James Blunt, who wrote to Lord Mandelson on the vexed subject of internet piracy, called the internet service providers “drug pushers” in an e-mail that the minister saw fit to publish this week.

Those terrible ISPs, you see, are the people who allow us hapless addicts, also known as consumers, to download and copy music free — the only drug for which you don’t have to pay. You can sympathise a bit with Mr Blunt — yes folks, piracy is illegal — but wonder also, who is doing the using here. Why else would the Business Secretary publish the views of the You’re Beautiful singer (and Noel Gallagher’s and Sir Elton John’s) if it was not to give his proposals on internet disconnection the sheen of celebrity endorsement.

Look though at what Lord Mandelson actually proposed, and it is obvious that the Business Secretary stepped back from the brink, at least this side of an election.

Whereas the talk a couple of months ago was that the sanction of internet disconnection for the worst pirates had to be introduced as a matter of urgency, now it won’t start happening until 2011, and, crucially, on the far side of a General Election.

That, of course, could leave the final decision in the hands of the Conservatives, who have been set a nice trap by the wily Labour peer.

If the Tories chose to fight disconnection in principle – the measure has to be included as an option in the forthcoming Digital Economy Bill — then they risk having most of Britain’s creative community against them. Not ideal when you are in the grubby business of chasing headlines (say what you like about New Labour, but Tony Blair’s ability to align himself with Britpop back in the 1990s helped to catch the public mood).

On the other hand, if the Conservatives fall in with disconnection, they have to contend with the genuine suspicion that exists in the public mind about the measure, and which crops up again and again in internet discussions on the subject.

No wonder, with all the bravery of an expectant minister, Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Culture Secretary, preferred to duck the question on Wednesday, saying that his panel of experts will tell him the right answer.

But with Lucian Grainge, chairman of Universal, in the music corner, and Charles Dunstone, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse in the internet provider’s corner, it is not obvious that the said panel will come to an agreement. Mr Hunt may end up having to decide himself.

While the rest of us wait for the Conservatives to have a policy, it is worth remembering that Labour only appears to have one until the 2011 decision on what penalties to introduce against serial downloaders.

For the moment all that will happen is that internet pirates will be sent warning letters, an uncomfortable reminder for a few honest sorts, but not necessarily an act that will deter the serious pirates.

Although disconnection, as has been said in this column before, is almost certainly a disproportionate penalty, it is at least a serious-sounding threat — as are other more sensible penalties such as bandwidth throttling, or even the blocking of individual peer-to-peer downloading sites.

A policy that actually offers a tune for the music industry to hum, and indeed helps bring forward the creation of future James Blunts, will require something a bit stiffer than a printed sheet with a bit of red ink on. For the moment, neither party is behaving seriously.

Only a planner could have designed the human body, according to the old joke. Who else, after all, would place the main recreation facility next to the waste outlet.

But such insanities are a feature of the planning system, which saw the rejection last week of Pinewood Shepperton’s plans to create 620 jobs by building a string of permanent cityscapes (from Venice to New York) at Pinewood Studios. For Conservative-controlled South Buckinghamshire council, this would be all about defending green belt land, which means the whole development has, yawn, to be appealed to the Secretary of State, who is likely to order a public inquiry.

Given that it can take a decade to get a single Tesco store through such enquiries, as veterans of the South London Women’s Hospital redevelopment battle know, the folks at Pinewood are in for a long haul.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of democracy in the planning system, but Pinewood is already a film studio, and where there are clear local employment benefits, particularly in the current economic environment, there ought to be more of a presumption that these sorts of developments can be approved without many years of struggle.

While Lord Mandelson tries to save the jobs of the odd A&R man, and boost the prospects of a few teenagers with guitars, it would be good to remember the talents of set builders too.

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