During this week, former Blue Peter presenter John Leslie has been formally cleared of sex charges against him. He is innocent of all wrongdoing. That is a legal fact.

In the court of public opinion, of course, such legal facts count for nothing. It's all about reputation, the assumption that there's no smoke without fire, and the attitude of the tabloid press.

John Leslie hasn't assaulted anyone. He has had Catherine Zeta-Jones, which might call into question his taste in women. Only CZETAJ went off and boinked Michael Douglas, so if anyone's got a problem with members of their chosen sex, it's the Welsh warbler. Mr Leslie has (we assume) done some cocaine lines, but so have countless other celebs, and we don't love them any less for it.

In the public eye, collapsed prosecutions - as faced by Mr Leslie, and in the bizarre case of Paul Burrell late last year - somehow count as less clear-cut decisions than those brought down by a jury of one's peers. Yet the only reason that these gentlemen didn't receive jury verdicts is that there was never any substantive evidence against them in the first place!

It's flawed thinking, it's not following through the logic, it's so crap that I'm surprised the tabloid press engage in such mental idiocy.

However, there is one slight upside to all this madness. If the public isn't going to forgive John Leslie for a year or so, then it would take a lot longer to forgive convicted criminals, especially those who have shown themselves to be liars, frauds, and cheats. Step forward convicted liar Jeffy Archer, who can't expect to be anything but the butt of jokes for five more years. If not much longer.

Elsewhere, The Indescribablysmug reports that Gerald Ratner is in talks to start up his own satellite shopping channel. Ratner fell from grace in the early 90s after describing one of his jewellery pieces as "cheaper than a prawn cocktail sandwich, and likely to last about as long." He's now talking with Richard Desmond about using spare capacity on Mr Desmond's pornography channels, but has already faced one setback. Legal issues prevent him from calling his business Ratners-Online, after a challenge by the remains of the Ratners jewellery chain, now renamed Signet. So it will be called Gerald-Online.

It's another quarterly set of radio listening figures. And it's another record low for Radio One Listener. For the first time ever, the fading pap music station has fallen below 10 million weekly listeners. Sara Cox's breakfast show lost almost half a million listeners, and the entire station is less than a quarter of a million listeners ahead of Radio Four. Radio 2's listening figures are also down, to just over 13 million listeners.

It's not all plain sailing for the speech network, though; Radio 4's TOADY programme shed 75,000 after the end of the conflict in the Persian Gulf region. Radio 5 is also down on the same period last year, but that's more to do with 2002's World Cup. Even that doesn't explain how Nicky Campbell has lost 60,000 behind the sofa.

Terry Wogan is up to 7.87 million listeners, almost 60% more than his imbecilic rival. Jonathan Woss and Ken Bruce are also on the up.

Two further attempts to redefine marriage today. The Vatican continued to peddle its exclusionary line, claiming that legislators have "a moral duty" to block marriages between gentlemen and between ladies. The heretical sect believes that such marriages "obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity." Indeed they do; attempts to deny marriage to some groups, but not others, quite clearly marks them down as lesser than others, and that obscures the most basic value that everyone is equal before the Catholic sect's god.

Over in Palestine, the Israeli state passes a similarly demeaning law, preventing Palestinians who marry Arabs from gaining residency permits in the state. Not only does this discriminate on the grounds of sex, but also on ethnicity - it doesn't apply to those of the Judaic sect.

Claire Short accuses soon to be former prime minister Mister Tony Blair of being "implicated" in the recent death of Dr David Kelly. On one level, this is a nugatory charge. Everything that the present government does is, in some way, derived from the singular power of STBFPMMTB, as The Party would not be in its present commanding position were he not at the helm.

In a more immediate sense, Ms Short's claim has yet to be proven. She claims it's the result of an "abuse of power" by Alistair Campbell and Mr Blair working together.

The remark does raise the question: how close are Mr Blair and Mr Campbell? And if and when the report comes out and slams Mr Campbell, will his (presumed) departure from the inner circle government at the end of September suffice to save Mr Blair?

A correspondent recalls the BLAIR index I ran in the spring. After the May elections, I left it hanging at 94%. Logically, this figure would increase at about 1% per month, as the chance of Act of God forcing Mr Blair's resignation diminish. However, I'm keeping it at about 94%, to take in a small chance that the inquiry into Dr Kelly's desk will broaden out into the general circumstances under which Mr Blair took the UK to war, and that report will be published before the end of the year. Make no mistake: that report would either force Mr Blair's resignation, or damage his reputation fatally.

Did it ever fall significantly below 94%, asks the correspondent. Only for the few hours between the apparent finding of Dr Kelly's body and Mr Blair's announcement of a judicial enquiry. Such a device lanced the boil for Mr Major's government in the Arms to Iraq case in late 1992, and successfully pushed that story off the newsmap. Mr Blair has clearly learned that trick from his predecessors. A swift report will be damaging, a report some years down the line will carry little political weight.

Righty-ho. This is what I've been hinting at for the past couple of weeks. An (almost) complete episode-by-episode recap of WANTED. The original round-the-clock game show, and arguably still the best. While we wait for a new series, or even a logical descendant, enjoy sixteen heady weeks in 1996 and 97. (Well, thirteen at the moment. The others will toddle along as and when repeats allow.)

The occasional run through scheduled record releases, both good and popular. Albums in bold, everything subject to amendment.

July 28

Dana Glover - Rain [2nd time around]
Hot Hot Heat - No Not Now
Damien Rice - Volcano
Wheatus - American In Amsterdam
The Coral - Magic And Medicine

August 4

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Stop
The Cheeky Girls - Hooray Hooray (It's A Cheeky Holiday) [Still the most successful act to come out of Popstars 2, and they didn't pass the initial audition!]
Elbow - Fallen Angel
John Mayer - No Such Thing [Third time around, I think]
Mark Owen - Four Minute Warning [First release since 1997]
Supergrass - Rush Hour Soul

August 11

Courtney Love - Mono
David Sneddon - Best Of Order
Violent Delight - Transmission
Eva Cassidy - American Tune
Kosheen - Kokopelli
Smash Mouth - Get The Picture
Wheatus - Hand Over Your Loved Ones

August 18

Culture Beat - Mr. Vain Recall [Remix of 1993 #1]
D Kay & Epsilon featuring Stamina MC - Barcelona [Reworking of Mercury's classic]
Dave Gahan - I Need You
Good Charlotte - The Anthem
Jewel - Intuition
The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into The Sun
Outlandish - Aicha
Queens Of The Stone Age - First It Giveth
Radiohead - Go To Sleep
Stain'd - So Far Away

August 25

Tim Burgess - I Believe In The Spirit
Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent [Winner of Pop Idle US]
DJ Bobo - Chihuahua [This year's Club Med smash]
Gay Dad - Joy [Back!]
The Thrills - Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)
Paul Weller - Fly On The Wall - B-Sides and Rarities (3 CD)

September 1

Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love?
Cooper Temple Clause - Promises Promises
Dido - White Flag [released to radio seven weeks earlier]
Norah Jones - Don't Know Why [first released in May 2001]
Starsailor - Silence Is Easy
The White Stripes - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
Black Rebel MotorCycle Club - Take Them On, On Your Own
Kelly Clarkson - Thankful

September 8

The Ataris - The Boys Of Summer [A DJ Sammy cover already!]
Chemical Brothers - Golden Path
Gareth Gates - Sunshine
HIM - Sacriment
Massive Attack - What Your Soul Sings
Travis - Re-Offender
Limp Bizkit - Panty Sniffer
Elvis Presley - Second To None: The Greatest Hits
TLC - Greatest Hits

September 15

Evanescence - Going Under
Foo Fighters - Have It All
Maroon 5 - Harder To Breathe
Lisa Marie Presley - Sinking In
Sting - Send Your Love
Texas - Carnival Girl
Rachel Stevens - Sweet Dreams [erstwhile S Club 6 pinup]
Westlife - Yeah Whatever
David Bowie - Reality
Gloria Estefan - Unwrapped
Beth Orton - TBA
Starsailor - Silence Is Easy

September 22

Blondie - Good Boys
Elvis Presley - Rubberneckin'
Britney Spears - TBA
Amy Studt - Under The Thumb
The Thorns - Runaway Feeling
Chemical Brothers - The Singles 1993-03 (2 cd)
Siobhan Donaghy - Revolution In Me
Gareth Gates - TBA
Dave Matthews - Some devil
The Mavericks - TBA
Muse - Absolution
Nickelback - The Long Road
Sting - Sacred love
Travis - TBA

September 29

The Coral - Secret Kiss
Alicia Keys - TBA
Kosheen - Wasting My Time
Fiona Apple - TBA
Dido - Life For Rent
Avril Lavigne - My World (live album)
Elvis Presley - Elvis 2nd To None

October 13

REM - Bad Day

October 27

REM - In Time: The Best of R.E.M: 1988-2003

November 10

Red Hot Chili Peppers - TBA
Westlife - TBA

November 17

Will Young - TBA

November 24

Nelly Furtado - TBA

December 15

Human League - The very Best Of Human League

TBA

Suede - Love The Way You Love
Britney Spears - TBA (October?)
Suede - The Best Of (autumn)
Bjork - Live Box Set (4cd, 1 dvd)
Iron Maiden - Dance of death (September?)
Guns'n'Roses - Chinese Democracy (September??)
The Corrs - TBA (September?)
Texas - TBA (October?)
Pet Shop Boys - TBA (new GH, November?)
Tori Amos - Greatest Hits
Sheryl Crow - Greatest Hits
Cyndi Lauper - Naked City