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I try to avoid national party politics in this blog, but yesterday couldn't really avoid them. Heard the results of the Conservative Party leadership ballot on the train to Catford Bridge. Announced same prior to the Quality Public Services Committee. Discussion threatened to delay our agenda, especially as some members seemed to prefer to adjourn to the pub. Our lone Conservative on the committee, Cllr David Britain (who is essentially a decent cove), revealed his preferences, which it would be ungentlemanly to expose on the Net. Except to say they were exactly the same as mine.Anyway, ...

James Oates reports the remark of an anonymous wit to the effect that David Cameron "was born with a silver spoon up his nose". You won't find that kind of unfair comment repeated here.

News reaches me of a new blog named Mysteryspindoctor: I am a former spindoctor no longer working in British politics but still with an active interest. I’ll try in this blog to demystify what political professionals do in Britain, and to provide some insight to what’s going on behind the surface in British politics. In future posts I’ll try to combine some long term analysis of what is going on

My bet is on David Cameron vs Liam Fox coming through in tomorrow's second-round Tory leadership ballot. Rightly or wrongly it's image and personal charisma that's going to be the deciding factor. David Cameron will probably overtake David Davis because he has the X - factor. The party will want to have somebody who can modernise the Tory image and woo the younger voters. A news comment today -"If Mr Davis loses by a wide margin to Mr Cameron tomorrow, but still finishes above Liam Fox, pressure will grow on the shadow home secretary ...

I went to a reception at the House of Lords yesterday. After the speeches, someone asked me if I realised that there was a gift shop. "Of course," I said, "every museum has a gift shop."

If you have not yet done so; I suggest you subscribe to Escape Pod, the weekly science-fiction podcast magazine. It is in my opinion the finest source of short fiction on the Internet. I believe Escape Pod is a very important project, so important that I am prepared to donate my own money to aid [...]

I just received my copy of Stewart Lee’s new DVD, “Stand Up Comedian” this morning; It’s a retrospective of some of Stu’s best stand-up material developed over the past two years. This is the same Stewart Lee who gave us the Jerry Springer Opera, and possibly Britain’s best currently performing stand-up comedians. This DVD shows Lee [...]

Yesterday's Plenary was dull in comparison to recent meetings. In particular the recent pattern of minority party debates leading to Government defeats was broken, following the tabling of a motion by the Tories that was so bland that even Labour found it within themselves to vote for it. Given that half term is almost upon us a bit of fatique on the part of the various parties is forgiveable. There was an element of winding down in some members' contributions and even references to leisure pursuits of the sort that single out politicians as unique. Caerphilly AM, Jeff Cuthbert ...

THE QUESTION: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the UK daily natural gas import capacity via pipeline or LNG was during the winter of 2004–05; and what the estimated import capacity for the coming winter of 2005–06 is. [17558] THE ANSWER: Total import capacity for winter 2004–05 was 60mcm/d. For the winter 2005–06 it is estimated at 95mcm/d. Further information, in

Or else why would Tory MPs have thrown out Ken Clarke in the first round of their leadership election, even though opinion polls all consistently show the general public would be more likely to vote Tory if he were in charge? Watching over the Tories gives one a sense of horrified fascination - like the alcoholic told by his GP, 'stop drinking or you will die', the Tory party just keeps on swiggin' it back.

THE QUESTION: To ask the Secretary of State of Trade and Industry, why the UK-Europe gas Interconnector was unable to import at full capacity during winter 2004-05; and what assessment he has made of the performance of the facility in 2005-06. THE ANSWER: The flows of gas through the Interconnector are driven by the price differentials between the UK and the Continent. The direction of the flows

There are times when the British media suffers a kind of willful blindness. So much attention has been devoted to the various non-entities contending for the tarnished crown of leadership of the Conservatives. Yet the fact that the Conservatives believe that Liam Fox is a more credible Prime Minister than Ken Clarke probably tells you as much as you need to know about the meaninglessness of the contest. Whether Fox or even the drug tainted David Cameron ("born with a silver spoon up his nose", as one wit had it) end up as leader is of not much consequence ...

Someone told me that I was shooting up the google search list again. So overcoming my modesty I put my name in and found I had shot up to number 2 behind a non-existant site. I'd better keep up blogging to keep my position.

Now like lots of people, I’m keen on the BBC. 2LO, “national shall speak peace unto nation”, Ariel, The Power of Nightmares, Wogan. Yes, we admire very much this institution, with its profoundly liberal aesthetic, its effort, its caring. ITV has always been a more mixed bag: the South Bank Show is good, the remainder of their output over the past fifty years has mainly been shit. Among their current dramatic offerings is Afterlife, which has been passingly entertaining and provided us with important moral lessons, like “if you have a termination, your aborted child will come back and attack ...

by Jabez Clegg Let us pause for a minute and mourn the passing from influence of the last One Nation big beast in the Conservative Party. Ken Clarke had his critics (and many of them from within our party), but on issues such as the role of Britain in Europe, and the invasion of Iraq, he was right (and against the majority of his party). He is also socially liberal, and all the more welcome for that. His elimination from the leadership election shows clearly the direction the Tories now wish to face: Atlanticist, authoritarian and socially conservative. ...

For those who are not aware of the Film the plot is basically that someone continues living the same day time after time (34 times in the film). With the ejection of Ken Clarke from the Tory leadership contest we are essentially at the same position. Even pseudo wet David Cameron goes on about reducing taxes. The problem is that, although the Labour Party have made a mess of running public services, a substantial majority of people - particularly those living in urban areas - depend on public services. Public services do need revenue to run. ...