DIDN'T WE HAVE A LOVELY TIME WHEN DOHERTY WASN'T BANGED-UP

Because constantly typing "Pete was told to try and be good this time" quickly gets dull, even for the dedicated sorts at BBC News Online, they came up with a fresh angle for coverage of today's narrow escape for Doherty: watching the fans instead. Or not just the fans:

In the public gallery, the bemused family of another defendant due to appear sat watching the man the tabloids call "Potty Pete" up close.

If they were expecting a wild monster, they would have been disappointed to get a quiet and self-contained young man.

Normally, of course, drug addicts have a range of outbuildings.

The Doh-eyed ones had much to exercise them:

Fan Michaela Connett, 18, from Barnet, north London, who managed to grab one of the remaining seats along with a friend said: "Pete's so softly spoken. He's so sweet. I've never been in a court before, so this is all new for me."

With the threat of jail hanging over him, fans were left to wonder what was in the brown bag he had with him.

Fan Faye Angeletta said afterwards: "We hadn't seen him at court with a bag before so we wondered if he thought he was going to jail."

Students Faye Caldwell and Christopher Youens are fans
"The thing with Pete is, he doesn't act like a superstar. He's really clumsy so he dropped the bag and everything fell out."

See? Mariah Carey wouldn't drop her bag. It's nice that selling a few copies of an album hasn't changed Pete Doherty into the kind of person who is capable of carrying a bag. We might go into town tonight and drop our shopping to show that we, too, are down with the street.

Some might suggest that the most ardent of Pete's followers have trouble adjusting their vision to see the world as others do. Some might be right:

Rebecca Bourke said: "You can see Pete is getting better. He looks much healthier."

Really?



Compare the shade of his skin with the guy on his way to a Victor Meldrew convention over his shoulder. That is healthy? If his face was any greyer, he'd be in danger from people trying to pull bits off to hold glass in place. We don't know what Ms Bourke's career plans are, but let's hope they're not of a medical nature.

Don't take away the idea that the fans have got up at four in the morning and plodded up to London to see Doherty arrive at court because they're, you know, celebrity-obsessed Heat types. For them, it's all about the music:

Faye Angeletta [said] "We respect him for his music and not his drug taking.

"Everyone thinks Babyshambles' fans are all drug takers but our common interest is Pete, not drugs."

Student Faye Caldwell, 20, said: "I've been to a lot of Pete's gigs but this is the first time I've been to court for him.

"The fans aren't bothered about the tabloid stories about him and Kate Moss, or whatever.

"The music is all that matters."

Although if the music, and not his tabloid fame as a drug-addled Moss-poker is what's important, why are you outside the court watching him turn up to answer charges about his drug taking, rather than staying at home to listen to the album?

More to the point, if you don't think that thespecialpeteyoulove has anything to do with the coke-honking Moss-bonker, do you skip over the tracks on Down In Albion which are clearly written by that person? (Which would be, erm, all of them.)

music pete doherty babyshambles