A lot of us were beginning to wonder if she'd ever step foot on a stage again - her last performance was in front of a crowd variously estimated at 40,000 and 100,000 at Dublin's RDS Showgrounds in June 2004. If a person was thinking of retiring, it would have been a hell of a way to go out.

But no, it seems she's serious about coming back. Endless preparation and rehearsal went into the tiny House Of Blues set, and even on the night itself, there was a massive delay before the show took place. Last minute nerves? Obsessive perfectionism? Probably one or the other.

The performance itself, however, poses a lot of questions. Such as - WHY? It's clear that Britney intends to come back as scantily clad showgirl, more dancer than singer, just as she's always been. The set of pix in today's Sun newspaper shows that her body looked amazing and the costumed were chosen especially to demonstrate that fact.

BUT.......not only did the set consist entirely of old material, it's also reported that she lip-synched the whole thing. So for the media it's "Welcome Back" with one hand and "Where's the Credibility?" with the other. I really don't think the market in 2007 is ready to give an unrestricted welcome to an all-mimed, all-dancing show, no matter how amazing the showgirl looks or how well she dances. But we shall see.

At least she's back on stage. I guess this is her dipping her toe in the water to see if she can still do it and if she still WANTS to do it. And probably to test reactions from the public and media. So far, everyone's just so delighted to have her back and they're not being too critical today. But I hope she has something a little more radical and different planned for the next stage of her comeback.

I also don't know exactly why a major star would begin her comeback with a few shows in front of tiny audiences, but the idea that she wants to "reconnect with her audiences" appeals to me a lot, because that kind of connection is something that's been missing for a long time. As an artist, Britney Spears has increasingly seemed less like a human being and more like some kind of mythical creature about which many tall tales are told but there is never any definite truth.

Back in 2004, the Daily Mail's critic complained that the Onyx Hotel show was more like an extended music video than a performance, and when I saw the show myself a few weeks later, I could see what he meant. Yes, the audience was entertained royally and wonderfully, but at the point where an artist usually invites us to recognise that fact, and milks ten minutes of applause, Britney just didn't bother, and that definitely diminished the event.

Yes, she did make her little joke about marrying any hot guys in the audience, but we knew that was coming and had featured at every show. What we would have LOVED was for her to step up to the mic and chat to us spontaneously and informally for a few minutes. That would have made us feel that she'd noticed US as an individual audience, and valued us.

Britney is wonderful in TV interviews, and can charm anyone if she wants to. If the HOB tour is a reality, and she starts getting into the way of being a real human being to her audiences and charming them face-to-face, the ripples of warmth will spread out and create some better vibrations for her. At present, it's too easy to hate and to ridicule, because her public persona conveys some kind of corporate entity, not the real, sweet loveable person we believe she is. If she can get close to these small audiences, it can ony be good.

I should add here that this is Britney we're talking about so some things haven't changed. It wouldn't be possible for her to have some good news stories without something more sinister lurking in the background. Here the issue is HOW she got that slimline new figure. The tabloids suggested she must have had "help" to achieve such a transformation in "only" 5 months - they usually compare her now with pictures taken last November.

Just a few days ago, I watched a TV show where a journalist called Louise Burke managed to go from a UK Size 12 to UK Size 4 (which is the notorious US Size Zero) in just 5 WEEKS. All she did in the end was to go on a typical diet and exercise like crazy. Soon she was able to hold her waist in the space between her two hands and to wear a child's jeans. So it CAN be done without surgery, liposuction or whatever.

I'm not all THAT happy that Britney may be following a similar path to Louise Burke. She said she knew she was experiencing the same side-effects that other young people with eating disorders had spoken about. Feeling cold, finding it hard to concentrate, being fixated on exercise.... I'm watching for signs of these problems with Britney.

But what's more important in away is that she doesn't take any bad advice right now and begin with the PR stunts again. The tabloids have, in effect, given her an opening. They have said "OK, here's a new great-looking Britney and apparently she has a new album coming out". This would be a wonderful opportunity to seize the moment and run with it. If Britney had a manager like Madonna has, or Beyonce, this moment could be turned into pure gold.

What we need to know now is this - does Larry Rudolph (IF he's still on board) have anything more up his sleeve apart from gaining shocking headlines? I know they say all publicity is good publicity, but I think Britney's case proves that you can go too far down that road.

One of this weekend's tabloids, for example, contained the story that Kevin Federline was furious at Britney for going to a ball game and deploying a nanny on the very first occasion that she had regained her share of custody of the boys after emerging from rehab. This sounds a little unlikely, since Kevin himself was making extensive use of nannies over the last few weeks. And even more so because their divorce settlement has now come into effect and it's her right, not a gift from Kevin, to have the babies for her share of the time.

Then there's the question of exactly how much Federline gained from the divorce settlement. Last week, the US-based mags were speculating anything between 1 and 17 million dollars. But this week, most of the UK-based mags are stating with an air of authority that he only pocketed HALF a million. Some difference, huh? It sounds like pure speculation to me!

Many sources, including even the UK's stuffy middle-age hate-fest Daily Mail, have had some kind of story about Britney's alleged sudden weight loss. Funny that so many of them use pictures comparing her appearance NOW to November 2006! Boys, that was 6 months ago! It's not what you could really call "sudden"! Yet they're saying it could ONLY have been the result of artificial assistance.

The latest thing is her sarcastic little piece-to-camera for X17. Most people thought it was hilarious, but not the tabloids. Oh no! US Weekly is being as bitchy as possible, while most of the UK's usual suspects are using it as evidence that rehab didn't work and she's either STILL crazy as ever or has reverted. I was hoping this was going to be a normal pre-album-release year like 2003 was. But it seems the media's teeth are so firmly locked into Britney's neck that they just can't let go.

So that part of the latest Britney shock-horror is clearly false. But the other part, which is that she's been going around saying she "hates" Larry, could still be true. If she blames him for setting her off on a no-holds-barred publicity grab that ended up with her spending a month in rehab, I could understand her feelings.

Nobody really knows how much or how little Britney Spears likes publicity. She talks like somebody who just wants to be left alone, yet every time it starts to happen, another piece of sheer craziness hits the headlines. Larry was always great at keeping her name out there, and if his job post-Kevin was to make Britney more famous than ever, then he's done that. Every move she makes is now recorded by twice as many paparazzi as ever before. So that can't be the problem.

My fear concerns a much bigger crisis. I think Britney has now retreated again from her career comeback plans. She doesn't want Larry organising her life on a business basis and telling her what she must or mustn't do. She's come out of rehab contented, happy but totally unfocused. It's mellowness like you get with Prozac, where you just drift along, getting through each day without pain, and you really don't want to be bothered or to do anything very much.

I'm beginning to worry that Britney doesn't desire all the stress of performing again, and even if a new album is scheduled, a return to work is very, very far from her mind.

It was all disturbingly positive. Disturbingly, not only because it seemed so unreal, but also because it sounded like the start of whole new round of pressures just waiting to be put on her. This next album will not only be one of the most-anticipated of the year, it will also be a heaven-sent opportunity for every journalist out there, from celeb bloggers to record reviewers, to judge her once again, and I don't think they'll miss the chance to make fun of her - no matter whether the album is good or not.

In the meantime, they can bitch at her for not working on it, complain that it's been put back, circulate rumors that insiders say it's no good, reveal that Britney's health problems have destroyed her voice so she can't sing.....and of course they can also comment on what's happening with her babies while she's working. Needless to say, she'll be obsessed with work and Kevin will be seeking full custody. Or she'll be looking for full custody and neglecting her recording sessions!

Which brings me neatly to the divorce settlement. The celeb blogs are saying on the one hand that the details won't be made public - but that they know them anyway! And they claim that 50 : 50 physical custody has been agreed. If that's true, we probably shouldn't see it as a bad thing for Britney. She clearly felt trapped and frustrated being a stay-at-home full-time mom and this should take some of the pressure off and give her time to work. Maybe the time in rehab, where she's only seen the babies occasionally, has convinced her that there IS life after giving birth and shown her that this way is more fun.

But recent pictures of her doing the most mundane things - like going for a meal, going to the dance studio etc. - have shown her totally engulfed by what seems like dozens of paparazzi. I've never seen anything like it. It's actually getting scary now and I just wonder how long it will be before there's some kind of incident and somebody gets hurt. Her bodyguards ARE there to protect her and some day soon they're gonna have to do that.

And if it happens, you know who will get the blame. Last Sunday, a security guard belonging to a church Britney was attending pulled a gun on a driver who tried to run someone down outside the church. But the incident was reported as "Britney's Security Guard Pulls A Gun On Paparazzi!!!"

Tonight I'm reading that X17 has organised a live feed from outside Britney's house. This is the kind of thing that usually only happens if there's some major political or legal bombshell in the offing. But a tiny little singer from smalltown Louisiana who only wants to be allowed to live a (relatively) normal life? It's just disproportionate and sickening.

I honestly think this level of media scrutiny would make ANYONE paranoid. But a weird and mentally unbalanced Britney is exactly the kind of cartoon character the media want.

As Karen mentioned in her recent blog entry, the Guest Contributions section officially launched a week ago! During this first week, there has been an awesome and informative batch of new articles posted in the section from this week's featured guest authors, R. M. Naytowhow and Roxie. As we'll always periodically do here on the front page, let's take a quick look at each article just in case you've missed any this week.

It's both interesting and a shame that she obviously felt there was no point trying to silence the US gutter press. The UK courts (backed up by rulings from the European Court of Human Rights) have a clear concept of what should be defined as libellous whereas the US courts tend to rule that pretty much any story written about a celebrity is in the public interest.

Think I'm being unfair? Well, just think back to Britney's legal action against US Weekly for printing false allegations that she appeared in a sex tape and that the tape had been viewed by her lawyers amid a great deal of mirth and ridicule. Circuit Judge Lisa Hart Cole threw out Britney's case without a trial taking place. Her ruling (which has received some adverse comment) was that if a star has a sexy image, US-based tabloids are free to publish any sex-related stories they like about him or her, even if they know they're untrue.

So, presumably, if a star has a flaky image and has been in rehab, US-based tabloids are free to publish any mental-health-related stories they like, ALSO even if they know they're untrue.

However! Although most of the formerly-UK-based paparazzi are now enjoying their legal freedom to collude in providing falsely captioned trash to celeb bloggers and journos in the US, most of the colorful tales about suicide attempts, long-term drug abuse, lesbianism and being the antichrist actually tend to come from UK-based tabloids such as the News Of The World. So legal action there could be useful even if not a complete shut-down of the rumor factory.

I can't see the UK sleaze merchants ratting out their informant, however. They'd rather go to jail. So the objective of Britney's action in identifying the culprit is highly unlikely to succeed. But at least she's fired a loud warning shot and clearly stated in advance of any further such "rehab stories" that they're false and that libel proceedings in the UK are very much on the cards.

It certainly doesn't look as if the gloves are staying on, even in her first week out. More Magazine splashes a headline about Britney's "lesbian girlfriend", but when we get inside to read what she says, whoa! She prefers to remain anonymous! So - another "source close to the singer" then. The weekly celeb mags ruminate (all too late, seemingly) over her presumed closeness to Jason Filyaw and the equally presumed reaction of her family. One mag reports that Britney is planning revenge - in the form of legal action - against the guy the media likes to call "her ex", the disgusting Jason Alexander. Let's hope THAT rumor is true.

For sheer bravado, however, you have to take your hat off to OK mag, which we find in a mood of triumphalist celebration. "She's lost her looks, her man and her millions!" they trumpet. Never mind that it's total rubbish. She's DIVORCING Kevin, on HER initiative. She didn't "lose" him. She's made at least $30 million from record contracts, sales, merchandising and endorsements - while she's been on her "break". And the first time she does an official post-rehab photoshoot I have complete confidence she'll still look like one of the most beautiful women in the world.

One of the weeklies claims Britney enjoyed the simplicity and discipline of Rehab life and has found a new serenity and sense of purpose. If that's true, OK and the others will have to work a little harder to finish her off.