Mail explains non-settlement for Mills

Having confidently informed its readers that McCartney and Mills would shake hands on a £55million divorce package, is the Daily Mail feeling sheepish this morning, as the divorce hearing ends without any agreement at all?

Not a bit of. It was right, it maintains - it's just, erm, Paul must have changed his mind at the last minute:

Paul McCartney attempted to pull off a high-risk legal stunt yesterday by abandoning a record £55million divorce deal just hours before it was due to be signed in the High Court.

The turn-around came late on Sunday evening after Fiona Shackleton and Nicholas Mostyn QC - Sir Paul's legal team - advised him he could save millions by letting High Court judge Mr Justice Bennett decide on a payout for Heather Mills.

Why, even Heather seems to have read about the done deal in the Mail:

Miss Mills turned up fully hoping the deal would be signed shortly after 9am yesterday.

Soon after that she learned that there had been a major change of tack and that Sir Paul would not be coming to court to sign the settlement after all.

Miss Mills, who sources say had been celebrating the imminent deal all weekend, was said to be "incandescent with rage" after realising Sir Paul and his legal advisers had "stood her up" at court.

Insiders - it's not clear if they're inside the legal teams, or merely inside the Mail's staff canteen - reckon that the McCartney team have seen "the worst" that Mills has to throw at them, and so aren't bothered by the prospect of a public appeal. Probably.