�Researchers at The University of Nottingham have developed a unique technology that will allow scientists to look at microscopic bodily function within the body's chemical messenger system for the very first time, live as it happens.
The cutting edge optical maser technology has helped to attract .3 million pounds from the MRC (Medical Research Council) for a five-year externalize that will offer a new sixth sense into the tiny public of action taking position within single cells and could put up to the design of new drugs to treat human diseases such as asthma and arthritis with fewer side effects.
The team, involving scientists from the University's Schools of Biomedical Science (Professor Steve Hill and Dr Steve Briddon) and Pharmacy (Dr Barrie Kellam), is concentrating on a type of specialised docking situation (receptor) on the earth's surface of a cell that recognises and responds to a natural chemical within the body called adenosine.
These A3-adenosine receptors work within the body by binding with proteins to causal agency a response within cells and ar found in very petite and highly specialised expanse of a cell membrane called microdomains. Microdomains contain a collection of different molecules that are involved in recounting the cellphone how to respond to drugs or hormones.
It is believed that these receptors play an important role in inflammation within the body and knowing more about how they operate could inform the future development of anti-inflammatory drugs that prey just those receptors in the relevant microdomain of the cell, without influencing the like receptors in other areas of the cell. However, scientists get never before been able-bodied to reckon in item at their activity within these tiny microscopic regions of a living cell.
The Nottingham researchers have solved this problem by creating novel drug molecules which make fluorescent labels attached. Using a thinning edge optical maser technology called fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, the fluorescent do drugs molecules tin can be detected as they glow under the optical maser beam of a extremely sensitive microscope. This allows their binding to the receptor to be followed for the first time in actual time at the individual molecule level.
Leading the externalize, Professor Steve Hill in the School of Biomedical Sciences said: "These microdomains are so tiny you could suit five billion on them on a full stoppage. There ar 10,000 receptors on each prison cell, and we are able to follow how undivided drug molecules bind to individual receptors in these specialised microdomains.
"What makes this single molecule laser technique unique is that we are looking at them in substantial time on a living cell. Other techniques that investigate how drugs tie down to their receptors ask many millions of cells to get a openhanded enough signal and this normally involves destroying the cells in the process"
The researchers testament be victimisation donated blood as a source of A3-receptors in specialised human blood cells (neutrophils) that have of import roles during inflammation.
Different types of adenosine receptors ar found all over the body and can exist in different areas of the cell membrane and have different properties. Scientists hope that eventually the new engineering could besides be used to unlock the secrets of the role they play in a whole host of human diseases.
The fluorescent molecules developed as part of the inquiry project will also be useful in drug viewing programmes and The University of Nottingham will be making these fluorescent drugs available to the wider scientific community through its links with its spin out company CellAura Technologies Ltd.
The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 70 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THES) World University Rankings.
It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing enquiry, and attracts talented staff and students from one hundred fifty nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only when truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics hold won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation - School of Pharmacy).
Its students are often in demand from 'blue-chip' employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for four geezerhood in taking over, and stream holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and graduate student degree closing rates ar amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.
Video footage can be found at http://wirksworthii.nottingham.ac.uk/Podcasts/files/rmg/public/science/laser.mp4
Source: Emma Thorne
University of Nottingham
More info
Wednesday 10 September 2008
Sunday 31 August 2008
Neil Spencer on a film season showcasing the work of pop's oddballs
What makes a pop musician a maverick? Clothes? Haircut? An unusual perceptiveness in venues? A mute refusal to quit? Or even their music? It's a question raised by Pop Mavericks, a new season at London's Barbican cinema. Included are recent documentaries on Dean Reed, a Californian singer world Health Organization defected to East Germany to become the 'Red Elvis'; UK indie trailblazers the Dolly Mixtures and Felt; and Sweden's Namelosers and Gonks, whose claim to fame is that they supported the Stones on their 1965 inflict to Malmo.
Assembled by cinephile Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne, the movies are a reminder that pop is a instinctive home for eccentrics, misfits and out-and-out weirdos, not to mention artists touched by whiz who are unlikely to make a buck anywhere else.
Gary McFarland arguably falls into the last-place category. A half-forgotten Sixties jazzer, McFarland wrote both pop jazz (including wordless vocals on Soft Samba) and epical orchestral pieces before his mysterious 1971 death.
For oddball status, though, he doesn't compare with Sun Ra, world Health Organization claimed to come from Saturn and dressed like a pharaoh.
The age of corporate pop has made such nonconformists an progressively endangered species. Where hits were once made by visionary producers such as Phil Spector, Joe Meek or Martin Hamnett, instantly we have Simon Cowell and Pop Idol bland-out. The singular Amy Winehouse is, let's not forget, a product of Fame school, just like Adele. Even the million-selling behemoths of grim bloke-rock have become less imaginative - it's tough to insure Coldplay or Radiohead advent up with a frivolity like Pink Floyd's fast-flying pig. In this climate, it's set aside that a group vocation themselves the Mavericks play toothless, middle of the road state.
What first Baron Marks of Broughton out the true pop maverick? Visual originality helps. It's easy to overtop just how weird a teenage Elvis Presley must have been to sing R&B and dress like a Beale Street panderer in the segregated South of the 1950s. The King's latterday capes and codpieces were pretty bizarre too. Furthermore, Elvis chose his possess clothes; PJ Harvey in a pinko catsuit might look unfounded, but she's probably undermentioned her stylists's advice. Let's hope Jarvis Cocker, champ of eccentric person chic through his wilderness years, has resisted the temptation to hire a personal shopper now he's a national institution.
The intuitive impact of Ian Dury in razorblade earring and frock pelage, Patti Smith in male drag or Bj�rk in candy floss skirt, tribal headdress or swan curry was jubilantly matched by their lyrical and musical originality. Lee Perry and Captain Beefheart are others whose surrealist streak - think 'Cow Thief Skank', 'Bat Chain Puller' and 'Big Eyed Beans From Venus' - finds an echo in modern mavericks like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. Banhart's electric gypsy looks and psych folk and Newsom's rubicund harp, atomic number 2 vocals and faux-naif poetry tick all the boxes of the naturally perverse.
The most important thing, however, is to do your thing regardless of fashion. Moody crooner Scott Walker, northern sourpuss Mark E Smith and even evergreen older buzzard Neil Young have never get commerce or what's in vogue influence their output. Real mavericks just keep on keeping on.
� Pop Mavericks runs at the Barbican, London EC2, 2 Sept-2 Dec
More info
Monday 11 August 2008
Wednesday 6 August 2008
Inspire Provides Update On Cystic Fibrosis Clinical Program - Optimization Of TIGER-2 Trial Design
�Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISPH) proclaimed modifications to the clinical protocol for TIGER-2, the Company's on-going second Phase 3 test with denufosol tetrasodium for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF).
"The handiness of the extensive information set from the incontrovertible TIGER-1 trial provides an excellent opportunity to optimise the TIGER-2 trial design," stated Christy L. Shaffer, Ph.D., President and CEO of Inspire. "In interview with key experts, we determined that a yearner treatment geological period of 48 weeks is appropriate based on the progressive betterment from baseline in FEV1 observed in patients wHO received denufosol in both the 24-week, placebo-controlled period of TIGER-1, as well as the 24-week open-label safety extension. Importantly, based on further analysis of preliminary information available in July 2008 from patients who received denufosol for the full 48 weeks, the miserly change from baseline in FEV1 more than than twofold compared to the 24-week trial terminus.
"We ar working with the participating clinical trial sites and the CF Foundation to increase cognizance about TIGER-2 and recruit patients in order to complete the trial as quickly as possible. We will leave periodic updates on registration as the trial progresses," concluded Dr. Shaffer.
"The positive results of TIGER-1 have generated additional interest in denufosol in the CF medical community, which should facilitate enrollment in TIGER-2," stated Felix Ratjen, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief, Respiratory Medicine, University of Toronto, and lead principal investigator of TIGER-2. "The potential for denufosol to treat the underlying ion channel defect in CF, coupled with the efficacy and guard shown in TIGER-1, is an exciting step fore in the search for novel treatments for CF."
TIGER-2 is a double blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study comparison 60 mg of denufosol inhaled tierce times day-to-day to placebo. The cay changes to the protocol are:
� Increasing the length of the trial from 24 to 48 weeks, such that the chief efficacy termination will be change from baseline in FEV1 (Forced Expiratory Volume in One Second) (in liters) at the 48-week trial termination;
� Increasing the target registration from 350 patients to approximately 450 patients; and
� Modifying entrance criteria to add an upper demarcation to the lung function criteria (targeting patients with a baseline FEV1 ? 75% and ? 110% predicted normal).
In addition, although in that respect is no regulatory requirement to do so, Inspire plans to offer patients completing TIGER-2 an option to encounter denufosol through participation in a subsequent open-label trial.
Inspire has submitted a protocol amendment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has begun effectuation with clinical trial sites. Based on the changes in the protocol, the availability of TIGER-2 results will be dependent on the rate of enrollment in the trial, only will likely follow receipt of the final field report of the on-going two-year carcinogenicity study in rodents.
TIGER-2 Enrollment Status
Currently, at that place are 62 patients enrolled at 25 of the approximately 90 participating clinical trial sites in the U.S. and Canada. Of the 65 sites that have non yet enrolled patients, or so 15 are currently quick to inscribe patients and it is expected that most of the unexpended 50 sites will be ready to enroll patients by the end of 2008. Inspire expects the majority of the patients currently enrolled to elect to enter in the 48-week trial.
TIGER-1 Open-Label Safety Extension Status
Following the 24-week placebo-controlled period of TIGER-1, approximately 315 patients continued into the open-label refuge extension share of the trial and as of early July 2008, just about 245 of those patients had completed the good trial for a tally of 48 weeks. The safety extension is ongoing with the remaining patients.
About Denufosol Tetrasodium
Denufosol is intentional to heighten the lung's innate mucosal hydration and mucociliary headroom mechanisms, which in CF patients ar impaired due to a genetic mar. By hydrating airways and stimulating mucociliary clearance through activation of the P2Y2 receptor, denufosol can potentially help hold back the lungs of CF patients unclutter of thickened mucus, subjugate infections and limit the damage that occurs as a event of the prolonged retention of thick and flashy infected secretions.
Denufosol is currently in Phase 3 testing for the intervention of CF. Positive top-line results from the first Phase 3 trial, TIGER-1, were announced in June 2008. Denufosol for the treatment of CF has been granted Fast Track designation and orphan drug status in the United States by the FDA and orphan drug identification in Europe by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). Inspire holds world-wide rights for denufosol.
About Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis is a serious disease involving a genetical mutation that disrupts the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) protein, resulting in poorly hydrous, thickened mucose secretions in the lungs, as well as severely impaired mucociliary clearance. According to the U.S. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), there are about 30,000 CF patients in the United States and the median life expectancy for patients is approximately 37 years (CFF Patient Registry Annual Data Report 2006).
About Inspire
Inspire is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing prescription pharmaceutical products for ophthalmic and pneumonic diseases. Inspire is currently developing products for dry eye, cystic fibrosis and glaucoma. Inspire employs a U.S. gross revenue force for the promotion of AzaSite� (azithromycin ophthalmic solution) 1% for bacterial conjunctivitis, Elestat� (epinastine HCl ophthalmic solution) 0.05% for supersensitised conjunctivitis and Restasis� (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion) 0.05% for dry eye. Elestat and Restasis are registered trademarks owned by Allergan, Inc. AzaSite is a registered trademark owned by InSite Vision Incorporated.
http://www.inspirepharm.com
Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements in this news sacking relating to management's expectations and beliefs are based on preliminary information and management assumptions. Specifically, no assurance can buoy be made with respect to the outcome of the TIGER-2 trial, including without limit the impingement, if any, of the changes in the protocol on the likelihood that the trial run will converge its primary or secondary endpoints, or otherwise be successful. No assurance can be made that the improvement from baseline in FEV1 discovered in those patients world Health Organization received denufosol and completed the 24-week, placebo-controlled period and the 24-week open-label safety prolongation, will be seen in those patients who received denufosol and who completed the 24-week, placebo-controlled flow, but have not yet completed the 24-week open-label safety extension. No assurance can be made with respect to the timing of the TIGER-2 trial, including without limitation the timing or ability of Inspire, the participating clinical trial sites or the CF Foundation to gain awareness nigh TIGER-2 and recruit patients in order to complete the trial as quickly as possible; the ability of the results of TIGER-1 to facilitate registration in TIGER-2; the likelihood that the results of TIGER-2 volition follow receipt of the final study report of the ongoing two-year carcinogenicity study in rodents; the likelihood that patients currently enrolled in TIGER-2 testament elect to participate in the 48-week trial; and the timing of the commencement of enrollment at any of the clinical trial sites. Furthermore, no assurance be made with respect to the planned open-label trial subsequent to TIGER-2, including the design, timing or results. Such innovative statements ar subject to a broad range of risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ in material respects, including those relating to product development, revenue, expense and earnings expectations, intellectual property rights, adverse judicial proceeding developments, inauspicious developments in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe, competitive products, results and timing of clinical trials, success of marketing efforts, the penury for extra research and testing, delays in manufacturing, funding, and the timing and content of decisions made by regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Further information regarding factors that could strike Inspire's results is included in Inspire's filings with the SEC. Inspire undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that english hawthorn be made to contemplate events or circumstances after the date hereof.
Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
View drug information on AzaSite; Restasis.
More info
"The handiness of the extensive information set from the incontrovertible TIGER-1 trial provides an excellent opportunity to optimise the TIGER-2 trial design," stated Christy L. Shaffer, Ph.D., President and CEO of Inspire. "In interview with key experts, we determined that a yearner treatment geological period of 48 weeks is appropriate based on the progressive betterment from baseline in FEV1 observed in patients wHO received denufosol in both the 24-week, placebo-controlled period of TIGER-1, as well as the 24-week open-label safety extension. Importantly, based on further analysis of preliminary information available in July 2008 from patients who received denufosol for the full 48 weeks, the miserly change from baseline in FEV1 more than than twofold compared to the 24-week trial terminus.
"We ar working with the participating clinical trial sites and the CF Foundation to increase cognizance about TIGER-2 and recruit patients in order to complete the trial as quickly as possible. We will leave periodic updates on registration as the trial progresses," concluded Dr. Shaffer.
"The positive results of TIGER-1 have generated additional interest in denufosol in the CF medical community, which should facilitate enrollment in TIGER-2," stated Felix Ratjen, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief, Respiratory Medicine, University of Toronto, and lead principal investigator of TIGER-2. "The potential for denufosol to treat the underlying ion channel defect in CF, coupled with the efficacy and guard shown in TIGER-1, is an exciting step fore in the search for novel treatments for CF."
TIGER-2 is a double blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study comparison 60 mg of denufosol inhaled tierce times day-to-day to placebo. The cay changes to the protocol are:
� Increasing the length of the trial from 24 to 48 weeks, such that the chief efficacy termination will be change from baseline in FEV1 (Forced Expiratory Volume in One Second) (in liters) at the 48-week trial termination;
� Increasing the target registration from 350 patients to approximately 450 patients; and
� Modifying entrance criteria to add an upper demarcation to the lung function criteria (targeting patients with a baseline FEV1 ? 75% and ? 110% predicted normal).
In addition, although in that respect is no regulatory requirement to do so, Inspire plans to offer patients completing TIGER-2 an option to encounter denufosol through participation in a subsequent open-label trial.
Inspire has submitted a protocol amendment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has begun effectuation with clinical trial sites. Based on the changes in the protocol, the availability of TIGER-2 results will be dependent on the rate of enrollment in the trial, only will likely follow receipt of the final field report of the on-going two-year carcinogenicity study in rodents.
TIGER-2 Enrollment Status
Currently, at that place are 62 patients enrolled at 25 of the approximately 90 participating clinical trial sites in the U.S. and Canada. Of the 65 sites that have non yet enrolled patients, or so 15 are currently quick to inscribe patients and it is expected that most of the unexpended 50 sites will be ready to enroll patients by the end of 2008. Inspire expects the majority of the patients currently enrolled to elect to enter in the 48-week trial.
TIGER-1 Open-Label Safety Extension Status
Following the 24-week placebo-controlled period of TIGER-1, approximately 315 patients continued into the open-label refuge extension share of the trial and as of early July 2008, just about 245 of those patients had completed the good trial for a tally of 48 weeks. The safety extension is ongoing with the remaining patients.
About Denufosol Tetrasodium
Denufosol is intentional to heighten the lung's innate mucosal hydration and mucociliary headroom mechanisms, which in CF patients ar impaired due to a genetic mar. By hydrating airways and stimulating mucociliary clearance through activation of the P2Y2 receptor, denufosol can potentially help hold back the lungs of CF patients unclutter of thickened mucus, subjugate infections and limit the damage that occurs as a event of the prolonged retention of thick and flashy infected secretions.
Denufosol is currently in Phase 3 testing for the intervention of CF. Positive top-line results from the first Phase 3 trial, TIGER-1, were announced in June 2008. Denufosol for the treatment of CF has been granted Fast Track designation and orphan drug status in the United States by the FDA and orphan drug identification in Europe by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). Inspire holds world-wide rights for denufosol.
About Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis is a serious disease involving a genetical mutation that disrupts the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) protein, resulting in poorly hydrous, thickened mucose secretions in the lungs, as well as severely impaired mucociliary clearance. According to the U.S. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), there are about 30,000 CF patients in the United States and the median life expectancy for patients is approximately 37 years (CFF Patient Registry Annual Data Report 2006).
About Inspire
Inspire is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing prescription pharmaceutical products for ophthalmic and pneumonic diseases. Inspire is currently developing products for dry eye, cystic fibrosis and glaucoma. Inspire employs a U.S. gross revenue force for the promotion of AzaSite� (azithromycin ophthalmic solution) 1% for bacterial conjunctivitis, Elestat� (epinastine HCl ophthalmic solution) 0.05% for supersensitised conjunctivitis and Restasis� (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion) 0.05% for dry eye. Elestat and Restasis are registered trademarks owned by Allergan, Inc. AzaSite is a registered trademark owned by InSite Vision Incorporated.
http://www.inspirepharm.com
Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements in this news sacking relating to management's expectations and beliefs are based on preliminary information and management assumptions. Specifically, no assurance can buoy be made with respect to the outcome of the TIGER-2 trial, including without limit the impingement, if any, of the changes in the protocol on the likelihood that the trial run will converge its primary or secondary endpoints, or otherwise be successful. No assurance can be made that the improvement from baseline in FEV1 discovered in those patients world Health Organization received denufosol and completed the 24-week, placebo-controlled period and the 24-week open-label safety prolongation, will be seen in those patients who received denufosol and who completed the 24-week, placebo-controlled flow, but have not yet completed the 24-week open-label safety extension. No assurance can be made with respect to the timing of the TIGER-2 trial, including without limitation the timing or ability of Inspire, the participating clinical trial sites or the CF Foundation to gain awareness nigh TIGER-2 and recruit patients in order to complete the trial as quickly as possible; the ability of the results of TIGER-1 to facilitate registration in TIGER-2; the likelihood that the results of TIGER-2 volition follow receipt of the final study report of the ongoing two-year carcinogenicity study in rodents; the likelihood that patients currently enrolled in TIGER-2 testament elect to participate in the 48-week trial; and the timing of the commencement of enrollment at any of the clinical trial sites. Furthermore, no assurance be made with respect to the planned open-label trial subsequent to TIGER-2, including the design, timing or results. Such innovative statements ar subject to a broad range of risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ in material respects, including those relating to product development, revenue, expense and earnings expectations, intellectual property rights, adverse judicial proceeding developments, inauspicious developments in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe, competitive products, results and timing of clinical trials, success of marketing efforts, the penury for extra research and testing, delays in manufacturing, funding, and the timing and content of decisions made by regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Further information regarding factors that could strike Inspire's results is included in Inspire's filings with the SEC. Inspire undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that english hawthorn be made to contemplate events or circumstances after the date hereof.
Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
View drug information on AzaSite; Restasis.
More info
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Thursday 26 June 2008
Godsmak
Artist: Godsmak
Genre(s):
Metal: Alternative
Discography:
Awake
Year: 2000
Tracks: 11
The Boston-based alternative metal group Godsmack originally comprised vocaliser Sully Erna (a dear Wiccan), guitarist Tony Rambola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Tommy Stewart. After debuting in 1997 with All Wound Up, Godsmack gestural with Universal, which in 1998 reissued the LP as a self-titled movement with a smattering of new tracks; at that point Stewart -- who'd left the grouping in mid-1997 and was replaced by drummer Joe d'Arco -- returned to the lineup on a lasting footing. The band's audience reinforced lento simply sure, and Godsmack was certified gold in 1999, the same year the chemical group was invited to join the Ozzfest tour; by the next year, it had sold over three gazillion copies, thanks to strike singles like "Any" and "Maintain Away." In 2000, the group over again played Ozzfest, and released their irregular proper album, Awake, that fall. In January 2001, Alive earned the ring a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the birdcall "Vampires," and by March, it had sold deuce million copies. Hot on the heels of their chronic success, their single "I Stand Alone" propelled the ballyhoo of the motion picture The Scorpion King in March 2002. As the unmarried maintained Godsmack's firm presence at modern rock radio into the summer, instauration extremity Tommy Stewart left the lot in June. The David Bottrill-produced (Pecker Gabriel, Tool, Mudvayne) album Faceless appeared in April 2003. It likewise pronounced the debut of examination drummer Shannon Larkin. The all-acoustic Other Side arrived in spring 2004. In 2006, Erna stepped behindhand the board to helm IV, a aggregation of new material that reached figure one while both retaining the group's trademark heave and expanding their sonic pallet.
Wednesday 25 June 2008
Amrit Vela
Artist: Amrit Vela
Genre(s):
Easy Listening
Discography:
Sadhana Chants
Year:
Tracks: 7
Justin Timberlake Congratulates New Mother Jessica Alba
Tuesday 24 June 2008
Robbie Williams takes up camping
When Bizarre's Smart Gordon isn't posing for pictures with Coldplay or rating women's breasts, he likes to focus on the latest extra-curricular activities keeping Robbie Williams occupied. And who wouldn't? Ever since the swinging man of pop stopped making music, he's actually become - dare we say it - quite likable and interesting. And does Gordo agree? Erm...
"Beardy pop knob Robbie Williams has a new hobby - camping. The ex-Take That star has spent a small fortune kitting himself out for trips into the wilderness - which seems appropriate as the paranoid lump is also in the pop wilderness." Smarto quotes a "source" as saying this al-fresco activity is down to William's prevailing interest in aliens, which he should have a better chance of seeing "away from LA's bright lights". Weirdly, Smarto thinks this is proof that Williams is a massive gaylord, the latest in a long line of crack-pop theories. "I always thought Robbie was camp as a row of tents - and this all sounds a bit Brokeback Mountain." Wow, you're right, clearly camping does have all the trademarks of homosexuality, and it's definitely Robbie Williams and not Smart Gordon who has a one-track mind when it comes to such matters.
In other outdoor-related news, glam-rockers Kiss stole the show at Download festival on the weekend and, in turn, Kim Dawson of Kim Dawson's Playlist stole a few moments with them. Bassist Gene Simmons was, it seems, in a typically belligerent mood, as Kim writes: "Kiss have blasted bands like Coldplay and Radiohead for giving away music for free." Yes, months and months after everybody else on the planet has come to terms with this extraordinary feat, Gene Simmons has finally let it get to him.
"The music industry is dead. It's six feet underground and unfortunately the fans have done this. There's no record industry so we're going to wait until everybody settles downs and becomes civilised," said Simmons, although we'd be lying if we said we had the faintest clue what the old fool was banging on about. There's more, though. In the hope of resuscitating the music biz corpse, Simmons promises Kiss won't record any new material until the "industry pops its head up". Once Radiohead and Coldplay get to the bottom of what he's talking about, we're sure they'll feel suitably obliged to cease the giveaways so as not to deny the world any more Kiss classics.
Just in case you thought nothing interesting happened at the Mojo awards last night, think again. Feud time! "There was a distinct chill in the air between Duffy and Paul Weller at last night's Mojos," reports the Mirror's 3am team, fresh from the gossip frontline. "It was the first time the Welsh warbler had come face to face with the Modfather after snubbing his offer to make sweet music together."
Apparently this is not a euphemism for sex, Weller actually did want record a duet with her. And "record a duet" isn't a euphemism for sex either, we're strictly talking about music here. Anyway, with regards to sex or music, you "just don't say no to someone like Paul Weller too many times", claims a source, "or they'll never ask again." Given Duffy's stance on matters related to Weller, we imagine this is more of a promise than a threat.
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