Pandora

ANOTHER AGONISING choice for football fans presented itself on Tuesday night when two separate European matches featuring Premiership clubs were shown simultaneously on BBC1 and Channel 5. The BBC coverage of Roma vs Leeds couldn't avoid the revolving advertising boards around the pitch that intermittently proclaimed "Liverpool on the other side now", complete with the Channel 5 logo. Two weeks ago, when a similar head-to-head battle took place, Ray Stubbs, the BBC producer and presenter, took direct action and removed Channel 5's fixed perimeter boards. If it was fear that motivated the BBC's direct action, it is justified by data from Barb (Broadcast Audience Research Board) which shows that the net gain of viewers for Channel 5, compared to the last head-to-head, was 300,000, mirrored exactly by the BBC's net loss.

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ONLY ONE Lib Dem MP turned up to the launch of A Short History of the Liberal Party at Politicos this week, because of a clash with the party's weekly parliamentary meeting. Who was the lone MP? Alan Beith, the deputy leader, who chaired the meeting and adjourned it early so he could attend the launch. Sadly, on this occasion at least, he failed to carry the rest of the party with him.

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THERE WAS a divine excuse for the late arrival of Simon Hughes, Lib Dem health spokesman, to his Westminster press conference on Wednesday. Hughes had been attending the launch of Christians in the House at nearby St Margaret's church. Short speeches from Hughes, Labour's Derek Foster and the Tory MP Gary Streeter had been scheduled, to promote the book. However, things did not go according to plan. The Lib Dem MP found himself literally praying that Foster's overlong speech would end soon. Hughes told a friend of Pandora that he knew his prayer had been answered when he looked up during his Labour colleague's speech and saw someone at the back of the church making the sign for Foster to stop.

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SIR CHRIS Bonington has been thinking of the green, green grass of home during an expedition in Tibet. The veteran mountaineer

e-mailed the Ramblers Association yesterday to say: "Great to hear you are making headway in your campaign for the right of access to open countryside - just having come from wide, rolling hill country that is remarkably similar in some ways to our own uplands, grazed by yaks and goats." This is Sir Chris's first expression of support for the right to roam. Yaks everywhere will be delighted with it.

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THE NOW widely reported incident concerning Richard Branson and a cherry pie (see yesterday's Pandora) has taken a new twist. Following up on its original story, the New York Post reports that Branson's assailant was Jamison Ernest, who attacked Branson with a cherry pie because the Virgin boss had "got out of line" with his girlfriend. Ernest says he met Branson at New York's Virgin Megastore three weeks ago and he "did something he said was a joke that I didn't take as a joke". Pandora spoke to Branson's spokesman, who said: "Richard is totally bemused. I'll have to look into the story, but it sounds like crap to me." Coincidentally, Ernest's girlfriend is currently at Branson's Necker Island retreat working as a model on a fashion shoot. "Richard left the island at the end of August, and the shoot didn't start until the beginning of September," Branson's spokesman made clear to Pandora.

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CINDY CRAWFORD (pictured) has some new vital statistics. For just $39.95 (pounds 23.56) surfers can access Cindy's website - www.cindy.com - which has attracted the attention of Matt Drudge, the well known cyber- journalist. Cindy told him that she was reluctant to get herself on the Web, but changed her mind "when I heard that over 100,000 listings came up on a search for my name". The website will offer fans merchandise and Cindy exclusives. Pandora hopes it will be more successful than her previous website, which has lain idle since 5 October, seeking a service provider that "doesn't cost too much".