FRANKIE Boyle has added his voice to the row over the composition of the TV debates ahead of next year's general election.

"Glad UKIP are in debates instead of Greens," he tweets. "We no longer need a party trying to save the world, we need one to make us glad that it's ending."

Secret weapon

A E PICKARD, a colourful millionaire entrepreneur who owned cinemas, theatres and music halls across Glasgow, will forever be associated with the Panopticon in the Trongate - the Britannia Music Hall.

Judith Bowers' new book on the Britannia goes into some detail on Pickard and his love of pranks.

One day he summoned his secretary into his office. As she walked into his room he had his back to her, as he had been placing a large ammunition shell on his mantelpiece.

He suddenly exclaimed, 'Look at this!' She looked up from her notepad, expecting to see the shell - and instead saw him with his trousers round his ankles. "An act," observes Judith sagely, "for which today he would surely be arrested."

Fine gesture

PICKARD'S many achievements included picking up the first-ever parking fine in Glasgow.

In his haste to catch a Rothesay-bound train at Central Station, he drove his car straight onto the platform, switched off the engine, and jumped on to the train.

He returned the following day to find a parking ticket on the windscreen. He ignored it, as well as subsequent reminders, and eventually elected to pay a court fine by handing over a £100 note - "a very rare item indeed," says Judith.

Hands free?

MICHAEL McIntyre's decision to temporarily leave the stage during a show because an audience member insisted on using her mobile phone excited lots of comment on social media yesterday.

One question that was asked was, what has been the most inappropriate place you've seen someone use a mobile?

Back came the answers - in a church; at a funeral; during a wedding; in the cinema.

One man, however, took the prize for saying that he was being given an intimate examination by his doctor when she paused halfway through to answer her phone.

Dial M for...

THAT said, not everyone was entirely sympathetic towards McIntyre.

As someone else said yesterday: "So if you answer a phone near Michael McIntyre he'll walk out? Helpful thing to know."

Sixth sense

PSYCHIC Sally Morgan has sacked her husband and son-in-law from her management team after video footage showed them confronting a campaigning sceptic.

Afterwards, Sally confessed that she had "no idea" what would happen to her marriage. Tweeted Janey Godley: "You would think she would know."

That's all, folks

THE Diary's music correspondent, Mike Ritchie, tells us that Californian guitar slinger Dave Alvin will be playing The Art School in Glasgow in a couple of weeks' time with his brother, Phil, and their band, The Guilty Ones.

Dave has a clear-cut, simple take on what he does: "There are two types of folk music: quiet folk music and loud folk music," he says.

"I play both."