In brief: McCain picks the wrong tune

John McCain's team have chosen Chuck Berry's 1958 rock 'n' roll classic Johnny B Goode as it's campaign song. However, already it has proved an own goal as Berry, 81, has announced his support for rival Barack Obama. The republican had to drop an earlier choice,  Abba's Take A Chance On Me, after the Swedish group complained. Said McCain: "We played it a couple times and it's my understanding [Abba] went berserk."...An 800-word prequel to J K Rowling’s Harry Potter books fetched £25,000 at a charity auction yesterday. The story finishes with the handwritten words, "From the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!". Clearly the bidders thought it was a bargain. And they could be right: last year, another of her stories, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, sold for £1.95m…Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall managed to raise the £86,000 he needed to table a resolution calling for Tesco to improve the welfare of standards of chickens sold in its stores. The company had tried to thwart his plan to put the proposal before shareholders by making him pay for the printing and mailing costs, however the TV chef managed to raise the money from supporters before the Wedneday, 12 noon deadline they had given him… ·