Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Explaining the error

Yesterday's surprise appearance of an HMV order page for Amelia Lily's X Factor winner's single caused some eyebrows to be raised, and conspiracy theorists to head for the net.

Who can reassure a worried nation? Step forward HMV's explanation expert Gennaro Castaldo:

"Hmv.com was looking to accept customer pre-orders for versions of the X Factor winner's single recorded by each of the three finalists," said HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo.

"Due to a technical issue, only Amelia Lily's details were uploaded.

"These have been temporarily removed so that all three finalists details can go up at the same time.

"This has been the result of an unforeseen but regrettable technical issue, for which we apologise and ask that nothing further be construed."

Well, that seems... hang on a minute: you were inviting people to pre-order records, two of which don't exist and never shall? That actually seems more scandalous than any possible rigging of the X Factor.