Few weep when newspapers have to pay huge libel damages. The general public pictures a rich proprietor with deep pockets abusing an underdog. Juries relish the chance to exact an expensive revenge: it is fortunate for some reporters that hanging is not an option.

The law of libel was drastically reformed yesterday, when the Court of Appeal made a landmark ruling that juries should be steered towards much lower awards, by pointing out to them how little money accident victims get.

BUNHILL(Diary) Elton John swears by him; Liz Taylor summoned him to Michael Jackson's aid. 'Beechy' Colclough is a therapist like no other, counselling superstars and humbler addicts alike, often in the far-from-anonymous glare of daytime TV

Get used to the poor spelling, and to Eliot Sloan's warm, nasal delivery: this time next year, you'll be thoroughly sick of both. Already meteorically successful in America with their debut single "I Believe", the union in question here is that of Sloan and his co-singer / songwriter Jeff Pence, proponents of a style they call "rural soul".

...well, I mean, says Julian Clary, it's just not polite is it? The comedian describes some sticky moments in rehearsal for his straight role in Jean Genet's 'Splendid's'

LAST SUNDAY at the Albert Hall, Elton John was playing yet another bombastic ballad. The big, fat voice and big, fat piano arrangements are admirable but, as he wanders through the back catalogue, your mind begins to wander elsewhere. You ponder how much he looks like David Mellor MP in a pink plastic suit; you guess at the source of those female vocals and those strings, swelling like a hammered thumb, when there is no one on stage but John and his joanna; you consider how generous it was of him to give a billing on the poster to his percussionist, Ray Cooper, especially as he hasn't turned up.

IF POP is principally about sex, then INXS, with their sultry frontman, Michael Hutchence, are its perfect expression, and his magnetism drew wannabe groupies of both genders to a hastily convened gig at Brixton Academy.

DONNA MCPHAIL'S FESTIVAL

MAO, like Beethoven, was probably rolling over last night, as bluesmeister B B King took the stage in Peking to open the newest Hard Rock Cafe. The 30ft-long guitar-shaped bar, while no match for the Great Wall, was none the less awe-inspiring. And as in Hard Rocks the world over, the walls were laden with rock 'n' roll memorabilia, including 'Michael Jackson's Most Talked About Sequined Glove' and 'The Famous Elton John Glasses and Portable Keyboards'.

THE ROCK star Elton John last night sold some of his rocks. Diamond-encrusted brooches and a ruby-studded rosette of Watford Football Club were among a collection of his flamboyant jewels auctioned at Sotheby's for pounds 902,922 (estimate, about pounds 750,000).

ELTON JOHN has always taken a principled view of his relationship with the press. 'They can say I'm a fat, old sod,' he once said. 'They can say I'm an untalented bastard. They can call me a poof. But they mustn't lie about me.'

Elton John emerges unscathed and smiling from the High Court in London yesterday after winning pounds 350,000 in libel damages from the Sunday Mirror, which falsely claimed he suffered from a bizarre eating disorder. Asked by reporters to comment on the case, the musician said: 'I've got something else to do first,' before going outside to sign autographs. Scuffles broke out as he left the Law Courts and stepped into the glare of the television lights that were awaiting him along with a throng of fans and journalists. Elton John, born Reginald Dwight in Pinner, Middlesex, 46 years ago, addressed his public: 'I'm delighted about this judgment. It's very easy to check things. It's a very privileged and nice thing to be a journalist and journalists should check the facts.' He was then bundled into a Bentley and was gone.

THE POP star, Elton John, was awarded pounds 350,000 libel damages against the Sunday Mirror yesterday over false allegations that he suffered from a bizarre eating disorder that caused him to spit out the food he was eating.

A HIGH COURT libel jury was told yesterday about the Hollywood Hills party where Elton John ate nothing - because he was not there.