Win, lose or draw, Ken Livingstone looks like he'll remain the Jewish community's public enemy number one, following his imminent disciplinary appearance in front of the Standards Board for England.
The Mayor of London, who is shortly to learn if he will be officially sanctioned for comparing a Jewish journalist to a Nazi, now faces being frozen out of celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of the readmission of the Jews to England.
The Jewish Chronicle reports that the Mayor will not be invited to any of the events in the capital planned for later this year to mark the historic anniversary of the date that Oliver Cromwell effectively decriminalised the religion.
Sources at the Board of Deputies of British Jews say the exact form of their celebrations has yet to be finalised. However, Livingstone is unlikely to be asked to appear in any sort of official capacity.
"The general idea is to hold some kind of rally in Trafalgar Square this autumn to mark the anniversary," I'm told.
"But whatever the event, Ken isn't going to be invited. It's not so much down to what he actually said, as to his subsequent attitude. He's still too stubborn even to say sorry."
Despite the ill-feeling, "red" Ken is doing his best to win back the Jewish community's affection. As I pointed out last week, he recently decided - for the first time ever - to hold an official reception to celebrate Hannukah.
* Dame Kelly Holmes is the latest national hero to fall victim to a modern media phenomenon known as the curse of Desert Island Discs.
On the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme last week, Sue Lawley quizzed the likeable athlete about her future career plans.
Having discussed a series of projects related to PE in schools, she asked if Dame Kelly now planned to: "get married and have children?"
This met with an uneasy pause. Britain's Olympic heroine is famously discreet about her love life, and would not be drawn on the topic. Eventually, Dame Kelly mumbled a flustered response to the effect that she would carry on "being my own person".
Colleagues of Lawley were surprised by the episode, to put it mildly.
"I can't believe no one warned her that she'd be dropping a clanger," says one. "It's even more amazing that the incident got broadcast."
A spokesman for the BBC tells me: "I think Sue just didn't realise."
* Whatever the outcome of Celebrity Big Brother, there are signs that Michael Barrymore has achieved a rehabilitation, of sorts.
He's been asked to resume his pantomime career. Theatreland sources report that several producers are engaged in an bidding war to sign him up for Christmas 2006.
"While Barrymore's in the house, his former driver is acting as a sort of agent," I'm told. "Although he won't sign anything until the show's over, several producers want to snare him now, in case his career takes off. Bidding has already reached six figures."
Sadly, it's still a little early for anyone actually to admit to employing the troubled entertainer. A spokesman for First Family Entertainment - London's biggest panto outfit, who are rumoured to want Barrymore to play Dick Whittington in Wimbledon - says that "no approach has been made."
* Wayne David, the Labour MP for Caerphilly, has been sending out a late Christmas present to the people of his hometown. It's a shiny bookmark, bearing a glossy photograph of the beaming Welshman together with a brief advertisement that lists details of his constituency surgeries.
Unfortunately, there's a problem: innovative as it might be, the bookmark prints details for his surgeries in 2001-2002.
"While political historians might marvel in the knowledge that David spent the 1st March 2002 in the Caerphilly branch of Asda, I can't help thinking that these commemorative gimmicks might not catch on," reckons one local.
"Round here they say people would vote for a blind, one legged donkey so long as it was a Labour donkey. Expensive cock-ups like this rather prove their point."
* Kate Beckinsale is considering a "nuclear option" in a bid to finally nail speculation that she has opted for plastic surgery.
The comely actress - who is frequently the subject of paparazzi snaps - is asked about media intrusion by next month's GQ magazine. Her considered assessment: "What I need is a burka."
"At times like this, it would be so handy to be a Saudi," she reckons. "I'm surprised there aren't more celebrities in burkas. You could completely let yourself go. Maybe we could design a non-religious celebrity burka with a floral print?"
Maybe so, though Miss Beckinsale's bosom (surgically enhanced or otherwise) would perhaps enjoy more privacy if she had the good sense to keep it out of glossy gentlemen's magazines.
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