GARY GLITTER DUET "STILL POSSIBLE"

We'd assumed that the early reports that Michael Jackson was hoping to get a slot on Live 8 was the sort of thing that you hear about on the internet, like the claims that Victoria Beckham paid off someone's mortgage to get a hotle room for Royal Ascot in York. Now, though, it seems that it's not totally impossible:

Harvey Goldsmith, promoter of Live 8, said he would consider adding Jackson to the bill. "Of course we'd consider it," he said. "Whether it's appropriate or not is another issue, whether he's in a fit state to work is another issue, whether he can work is another issue and whether he can work live is another issue."

Bob's done some stupid things during the planning of Live 8, but surely even he's not insane enough to invite a performer whose presence would force any last hope of people remembering the point of the event off the radar, is he? Is he?

Meanwhile, "a spokesman for entertainment retailer HMV" (and we bet that's our old friend Gennaro Castaldo) is itching to try and shift those large piles of HIStory:

"This trial can be a turning point for Jackson and the making of him once again.

"A lot of the key elements of a successful career are still in place - he has a dedicated fan- base and he remains the most famous man on the planet, so is guaranteed huge publicity in everything he does."

Well, that's certainly true, but surely the fact he's the most famous man on the planet because he went on television and said "ooh, I love having small boys in my bedroom, me" and subsequently had a circus court case as a result. And publicity for everything he did? Well, yes, with the phrase "jurors suggested they did believe he was a molester" attached to everything from now on.

Imagine: how can anyone run a headline 'come back kid' over a picture on a story of jackson, when everyone will add the words "down the" and "of a" in their mind's eye?



Tom Sneddon has just been on Today talking about the case - "I don't feel I'm a loser", he said. Curiously, he couldn't understand why the jury didn't accept the testimony of the earlier victim brough forward - although, surely, that wasn't one of the charges he was facing. Maybe Sneddon should have built the case around him, instead.

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