Fish* comes to aid of Gary McKinnon

Gary McKinnon - the poor sod who's currently looking at being heavily-handed over to the US so that he might have his life ruined as a riposte to getting inside the American military computer system - is having a benefit gig thrown for him in a bid to try and stop his extradition.

There are lots of names being thrown around - Madonna, George Michael, Kaiser Chiefs - and it would be to their credit if some got involved. First to sign up, though, is the somewhat more lowly but no less admirable Marillion:

Mark Kelly, keyboardist for Marillion, told Broadway: "I've been following Gary's story for a while. I took an interest in it because I'm a bit of a computer geek myself.

"Being a keyboard player, it goes with the territory.

"I thought he seemed quite harmless. He was only looking for UFOs.

His story struck a chord with me. When I heard he was being extradited, it seemed so unjust. He shouldn't be made an example of just because of American incompetence."

The event organiser, Ross Hemsworth, is hoping for Live Aid style event in Wembley or at the Millennium Dome, which seems no less likely than the US government's claims that McKinnon did three quarter of a million dollars' worth of damage to their computers.

UPDATE: *Not Fish, it turns out. Apparently his reunion in 2007 was only a one-off and he is once again not a member of the band.