Ozzy goes free

Bloody hell, Sharon must be winning a fortune on that Gala Bingo website. This year's Ozzfest is going to be free, with all costs being met by tour sponsors.

It's quite a gesture, although we can't help wondering if the motivation is in part allowing Sharon to exercise more control over the lower orders. After all, when people are buying tickets with the hope of seeing, say, Iron Maiden, it's hard for Sharon to throw Iron Maiden off the tour if they fall out, and so she's reduced to humiliating herself with a childish stunt or two. After all, nobody wants to have to refund tickets, do they? But if the cost of the tickets has been picked up by Nike or Snickers or whoever... well, that shifts the balance of power.

And, in passing, Kelly Osbourne appears to have been the victim of a Freudian slip during the business news on the World Service this morning - ending a report on Windows Vista complaints, the anchor asked if "geek" was now an acceptable term. "Kelly Osbourne likes geeks..." volunteered the business reporter:

"Kelly Osbourne? Who's that?"
"Ozzy Osbourne's son..."