SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Pete Doherty has swerved being sent into custody as his lawyer argued that an upcoming Babyshambles gig was "curcial to his recovery" - we'd love to see a medical justification for that, perhaps supported by piecharts demonstrating that underground rock gigs are the best place to go to avoid cocaine dealers. Instead, he's been remanded to the Priory. Which, by our calculations, means that sat over the Probiotic Rice Krispies this morning choosing if they'll do the seaweed wrap or the weights this morning will be a strange little trio of Doherty, Meg Matthews and Justin Hawkins. Let's hope they're kept apart before they hatch a Christmas single.

This morning, Pete's Mum, Jackie Doherty, appears to have given someone an interview:

Jackie Doherty, 52, says she first realised he had a problem when he turned up smashed to his gran’s funeral in 2003.

Before that she admits to feeling “smug” about how Pete and his sisters Amyjo, 28, and Emily, 19, had turned out.

She says: “I remember being so proud of my children who were bright, upright citizens.”

Now she has to keep her mobile next to her in case he needs bailing out of trouble in the middle of the night.

That, of course, is unlike most people who tend to leave their mobile phone as far away from themselves as possible.

Surprising support for Pete comes from the Daily Record, which gives him an editorial:

PETE Doherty is not the kind of lad you would want to take home to mother.

Kate Moss can probably vouch for that.

But Doherty is not the devil. He is not a drug dealer but a drug addict.

He hasn't killed anyone. The only life he has endangered is his own.

Well... actually, there have been suggestions that he has dealt at some point in the past; and the dumping of the OD-bloke in the street at the Aberdeen gig could be argued to have put someone's life in danger, but we understand they're being generous here to make a point.

It would be easy to dismiss Doherty as a self-obsessed hedonist, too selfish to give up his much-publicised wild ways.

He has the world at his feet, he's a rock star reportedly engaged to one of the planet's most beautiful women.

Would he really risk losing all that if he could help it?

Yesterday, a court ordered him to spend two weeks in the celebrity rehab clinic The Priory.

When he comes out, he faces jail after pleading guilty to five counts of possessing Class A drugs.

The truth is he is desperately sick and rehabilitation is the only answer.

Throwing him in jail will only give him access to more heroin than he could ever want.

Let's hope, by some miracle, Doherty straightens himself out before he becomes just another has-been rock star whose only hits are from heroin.

Which, of course, is a fair point. Doherty's lucky - if he was an addict who hadn't been dating Kate Moss, it's likely he'd be inside Pentonville tonight and finding it that much harder to plot a line of recovery. But maybe sympathy for Doherty is a bit of a waste; perhaps all that energy should be poured into trying to find a more fitting solution for the drug addicts who are caught in the same trap but without the support of a razor-sharp lawyer. Maybe, if Pete really wants to make ammends, he could think about cleaning himself up, and then using his knowledge to help others in the same position.

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