Shouldn't there be a charity to help Cliff

Poor Cliff Richard - the man is on his uppers, he says:

Cliff: I have to sell trinkets on my website to make money because ageist record bosses won't play my records

Actually, the story that appears under this headline on the Mail website isn't quite that cut and dried: they've cut and shunted two stories together. The first is Cliff moaning on that they don't play his records on the radio anymore - comments, erm, he's made on a Radio 2 show dedicated to celebrating him and his music; onto the end of this was tacked something else entirely:

And a glance look at Sir Cliff's own website today paints a rather depressing picture of where much of his new income is coming from.

Mail order items for sale include T-shirts, sweatshirts, concert brochures, mugs, pens, keyrings and even a "Cliff" diamante belt buckle and official 50th anniversary pendant are for sale. Other items include signed calendars, 'official teddy bears, a miniature gold juke box and an embroidered ski hat celebrating his recent tour.

His Vida Nova rose and tinto wine is also for sale there, Cliff tells us, as it is in Waitrose on-line.

While his four different perfumes - Miss You Nights, Dream Maker, Devil Woman and Summer Holiday - are all now currently on sale on-line too.

Sir Cliff's former producer Clive Black added: "These projects are all hobbies of his. He loves tennis and gardening too and I wouldn't be surprised if he bought a nursery. He's just lucky that he is able to make a living from them.

"He has a strong army of believers in his fan club and he doesn't want to be at the beck and call of anyone except himself. He doesn't want his career dependent on record labels."

But isn't this less that Cliff is being "forced" to flog tat to make ends meet; more that he's churning out a load of old gubbins secure in the knowledge that he's got a massive army of fans who'll lap it up by the caseload?

After all, it's the prime minister who taps Cliff for the free holidays, not the other way round. Not getting a slot on Horizon FM can't be hitting him too firmly, can it?