Next time, Jacko, try to die in London

Emily Maitlis, who has been anchoring the BBC's Michael Jackson coverage out of Los Angeles since the superstar's untimely demise, has penned a "Michael Jackson" notebook in this week's Spectator. Reflecting on the vagaries of the news business, she writes: "One minute I am calmly watching Kelvin MacKenzie laying into Julia Goldsworthy about a rocking chair on Question Time, the next minute Michael Jackson is dead and I'm on a plane to LA." On arrival, Maitlis decides that "Los Angeles is a terrible place for a celebrity to die". Why so? Too many film crews hounding relatives? Hollywood wannabes hijacking the funeral? No, dear reader – it's a terrible place because it's so far away from London. "It is an 11-hour flight and an eight-hour time difference, which naturally runs the risk of the celebrity being too dead by the time you land." Honestly, pop superstars can be so selfish.