Healey’s First Law of Holes: when you’re in one, stop digging. Advice lost on eBay’s management, which has discovered that dealing with St Bob Geldof is not at all like handling Wall Street.

Yesterday, St Bob attacked eBay because people were selling Live 8 concert tickets on it for vast sums. eBay replied primly that the sellers were doing nothing illegal. Geldof then called for people to put in “impossible bids” to frustrate the sellers. Some conscientious folks obliged, putting in bids like £10 million. Now they discover that they have been blacklisted by eBay — at the same time that eBay has decided to ban the hitherto “perfectly legal” ticket auctions.