**'It'll never stand up in court,' I hear you cry, but stranger cases have flourished. I remember voicing much the same opinion a decade ago when John Ryan's solicitor threatened legal action against the newspaper I was then working for, after I had erroneously (and I stress erroneously) suggested that the characters he'd created for his Captain Pugwash series weren't quite as innocent as they'd first seemed back in the 1950s......The matter seemed trivial, but an apology was made, Mr Ryan's honour was satisfied and two sets of parasitical, low-life libel lawyers thus pocketed yet more easy (and thoroughly ill-deserved) dosh. ** My my, newspaper columnists get very sniffy when they're forced to apologise and pay damages for printing untruths, don't they?