So, where now for HMV?

Now that - subject to paperwork - HMV has offloaded the slightly less unhealthy part of its business, what now for Nipper, Gennaro and the gang?

There's a strategy. Simon Fox is a man with a plan:

Fox said HMV's new strategy was to focus on building technology sales, including headphones, iPods and tablet computers such as the iPad. He said six stores using a new technology-led format had outperformed, and he wants another 150 shops to adopt the "new focus" by the autumn.

Yes, this is a totally different strategy from the one which saw stores being turned into glorified Youth Clubs. It's a different strategy from the one which saw them putting their name up outside live music venues. It's a different strategy from opening cinemas upstairs in HMV shops.

The man has had more cunning plans that a pile of deeply-discounted, unsold Blackadder boxsets.

So, how will this one work out? HMV isn't the most obvious place to go to buy an iPad, especially with Apple Stores all over the place. And iPads being flogged in Tesco to the other end of the market. And Dixons, Comet and Currys aren't exactly doing that well. And BestBuy is struggling to establish a toehold in the market.

But who knows - it might just work. And it's not like there won't be another sweat-soaked, panic-driven strategy coming along in a few months.

Mind you, it's not surprising that Fox is finding it hard to concentrate on giving HMV a point; he's got lots of other worries. Talking to Sky News after the Waterstones sale, Fox conceded that although the Waterstones sale will help him pay down HMV debt, the lack of Waterstones in the company will make borrowing more expensive for him. In fact, the increased rates of interest could be so high as to allow HMV to axe the deal to sell Waterstones, leaving it even further in a hole.

But maybe flogging a few iPads will help solve everything.

Great news for HMV

Well done, HMV - with the agreement of a sale of Waterstones, you've managed to offload the bit of your business that wasn't a total basket-case.

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Oh, we'll all go together when we go

The struggling Waterstones book store and the struggling HMV um, shop, have come together to share their annual sales conference.

Why has parent HMV brought them together? Embedded spokespoke Gennaro Castaldo has the official line:

"We want to bring together all elements of the business because there is a strategic underlying remit to demonstrate how the whole business is working together."

In other words, as both parts of the company are going down the toilet, it makes sense to gather together rather than splash money out on two conferences.

Still, it turns out there is some cash sloshing about HMV still:

Manic Street Preachers were among bands to entertain delegates at the event

Who knew that the Manics were doing corporates? Every delegate got a torch, a CurlyWurly, a book of stamps, a free digital watch with denim strap, a vodka miniature, a Bic-style razor and a copy of the Daily Express.

Manics mate makes a holy show of himself

Remember Patrick Jones, brother of Nicky Wire and former Manics collaborator? He was worried you wouldn't, as it turns out, so has taken to trying to promote his new book Darkness is Where the Stars Are by sending copies to extremist Christian, Right-Wing and Muslim groups with a nudge that, ooh, he'd love to know what they thought of the poems that attack their deep-rooted beliefs.

Some think he was hoping to provide a common enemy that would see the likes of Combat 18, strident Muslims and Christian Voice uniting in the face of their common enemy, realising they have more in common than that which divides them, kissing each other and then rushing off to have a gay wedding in any place where they've not campaigned it out of existence.

Others think that Jones might have been working with a Far East betting syndicate, creating a market in bets on which bunch would react first. This seems unlikely, though: Combat 18 would have had to have found someone to read them to them which would have slowed down their riposte.

If it was some sort of gamble, those who got the tickets with Christian Voice on have won. Even they, though, seemed to spot they were being played:

Stephen Green, of Christian Voice, said he believed Mr Jones had deliberately "whipped up" feelings about the book.

"We got this stuff on e-mail from Patrick Jones and another e-mail from someone else telling us about his book signing," he said.

"His e-mails contained some of his prose and there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that he wanted to cause a frenzy."

It's perhaps not surprising that Christian Voice - an organisation whose understanding of the last couple of thousand years of culture is that it's some sort unspoken threat to their families - can't tell the difference between 'prose' and 'poetry in pretty much the same way they can't tell the difference between 'a different opinion' and 'an insult to their beliefs'.

However, even though they spotted that Jones was just trying to whip up some controversy to help stretch the promotional budget for his book, they just couldn't help themselves:

[A] campaign by activists Christian Voice [...] called the book "obscene and blasphemous".

It called on the chain to remove copies from stores, which Waterstone's refused to do.

However, Waterstones did cancel the planned launch event for the poems. Jones was delighted. Sorry, did I say delighted? No, no. Outraged:

He insisted he did not want to create any protests, but rather to spark a debate about the issues in his poems, which include religion and domestic violence against men.

"I sent a few poems to many different organisations on 2 November and I said 'Please find a few poems. I would appreciate your feedback'," he said.

"I was hoping that maybe they would come out and have a debate. That's within my rights to do that.

"Even if they had come out to protest, that doesn't mean Waterstone's should give up [on the launch]. That's freedom of expression.

"My book didn't set out to be provocative at all. I had support from people when I went to a book reading in Cwmaman last night. I'm really proud of my book."

You'll note that Jones, for a poet, is slightly loose with his language. Waterstones are not removing the right to freedom of expression from the perpetually-wounded groups; all it is choosing to do is not provide a focus for a firestorm which Jones has provoked.

The really strange this is: Jones claims all he was trying to do was provoke a debate - not, in itself, a bad thing. And yet at first, he denied that he'd sent the emails out. Maybe he'd forgotten about this debate he was desperate to get going.