Anything that can help with treatment is welcome.”Statins are available over the counter in Britain, and the NHS is set to spend £2bn a year on the drugs by 2010.. Oral contraceptives appear to prevent heart disease and some cancers in women, according to the largest study into the long-term health impact of the Pill. The findings contradict previous claims that the Pill increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and other serious health problems. The abortion rate rose because of unwanted pregnancies caused by the scare. More than three million women in Britain use oral contraceptives and they are still the most popular way of preventing pregnancy.Researchers from Wayne State University in Detroit studied more than 60,000 women who had used the Pill and compared them with those who had never taken it. The research was presented at the annual conference of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Philadelphia yesterday.They found that women who took the Pill for between one and four years had a 10 per cent lower risk of suffering from cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks, hypertension and angina. Pill users for four to eight years had a 12 per cent reduced risk, and those who had taken oral contraceptives for more than eight years were 18 per cent less likely to suffer heart problems than those who had never used them.

The Pill was also linked to a 7 per cent reduced risk of cancers overall, including a 19 per cent reduction in ovarian cancer and an 18 per cent lower chance of developing cancer of the womb.Dr Rahi Victory, the study’s author, said: “In stark contrast to recent and previous findings, our data supports significant cardiovascular disease risk reductions in women with a history of oral contraceptive use. In women with no other risk factors [such as family history of heart disease], the Pill could be used to prevent cardiovascular events and some cancers.”Dr Victory added that use of the oral contraceptive may offer protection in later life. Then she spent a year in Vietnam, developing her hybrid solo style with a hectic schedule of six gigs a week.Back in Australia, she began making a name for herself on the blues circuit before joining another band, Eden aka, which led to a stint on the Lilith Fair tour and a move to California. “I feel all right for someone who was told she was a fool/ I feel all right for someone who was pushed around/ I feel all right for someone who was forced to leave town.”McCue’s real childhood was somewhat more comfortable. Growing up in Sydney as the youngest of eight children, she moved to Melbourne after graduating in film studies, and worked as a theatre and film critic. Then she answered an ad that read: “Wanted: wild woman for rock’n'roll band” and found herself in a power-pop group.

She is a thirty-something Australian who graduated in film production before turning to music, learning her chops in Vietnam, of all places,.
At a packed Borderline, she is dressed in black cowboy shirt and tight jeans. She sings a couple of sensitive acoustic songs – “Crazy Beautiful Child” and “50 Dollar Whore” – that suggest she’s a country-folk troubadour. But that thought is swiftly banished when she is joined by a bass-player and drummer. As the tempo increases it’s soon clear that she’s most at home in a power trio. Songs from her recently released second studio album, Roll, rapidly raise the temperature. There’s a brooding intensity to “I Want You Back” and “Nobody’s Sleeping”, which showcase her bluesy guitar style.The title track, “Roll”, fuelled by McCue’s slide guitar, packs more girl-power than The Spice Girls’ entire career: “I feel all right for someone who was kicked out of school,” she declares.

Estelle is a savvy, sassy success and yes, she makes sure you’re left smiling.’The 18th Day’ is out now on V2. The posters on the wall outside advertise her as an “outstanding blues guitarist” but that’s only half the story about Anne McCue. Her songs are a fusion of blues, country, folk and rock, harnessed to world-weary lyrics and a languid voice that speaks of experience. She later devotes current single, “Free”, to “the 18-month-old baby shot in Hackney and the 13-year-old girl killed in Nottingham. It ain’t right”.Part stand-up comedy, part star, Estelle is funny, fiercely brilliant and utterly foxish onstage. Backed by a seven-strong band – including her sister slash writing partner on backing vocals – she sings and tuts, raps and wiggles under a giant glittering gold backdrop bearing her name to hundreds of people already chanting it Earlier, Estelle had told me: “People like the shows I do. I want to be real, to have fun, even when I dance on stage…it’s a buzz.” It’s difficult to disagree from either side of the stage.

It’s always been easy for me and the only thing I can do really really well.” This might well be interpreted as boastful arrogance, but in this bright star’s case, is mere truth. Three days after our initial meeting, I manage to squeeze into a packed Islington Academy to see her live up to the hype live. Strutting out in sequinned heels, rolled up jeans and some obligatory bling, Estelle opens up her act with “A Change is Gonna Come”, urging the mixed crowd to have the self-belief to make a change for themselves. Encompassing classic Motown and gospel harmonies, lounge-funk with hip-hop shuffle, her tough-talking rapper cum starry soul singer style is streamlined for mainstream success but impressive nonetheless. “I really want to open the market a bit, that’s why there’s so many styles on my album – I want to influence as many new artists as I can.”Estelle laughs when asked her opinion on why the British press can only ever handle one black female artist at a time. Blessed with sharp wit, a no-nonsense attitude and infectious enthusiasm, she survives on a strong work ethic – gleaned from her heroes, successful black female icons Oprah Winfrey, Harriet Tubman, Mary J Blige – but remembers to have fun with it, believing that “if you cannot smile when you listen to music, then do not listen to it! It’s going to depress the shit out of you otherwise”.By her own reckoning, Estelle thinks “music wasn’t hard. If you put the expectations and faith in artists, I guarantee they’ll raise their game and get those sales.”Brash, soulful and a talented rapper’s delight, Estelle herself has sharply raised the standard for her contemporaries.