Sometimes, the saviour is worse than the fate

Who is this offering to save Abbey Road? No, not the National Trust, but that other doughty British institution, Lloyd Webber:

His spokesman said: "Andrew Lloyd Webber is very interested in buying Abbey Road Studios. He first recorded there in 1967 with Tim Rice. "Andrew has since recorded most of his musicals there, from Jesus Christ Superstar to his new musical Love Never Dies."

BBC News was reporting this morning that an offer of £30million for the studios has already been turned down. It must be strange for Terra Firma, discovering that EMI actually does have something to sell that people actually want.