Gordon in the morning: Lee Cain goes to the Royal Variety

There's two schools of thought about Lady GaGa playing the Royal Variety Performance - one is that it's somehow a subversive gesture, sneaking the counterculture right into Her Majesty's face; the other is that it marks the GaGa tipping point where she has completed the journey from apparent edgy outsider to mainstream light entertainer.

Put it this way: You're not going to see Frank Carson introduce Peaches to Prince Philip, no matter how much you'd like to.

Still, Lee Cain dutifully covers the story like it's some sort of cultureclash. But somewhat oddly:

OUTRAGEOUS LADY GAGA wins the Queen's seal of approval last night as she curtsies for her at the Royal Variety Performance.

In other words, the Queen met her in a line-up. Did Lee really think there was a chance Elizabeth would say "Frankly, Poker Face has been over-exposed and you'd never get Peaches meeting me"?

The Poker Face star, 23, was sporting a red PVC suit and 20ft cloak topped with a regal Elizabethan-style ruff.

It was baggy, Lee. Even if you've never worn fetish clothing yourself, surely you know that catsuits are skintight?

GaGa greeted the crowd by saying: "Good evening Blackpool. Let me hear you rattle your jewellery."

Strangely, there's no explanation of this comment, leaving the delicious question of if Smart and his team just assumed that their readership would get the reference (not the usual Bizarre behaviour, where every utterance is explained in flash-card simple terms) or if they just didn't get it themselves.

Just one point: If GaGa was truly edgy, she'd not have done the jewelery schtick; she'd have come on with a reference to never having played such an ornate garage.