POVERTY BEGINS AT HOME; AS STEEL CUTS INTO BOB

You'd have to raise a crooked eyebrow at the timing of the Boomtown Rats' decision to sue Bob Geldof - sure, they may have a valid claim that they never got a fair cut of the cake for their work during the 70s and 80s, but why choose a couple of weeks before Live 8 to announce their intention to take leagal action to get what they feel is theirs? Could it have been Johnnie Fingers was sat watching the news, Geldof came on insisting we all take to boats in order to protest against Ebay or something, and Fingers suddenly goes "hey... that's the bloke we did all the music for, isn't it?", frantically scribbling his name down on the telephone pad before calling Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe and Garrick Roberts to announce "I've found him... and he seems to be doing some sort of charity work..."?

There's an official statement, released by Gerry Cott:

"We jointly confirm that with the utmost regret we are pressing ahead with our claims against Bob Geldof and others for our rightful entitlement to a proper share of recording, publishing and merchandising income.

''We have retained the London solicitor Angel and Co to act on our behalf and anticipate that proceedings will have to be issued shortly. We have no further comment at this stage."

Honestly, if this is true, it's shocking - Geldof selling short jobbing musicians while swanning about as a media millionaire - why, that would make his earnings from the Rats back catalogue something like filthy money made on the back of the poorest people in music, or something.

Still, good to hear that Angel is still in the legal business after quitting Wolfram and Hart last year.

Meanwhile, adding to a long, long, long list of people far from convinced about Live 8 is David Steel, one of the most popular of the Spitting Image squeaky dog toys and former leader of the Liberals.

Lord Steel said some of Geldof's "populist antics" risked destroying his well-deserved reputation for raising awareness of Africa's plight. And inviting the Pope, Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela to be involved had "slight touches of megalomania".

Not only that, but he invited Bono to take part as well. Good god, he really has gone stark raving bonkers, hasn't he?

But really, what bothers David isn't so much the potty flotillas and marching on Edinburgh, but the swearing and, lets face it, the lack of a decent haircut:

Lord Steel also suggested Geldof was an icon to the younger generation who should take greater care over his public appearances.

In an letter to the Times newspaper, he said: "Deliberately peppering his utterances with swear words and appearing in public carefully dishevelled is not setting a good example of behaviour."

There's a note for all future revolutionaries - buy yourself a bloody comb.

music live 8 live8 bob geldof boomtown rats david steel