Busy line

I feel I must challenge arts and music blogger Norman Lebrecht for his slight on one of my specialist subjects. He says, referring to Alan Yentob, "Hacking his phone must be like listening to paint dry".

Alan has just won apologies and undisclosed compensation from Trinity Mirror who admitted liability for listening to his messages between 2002 and 2004. Alan was represented on a no-win, no fee basis by Gerald Shamash, Manchester United and Labour Party supporter.

In 2002, Alan was emerging from his admittedly-fragile chrysalis, as a presenter fit to take on Melvyn Bragg, then bestriding tv culture on ITV's South Bank Show. Imagine hit our screens in 2003, with features on Stella McCartney, Charles Saatchi, and The Hip Hop Generation (requiring Al to fly to Detroit, New York and Los Angeles). To aid his presenter profile, Alan stepped up his party circuit activity to new frenetic levels - perhaps too busy to change the factory settings on his mobile. Who knows who he might have been talking to ?