T bags bigger pot

Using the old stand-by of "we must beat the touts", T in the Park has persuaded the local council to allow them to sell an extra 5,000 tickets for this year's festival.

The tickets will be sold - quickly, we'd imagine - from 9 on March 9th, via the Tinthepark.com website.

Geoff Ellis persuaded Perth & Kinross council with this argument:

"We have been involved in full consultation with all the services and indicated last year that this is what we were looking to do.

"We are confident 80,000 is a good figure.

"I'm not saying that 85,000 is too much, but 80,000 seems just right.

"We feel the numbers should not go any higher to ensure the comfort and enjoyment of our customers when they come to the festival."

Later on, we'll be inviting a mathematician and a philosopher to explain how 80,000 can be just right while 85,000 isn't too many.

We're not exactly sure how flogging a few extra tickets will "beat the touts" - wouldn't it just mean more tickets for the touts to have to flog? Unless Ellis is calculating that by cramming in another 6.25% fans, it'll be so cramped in there nobody would be prepared to pay through the nose to get in.