Crystal tips

Wristbands, eh? Nasty things, seldom matching your festival outfit and often making the most glam of us look a little like we're common. I say 'us', although actually I'm not glam and used to quite enjoy the old rubber-stamp-on-the-hand technology.

Anyway, VIPs at the Wireless festival are in for an expensive, if totally wasteful, treat this weekend, as they'll be given a Swarovski covered wristband to allow them to gain access to the free beer and roast swan backstage. The wristbands have an RFID chip in, too, so if someone turns up with just any crystal-studded wristband, it can be swiped on a machine to check if they're genuinely worthy of lift of the purple rope.

The Times Mousetrap blog reports that "only 50" of these encrusted bands have been made, which means that, clearly, Wireless isn't expecting that many famous people to turn up. Fifty VIPs? That's smaller than Snoop Dogg's reserve entourage.