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Britney Spears is no better. And, er, neither is Amy Winehouse. Although help, of sorts, is at hand. Changes at EMI don’t go down well with the label’s artists and one member of UB40 is looking for a new job…

Britney Spears isn’t well. Official. But 2008 can only get better. The first month of the year opens with the singer being wheeled out of her home on a stretcher and straight into the back of an ambulance after an alleged showdown with police because she failed to return her sons to estranged hubby K-Fed. Unsurprisingly, she later loses visiting rights. At a custody hearing, she fails to even get into the courtroom. When she is mobbed by photographers, she hollers to be allowed back into her car. Before the month is out, she has been admitted to UCLA Medical Centre by a psychiatrist, allegedly as a danger to herself and others… She is possibly the only star on the planet to make Amy Winehouse look a picture of glowing health. But the Grammy nominee’s rehabilitation is still in doubt. A week after she is caught on video allegedly smoking crack, a briefly blonde Winehouse finally says yes to rehab. In letters from jail, ’Im Indoors Blake Fielder-Civil warns that his wife must give up drugs or she’ll end up dead. “Every day I fear the prison chaplain is going to walk into my cell and break the news that Amy is dead,” he says… After filming a TV documentary in Colombia about the cocaine trade, Blur bassist and former user Alex James compares the drug to “a relentless trail of death”, commenting that it is funding a civil war… The ticker’s fine, insists Sir Paul McCartney, who says that claims he had routine heart surgery are exaggerated and that he simply had tests for a minor irregularity… As UB40 prepare to release their 24/7 album, band leader Ali Campbell decides after nearly 30 years that he can’t spend another hour in the band. He claims he had issues with their management, although the remaining band members say he left to pursue a solo career… The Kooks are a little less kooky, as bassist Max Rafferty quits… Good news for lovers of not-very-good boy bands: the official New Kids On The Block website is reactivated, with a new video asking fans if they are ready for the return of the 1990s boy band. But member Danny Wood denies a reunion is on the cards… EMI restructures and axes jobs – and the label’s bands are unimpressed by the changes. The Rolling Stones sign a new deal with Universal and The Verve are allegedly withholding their new album until they’re comfortable about the label’s finances. Given the relative flop of Rudebox, few will be concerned that Robbie Williams is also threatening to sit on his next release, with his manager Tim Clark saying of the label, “They are going to decimate their staff.” At least Rudebox finally proves useful for something. More than a million unsold copies are being sent to China to be crushed and used for road surfing and streetlighting… Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder wins a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for the song Guaranteed from Into The Wild… The unlikely winners of a Best Pop Award, in the South Bank Awards, Arctic Monkeys earn a record seven nominations in the Shockwaves NME Awards, including Best British Band, Best Album and Best Track… Courtney Love announces she would like Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Gosling to portray her and late hubby Kurt Cobain in a movie based on a biography of Nirvana singer Cobain… George Michael signs a publishing deal to write a “no holds barred” autobiography… Lily Allen suffers a miscarriage and newspapers report her split from boyfriend Ed Simons of the Chemical Brothers soon after… British Sea Power’s cornet player, Phil Sumner, is out cold for three minutes at a gig in Leeds, when he jumps off an amp at the Irish Centre and lands on his chin. He breaks a molar and needs stitches… Guitarist and songwriter Stephen Stills recovers after surgery for prostate cancer… Morrissey loses his voice during a gig at London’s Roundhouse and ends the show after three songs… Radiohead’s secret London gig gets even more secretive when they change the venue at the last minute. When 1,500 fans turn up at Rough Trade East on Brick Lane, the police shut down the concert and force a last-minute switch to nearby 93 Feet East… Luck doesn’t pick up for Amelle Berrabah. The Sugababe’s boyfriend has barely been stitched up after being attacked by a man with a machete when she is arrested and hauled in for police questioning after causing criminal damage to a neighbour’s car. She is bailed until next month… Björk is still not a friendly flyer. The Icelandic singer, who famously dragged a photographer to the ground at a Thai airport in 1996, rips another snapper’s shirt in half when she lands at Auckland International Airport in New Zealand… The Shins keyboardist Marty Crandall is arrested for assaulting girlfriend Elyse Sewell, but domestic abuse charges are dropped due to insufficient evidence… Less painfully, Natalie Imbruglia splits from husband Daniel Johns of Silverchair… Christina Aguilera gives birth to her first son, Max… Madonna is named the highest-earning woman in pop, netting more than £36 million in the 12 months up to June 2007… Radiohead’s In Rainbows finally gets a physical release and hits Number 1 in both the UK and the US. There’s a new Amy in town when Ms McDonald’s six-month-old This Is Your Life hits the top in the UK. Scouting For Girls’ self-titled debut also makes Number 1. On the single chart, Swedish DJ Basshunter finds himself at the summit with Eurodance hit Now You’re Gone, which keeps 19-year-old newcomer Adele’s Chasing Pavements and Britney Spears’ Piece Of Me at Number 2… Fortunes singer Rod Allen dies from liver cancer, aged 63… Keith Baxter, drummer with Britrock 90s band 3 Colours Red, dies of liver failure, aged 36.