The Met investigates

FORGET the opportunism of Liberal Democrat leadership hopeful Chris Huhne in referring the allegations over Labour's hidden donations to the police (note my legal circumspection in using the word alleged - can't be too careful). It is far more significant...

Will Labour miss Peter Watt? Is this really a government `of all the talents'?

BEING off work after my operations hasn't stopped several calls from Labour Party insiders jubilating at the demise of Peter Watt, the former nurse who found himself promoted way above his ability to become General Secretary of the Labour Party....

Never a dull moment

THE most interesting week in British domestic politics for more than 10 years comes to an end. Bottler and his government are on the ropes, the Liberal Democrat leadership contenders are fighting like tom cats in a sack, and the Conservatives' front...

Dave holds fire as Bottler plays the blame game

BOTTLER Brown always spreads the manure when things go wrong. But to blame the opposition for the great child credits data scandal when you've been in government for 10 years and made all the crucial decisions reaches a new low even by New Labour...

Darling rocked and the void for Labour is getting deeper and darker

A PACKED Commons this afternoon to listen to Chancellor Alistair Darling's emergency statement giving details of the scandal - and that is not too strong a term to use - of the missing data of 25million Brits who are recipients of child benefit....

Thank you

Many thanks for all the personal messages I've received at home via email regarding my eye operation. The right eye is painful and bloodshot and I have only got badly blurred vision in it but see the specialist again on Thursday. The left eye is...

Omer to the rescue - England need Wembley to be passionate

EVEN with my wonky eye, I could appreciate Omer Golan's 92nd minute goal which gave England hope of qualifying for the European Chamopionships. We should be grateful that Islamic disdain for Israel means the country has to be grouped as Europe rather...

The eye has it

AS many of you will know, I've not enjoyed the best of years for my health. To date, I've had 12 weeks off work due to a variety of operations and procedures, the latest of which was an emergency to repair the torn retina in the right eye....

Cam's Plan for council tax misses its mark while Cable's local income tax should not be dismissed

HERE'S A strange thing. David Cameron has woken up to the iniquities of council tax, a measure which the Tories (John Major and Michael Heseltine) introduced in a desperate attempt to overcome the hated poll tax. No one likes paying for council...

Bottler proves that spin is alive, well and safe in his hands

IT was Bottler Brown's big promise to the British people on becoming Prime Minister. He intended to lead a virtuous Government, a group of men and women who would not be tainted by the disreputable Blair years - conveniently forgetting, of course, that...

Disappointment for Bottler at the flood that never was

YOU could almost hear the disappointment in Downing Street. What a wonderful opportunity a disastrous flood and tidal surge would present for action man Bottler Brown to regain the initiative after weeks of negative headlines. With memories still fresh...

A policeman's lot is not a happy one

SIR Ian Blair could have chosen many reasons for not tendering his resignation after a report into the de Menezes shooting on the London underground found him at fault for some of the operational problems which led to the Brazilian's death and that he...

Not Children In Need again

NEXT weekend, the BBC will go all self-righteous and sanctimonious when it will devote hours of its television and radio schedules to its annual Children In Need appeal. I'm sorry, but I think it offensive and that it has outlived its time....

Commoner Straw the star turn

IT'S never happened before - a Commoner today handed Her Majesty the speech she was to deliver to assembled peers and MPs at the State opening of Parliament. As usual, the pomp and cicumstance of the occasion masked what is inherently undemocratic -...

The law is an ass

YOU are not allowed to die in the Houses of Parliament, eat mince pies on Christmas Day, masturbate in Indonesia, or drive while blindfolded in Alabama but you are perfectly entitled to kill a Scotsman in York so long as he is carrying...

What if Gordon hadn't bottled it

IF Gordon Brown had gone with his gut instinct and the advice of his closest advisers, we would have woken up this morning to the formation of a new government. November 1 was the date Brown toyed with for a snap election, only to lose his nerve at the...

Farewell Paul Tibbetts

PAUL Tibbetts's name may not be one with which you are familiar, but he played a pivotal role in ending World War II and stopping the world destroying itself in a nuclear holocaust. Tibbetts commanded the B-29 bomber, codenamed Enola Gay,...