Good news... bad news

GOOD NEWS FOR EMI! Profits up, up, up. Erm, how can that be with all that downloading going on?

BAD NEWS FOR EMI! Robbie Williams, the label's only hope, has given an interview to the Sun saying he can't be bothered to try and crack the States.

"I've got an amazing audience here and over in Asia and I don't need to

- which isn't true, of course - his contract actually states that he does need to; and if he wasn't that arsed about the US, why would EMI have had to promise to make him a star there in order to get him to re-sign with them?

What's actually going on here looks more like a wave of panic engulfing Williams, Inc. - the last few months have seen the consensus emerge that if he can't make it there, he's failed. Now they're trying like buggery to make it look as if its no big deal, which sounds as if they've realised that Cheeky Chappy From Stoke ain't gonna play in the Mid West. Can we get a builder in to help you lower those expectations, Bob?