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I spent last night at Waterton Park Hotel near Wakefield. The hotel incorporates Walton Hall, the traditional home of the Waterton family, which sits on an island in an artificial lake. I thus came across Charles Waterton, the 19th century naturalist and eccentric. He may well have been a friend of Lord Bonkers' grandfather. There is a better photograph (if you ignore the helicopter) of the Hall here.

I cannot recommend too highly this blog posting on asylum and immigration (with thanks to the 2005 UK General Election blog round-up for the tip).The policies of the Tories, the cowardice of Labour, the lies of the tabloids and the stupidity of the Great British Public are all taken apart thoroughly.And there is this compelling analysis of the basic political motive behind the attacks on immigrants:I believe this is all done quite deliberately. Right-wing political forces represent the views and interests of the wealthy and powerful. But, in a democracy, they have to gain the support of a large number ...

Many people have been contacting me over the past few days- many through e-mail. I reflect on the way in which so much of our lives has been changed by technology. Yet one area remains surprisingly untouched- our government. In Estonia you can watch the meetings of the cabinet on a webcam- including details of the agenda and the papers that are presented. There is almost complete openness, except in matters of national defence. In this country, until recently, you could not even e-mail the Prime Ministers Office. The problem, I would argue, is one of political culture. I believe ...

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What we had today was A 12 year old boy with a poll card (twas ever thus) (Hodge Hill) A voter who has been left off the electoral roll - who found out when Lynne Jones walked past her door. (Selly Oak) 22 voters who (it appears) will be getting two postal votes (sometimes for the same constituency, sometimes for different ones. (Across the city) 10 voters in Aston who still are getting their

Is this a good idea?: Are you thinking what we're thinking? No. No I'm not.: A quality rebuttal of the Con-servative posters

Last night's BBC1 drama-documentary about Genghis Khan promised a revisionist history, a programme that would prove this global conqueror wasn't so bad after all.In the event, we learned that slaughtering a million people was all in a day's work for Genghis Khan. Admittedly, all of his adversaries in that era were just as brutal and the only moral difference was his ability to operate on a larger scale.Genghis Khan came from a modest background and built an enormous empire from scratch. Although this empire lasted barely 100 years after his death, it did leave one unexpected legacy.One of his main ...

With the fairly early beginning to the day I realise that I forgot about breakfast, and indeed lunch! This E-plan diet might not be one to recommend- a gigantic intake of caffeine and no food. You might end up very thin, but possibly clinging on to the ceiling with a resting pulse above 200! A great morning- the radio was OK. Although why on earth the question "who is the leading scorer at Wycombe Wanderers this season" is critical information for those who choose who sits in the Mother of Parliaments, I do not know (although maybe I would have ...

... I had to post it.Tomorrow I interview the Monster Raving Loony Party Parliamentary Candidate for Wokingham, Topcat Bananaman.

The Tory campaign on immigration is certainly having an effect. It has succeeded in splitting the country into two distinct camps.In today's ITN poll round-up, Dr Paul Baines (Principal Lecturer in Marketing, Middlesex University, on secondment to the Political Unit, MORI Social Research Institute) reports:"NOP's poll for the Independent shows that 38 per cent of all voters agree and 37 per cent disagree that 'the Conservatives are using immigration as an excuse to raise the issue of race' whilst only 19 per cent of Conservative voters agree and a whopping 65 per cent disagree with this statement."Not an issue you ...

In many ways the increasing focus on the suitability or otherwise of candidates at the expense of a proper discussion of the issues in regrettable. However, it is right that voters need to be reassured that the people they are being asked to vote for do their duty to the community in which they live.The Western Mail's story this morning that the Tory candidate for Carmathen West and South Pembrokeshire has been living in a flat above Tenby Conservative Club, on which domestic council tax is not being paid, is of some interest. However, quite why it is news that ...

For those who are fed up of seeing Tony Blair on TV each night there is now the opportunity to visualise him in a different way. These Blair playing cards feature the Prime Minister in 52 different poses. Who says that politicians try to be all things to all people?

I have had the honour of meeting Brian Sedgemore and was really impressed by his integrity and principles. I am sure that he was going through what many dismayed Labour members are also suffering from. I am sure that Mr Sedgemore will be welcomed with affection and respect in the Liberal Democrats.Former Labour MP Brian Sedgemore, who is standing down at this election, is leaving Labour to join the Liberal Democrats.Brian Sedgemore is a former journalist, civil servant and barrister. He was Labour MP for Luton West 1974-1979. He was then Labour MP for Hackney South & Shoreditch ...

Michael Howard the Tory leader has said that his party is now 2-0 down at half time. I am told that on an analysis of last season's Premiership and Football league games there were 214 games in which one side was 2-0 down at half time. In only 5 instances did the side losing at that stage win. It is rumoured that on each of those occasions it was against Southampton, but no-one has sourced that

"Not since the Act of Settlement 1701 has Parliament usurped the powers of the judiciary and allowed the Executive to lock up people without trial in times of peace. May the Government be damned for it." Brian Sedgemore in his final speech to Parliament.

For this month is 'The Watch on the Heath', by Keith Thompson, Professor of Natural History and Director of Oxford University Museum. It looks at Darwin's predecessors, correctly pointing out that something like evolution had been proposed previously, but no-one had managed to find a likely mechanism. It also highlights and explodes the argument from design theory which found its best expression in William Paley's Natural Theology. If you find a watch on a heath, Paley reasoned that it would be correct to assume a watchmaker had made it. Therefore, you find a human on a planet (and how ...

Brain Sedgemore has jumped the mutinous New Labour ship, accusing Prime Minister Tony Blair of ditching key liberal principles, among other sins. In the 1990s Mr. Blair similarly ditched socialist principles. Unless the Labour party praetorian guard find the spine to have an Et Tu Brute moment and off Blair, we'll shortly have Tories complaining that Tony Blair is ditching key conservative principles which, to be fair, have been the bedrock of his administration.

Last night I popped into the candidate's husting at the student union. It was the most fun I've had in years (but I'm a very sad person)... ok, it was mildly amusing. This was partly down to the Socialist Worker's Party candidate's stand-in who managed to sound so much like a cliche of a Socialist Worker's Party candidate that myself and friends were unable to stop laughing. We were debating if he had a sheet in front of him with a ticklist of 'things I must somehow work into my responses regardless of topic or question in order to sound ...

It is an early start- Off to the radio in a few minutes. Catching the newspapers I notice a comment from the Ukrainian writer, Andrei Kurkov: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election/story/0,15803,1470260,00.html Time for an Orange revolution in Britain, it seems... Or at least a Golden one!