Pete Doherty's new shame: singing Gorillaz songs

A surprised and disappointed nation is waking up to video footage, obtained by The Sun, of Pete Doherty shooting up in Thailand while singing Damon Albarn songs:

[Backpacker Jess Lea], of Sydney, said she witnessed Doherty injecting coke at least three times between 1.30am and 4am. She added: “It was a bit mind-blowing. He asked us if we minded. Initially we were like, ‘OK, go for it’, but as time went on we began to get nervous.”

Jess said he shot up as the Gorillaz song Clint Eastwood played and sang along to the lyrics, which included: “I’m useless, but not for long.”

Pete also tells Lea there's not going to be a wedding:

She asked Doherty if rumours he had married Kate were true.

He replied: “No, I love her but I wouldn’t marry her if she was the last woman on Earth. She’s too paranoid.”

It takes four writers to bring us this expose - the main story is bylined

By VICTORIA NEWTON Showbiz Editor
and FRANK THORNE
in Sydney

- although since the whole thing seems to be based on an interview with lea in Sydney, it's not clear what Victoria's role was.
Then, Dr Carol Cooper takes over, to tell us that injecting drugs is... well, bad:

As well as serious abscesses (boils), the user can expect blocked blood vessels and serious harm to vital internal organs like the liver and kidneys - and to more obvious parts of the body too, like the hands, feet, and genitals.

Cooper then asks herself - rhetorically, of course - why oh why anyone would do this to themselves. She then answers her own rhetorical question:

So, why would anyone inject cocaine? Well, they'd probably be searching for the ultimate high, and they would also have to be pretty sick already to want to throw their life away like this.

God, wouldn't you hate to be one of her patients? Imagine going in to be treated for alcoholism or injuries putting shelves up - she'd probably make you wear a dunce's cap. Or do lines.

Not that sort of lines.

Cooper does provide some links to confidential help and support - although since the paper yesterday ran pictures of people leaving a confidential drug counselling service for all the world to see, I'm not sure I'd trust them.

Finally, Simon Rothstein ("Bizarre Online editor", whatever that invovles) pops up to introduce the videolink, explaining that while it might look like they're just flinging up some footage to allow you to gawp at a celebrity doing something wrong, it's actually a public service:

IF you are even THINKING about taking drugs then you need to watch this video of Pete Doherty injecting himself with cocaine.

It is difficult to sit through but we believe it is more powerful than any government anti-drugs campaign ever will be.

That's because it graphically reveals the full, sickening, sordid reality of Pete Doherty's deadly habit - and that of anyone else addicted to drugs like heroin and cocaine.

There is nothing cool, romantic or glamorous about Doherty's addiction.

In our film he is not a rock ‘n’ roll icon and certainly no hero or inspiration.

Instead we show Pete up for what he really is - a sad junkie so desperate for a fix he'll leave his girlfriend alone to go and shoot up in a grubby hostel in front of people he has never met.

And if you believe taking hard drugs is fun or sexy then click HERE to watch the video and think again.

Somewhere, a secondary school is missing its deputy headmaster.

We cherish the idea that Doherty can't simultaneously be a rock n roll icon and an intravenous drug user, as if being a rock icon calls for a better organised private life than being the Tory chief whip.