Gordon in the morning: Good parenting

I think we're meant to read the story placed in Bizarre this morning as an indication that Madonna is a fit adoptive mother:

MADONNA telephones new adopted daughter Mercy James every night, it emerged yesterday.

The Malawian orphan, four, who speaks basic English, got a call on Sunday.

An insider revealed: “She said, ‘Mommy is waiting for you across the seas’.”

Aides are arranging travel papers for Mercy in capital Lilongwe before a private jet takes her to New York.

Oh, how touching, right?

Trouble is, the effect is the exact opposite of that intended - because even if you buy the idea that her money somehow allows Madonna to buy her way out of the eighteen month residence law, you'd have to hope she could at least be arsed to hang around for a week or two while the paperwork is sorted and bring the kid back to her bemusing, goldfish-bowl life herself. The Madonna camp might be trying to stress her brilliance as a mother, but it's all backfired a little.