, I realise I've had my turn and now I have to let it go." How kind of her.

Soundtrack of her life: 'Mama' BABY SPICE OPEN TO ADOPTION - The Post Chronicle, 16 December In which Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, reveals how she is considering adopting if she can't have children of her own. The singer suffers from endometriosis, a condition that makes it difficult to bear children but says that she would like to start a family with longterm boyfriend Jade Jones in the next few years. She is hopeful she will conceive but she and Jade are ready to give a home to an underprivileged child.

There's a line in SpiceWorld: the Movie where Bunton asks, "Am I going to be Baby forever? Even when I'm 30?" Apparently yes, and it seems wrong to even think on her procreating. On paper, Emma might be all grown up now but age has not marked her cherubic face nor have the decades matured her girlish manners.

Despite being a hugely popular contestant on last year's Strictly Come Dancing and having a third album, Life in Mono, that had even the Observer music mag giving it the thumbs up (although it only charted at No 65), Bunton struggles to prove that she's still culturally relevant. Of all the five Spice Girls, stuck in a time warp, perpetually bubbly, blonde, bland and, yes, babyish.

Soundtrack of her life: 'Free Me' 'I BLAME POSH & CO' SAYS MOTHER OF GIRL KILLED BY ANOREXIA - The Daily Mail, 6 January In which Rosaline Ponomarenko-Jones, whose daughter Sophie died aged 19 weighing four stone, accuses style icons such as Victoria Beckham for causing eating disorders in young girls. "Celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, are very negative role models, " said Ponomarenko-Jones. "Sophie knew that but she thought people like Victoria Beckham were glamorous - she wanted to be like them."

A spokesman for Victoria Beckham said it would be "inappropriate to comment on somebody's loss".

Victoria claims not to read any press cuttings about her, something that is very hard to swallow considering how much publicity she seems to actively court. However, the media's real dislike of her has reached its zenith. If she's not being reviled for her often misguided fashion experiments, she's chastised for her social climbing via her new A-lister friends, the Cruises, or suffers the indignity of close-up photographs of her hairline with accompanying headlines like "Have hair extensions caused Posh to go bald?" Just before Christmas, she was ridiculed for "not knowing how to dress for a flight" when she went long haul in stilettos and a smart ensemble, when everybody knows that the truly stylish wear cashmere socks and comfy gear. But the real ire is reserved for her weight.

The common consensus is that she has an eating disorder.

Last year, Grazia magazine printed an actual-size photograph of the jeans she wears, which would fit an average sixyear old. She claims to love fashion but the sentiment isn't reciprocated. Victoria has the ability to kill a trend dead in the water and repeated exposure to her bony clavicle, improbably prominent bosom and pencil thin legs reinforces the belief that you can be too rich and too thin. Scarily emaciated is now her signature look and chief fame to claim, so her hungry years (for A-list status as well as food) look set to continue.

Soundtrack of her life: 'Wannabe' SINGER MELANIE CHISHOLM (SPORTY SPICE) OF THE SPICE GIRLS IS 33 - San Francisco Chronicle, 3 January In which the absence of any other headlines suggests that Melanie Chisholm is the most down to earth and most credible member of the former group, or that her career is completely dead.

Low key and the most musically talented (she has co-written 11 number one singles) Chisholm was the most successful in distancing herself from her Spice persona and revealed a more rock image with her album Northern Star. 2003's Reason didn't do so well and her label, Virgin, subsequently dropped her. Not to be deterred, she set up her own label, Red Girl Productions in 2004 and decided to manage herself. A third album, Beautiful Intentions released in 2005 did very well in Europe, if not in the UK, and a new album is due for release in spring of this year. Happily settled in Wales with her boyfriend of five years, Thomas Starr, she might not be currently topping the charts but she's winning the post-Spice dignity battle.

Soundtrack of her life: 'Northern Star'