John Sergeant being bullied out of Strictly Come Dancing must surely mark a low point in reality TV - the viewers’ votes no longer matter...

I’m not the world’s greatest sports enthusiast, so it’s not surprising that I’m unable to identify many sporting heroes, but those I can name show me to be living in a time warp. It seems that it’s not just music and television nostalgia that pinpoint a person’s vintage.Conversation turned to running stars during my most recent training session with Matchgirl. I’ve little interest in athletics (you’ll have noticed) so naming any luminaries of the track world was an achievement, but the ones that sprang to mind were decidedly in the veteran class: Brendan Foster, Steve Ovett and Seb Coe.Football holds even less significance for me, yet the names of Bremner, Sprake, Reaney, Lorimer, Giles, Cherry, Yorath, Hunter, Bates, MacQueen and Revie...

It's an outrage. In public vote after public vote, ordinary hard-working families have shown their support for John Sergeant. But under pressure from the elite 'experts' on the show he has been driven out. The whole nation wants to know, where is Gordon Brown? How dare he remain silent whilst the hard work (and votes) of ordinary families is over-ridden by elitists. Speak for Britain Gordon, speak...

Leftie Mafia close ranks over Baby P “WHY did Gordon Brown react so violently when asked in the Commons about Baby P’s shocking death? Was it a guilty conscience? The unforgivable death of Baby P has revealed Labour’s dirty little secret — the arrogance verging on corruption of entrenched Socialism”. Not such a secret now, after the hideous catalogue...

Some top blogging here from Unity:...while there was the one obvious and extremely serious failing, that of the community paediatrician who saw the child a couple of days before he died and who failed to spot his injuries - the scenario otherwise suggests only that social workers’ assigned to the case made an incorrect judgement call based on incomplete and ambiguous information about the child’s circumstances and the composition of the household in which he was living and this, for the most part, because the mother, her boyfriend and, eventually, his brother, deliberately concealed that information from social workers.Really worth reading in full - as ever with Unity's investigative blogging, it's a long 'un, but pound for pound, each paragraph is more illuminating than a metric...

  Mr Clegg says nationalised banks like Northern Rock must do more The government should consider lending directly to businesses and mortgages as banks fail to live up to promises to lend more, Nick Clegg has suggested. The Lib Dem leader says the government has been "supine" and "weak" in not forcing banks to act, despite giving them billions of taxpayers' pounds. Mr Clegg said these were "not normal times" and solvent businesses were being put at risk by lack of funding. There was "growing public anger" and urgent action was needed, he added. Mr Clegg says the government should lend directly to companies through the Post Office, local authorities or even by creating an entirely new bank. The government has made its...

Lloyds shareholders will vote on the HBOS merger (read takeover) in Glasgow today, but strangely there has been no comment so far from our ‘banking knights’ Sir George Mathewson (former RBS chief) and Sir Peter Burt (former HBOS deputy chief). Sir George and Sir Peter have been gunning to remove the HBOS board and take over the company themselves, so that they can block a merger with Lloyds and ‘keep HBOS independent’, which is cryptic speak for ‘keep banking power in Scotland, and more importantly, give us braw jobs’. They’ve even set up a wildly amateur website, and sent an angry letter to the HBOS chairman Lord Stevenson threatening to “seek your and Andy Hornby’s removal from the Board and the appointment of George and myself.”...

If a week is a long time in politics (as former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson once famously declared), then - especially in current turbulent financial times - two months is almost an eternity. So, according to the pollster Ipsos/MORI, in September the Conservatives had a lead over Labour of 28% and today that lead is a mere 3%: 40% to 3% with 12% for the Lib Dems. In fact, things were probably not quite that bad for Labour in September and they are probably not quite that good now. But the polls show that political opinion is very volatile, generally Brown management's of the financial crisis is winning him back support, and that - while Labour will still find it very tough to win a fourth term - there is a fighting chance of such a victory. The immediate political battle is over...

So the decision to cut interest rates from 4.5% t0 3% was a unanimous one by the Bank of England.The startling piece of information was that the Committee considered larger cuts, but discounted that option as it might shock the markets too much.Frankly, I don't think the market can be shocked by anything at the moment, as the FTSE is here there and everywhere on a daily basis.All this suggests that further - significant - cuts are imminent and that the full extent of the economic problem has not been made public (although I think we can all guess). But the Bank are only going to (try to) solve the problem slowly.Not only is that unsatisfactory, but the driver seems to be keeping inflation within the proscribed parameters, rather than jobs, economic growth or a million and one other...

Darren Bent has a massive opportunity tonight. In normal circumstances he probably wouldn't get a look in, but with the players that are missing and the form he has been in of late, he could well start for England tonight against Germany. Capello has reportedly spoken with Bent regarding the way he wants him to play which points to him playing at least some part. Bent is quoted as saying "He told me why he picked me and how he wants me to play. I just listened. He told me to play my own game and not try to over complicate things."I know a number of people are of the opinion that the England stars that have pulled out of the squad either didn't fancy it or have been told by their respective clubs not to play. I find it quite hard to believe that any player would not want to line up against...

Tony Blair is to co-host a summit on the global financial crisis with President Nicolas Sarkozy in January, in a move likely to infuriate Gordon Brown.Mr Blair's office has been in in touch with the Prime Minister to invite him to the Paris conference, but Mr Brown has so far refused to accept the invitation, with an official saying last night he was still considering his "diary commitments".Sources said that Mr Brown was "relaxed" about the event taking place. However, any attempt by Mr Blair to overshadow Mr Brown's efforts on the world stage is likely to anger Downing Street aides. He has rebuilt his political reputation by claiming to lead the world in tackling the global financial crisis – most recently with a "road map" for financial reform he presented at a G20 summit last...

They did.Suck that up Google, Yahoo, MSN, et al.I can't recall ever being as utterly disgusted and outraged by a case as this one.Not just for the horrific brutality inflicted on a defenceless child over an extended period of time, but for the shameless self-serving arse covering of Haringey Council.Sharon Shoesmith, Clive Preece and co. can rot in Hell along with the bastards who did this.There are very personal reasons that make me feel even more strongly than I might otherwise do about this case, but writing about them would be too difficult right now.I feel like a volcano ready to explode. I hope there are lots of occupants of maximum-security prisons around England feeling exactly the same...

So did you spot that Mickey Mouse achievement this week?No, not this one. I was talking about this one - David Cameron taking a matter a months to break his promise about sticking to Labour spending plans if elected.You see, the Tories (arrogantly) think that they are going to walk the next election and now do not have to worry about the centre-ground, they are just focussing on their core vote now.Whether that be the socially conservative who want to hear nice things about tax cuts for married people (that make absolutely no difference to whether people get married or stay married) or about offering unfunded tax cuts to people whilst cutting investment to public services that is what they will continue to do in the coming weeks.Any belief that Cameron's cronies are competent on financial...

Via Peter Mackay: "Prime Minister Gordon Brown's political stocks continue to rise even though Britain is facing an economic crisis. Deceit and hypocrisy are as common in politics as in everyday life, but for Labour to suggest Shadow Chancellor George Osborne might undermine the pound by criticising Gordon Brown suggests new depths of political depravity. There is already a run on the...

The reason the Tories now support a full inquiry on Iraq is that it's become apparent that they were misled by Blair and his cronies at the time. There is one aspect of the thing that has never been exposed to the light, and for reasons that I would normally support. Information shared on Privy Council Terms carries obligations. It can't be used for party political scrapping. There is an assumption that the information provided by government to Privy Council members and the Sovereign will be fair and truthful. I believe that it was information shared on Privy Council Terms that swung the Tories behind Blair at the time, and I believe that Blair deceived both the Privy Council and the Sovereign. Cameron can't say so. The Sovereign can't say so. I can only suggest it as a possibility. Lord...

‘… an enthusiastic Tory backbencher like me can hardly wait to switch on the Today programme every morning in order to listen to all the bad news.’ – David Cameron (January 2002) In January 2002 David Cameron was a naive backbencher hoping for a really big crisis to bring the government down. By now he should have learnt to be careful about what he wishes for, but the election strategy he’s drawn up with bezzy mate George Osborne remains dependent on Labour slipping up and losing, rather the Tories stepping up and winning. At first sight it is perverse that as we brace ourselves for recession it’s shadow chancellor George Osborne who is facing calls to quit. Events seem so unfair to some Tories that they’re calling foul: ‘Labour want to destroy Osborne to cheer Gordon...

A nice, reasonable pice about the current "Baby P"...

After Labour excoriated shadow chancellor, George Osborne, for ‘irresponsibility’ and ‘talking down’ the pound, over the weekend, the Tories have launched what has every appearance of an effective comeback on economic issues. In the Telegraph, Boris Johnson defends his colleague’s right to offer a prognosis on the economy. Although this contention might appear self-evident, the government has reacted with increasing petulance on each occasion that an opposition politician dares to question the wisdom of Gordon Brown’s economic plans. Labour chose to interpret Conservative support for its bank bail-out as an open ended commitment to support all of its anti-recessionary measures. As Brown’s spending pledges become increasingly extravagant, and as tax cutting initiatives...

President-elect Barack Obama is threatening legal action against a British man who has been stalking him for more than three years. British police say they are monitoring the activities of the man, David Lammy, 36, who claims to be a close friend of Obama. A spokesman for Obama confirmed that action is being considered. “This guy met Barack Obama once in 2005. Since then he has been bombarding us with letters and phone messages and posting pictures on the internet of himself posing with our client." Lammy, a former schoolboy chorister, also claims to be a Harvard graduate, a Privy Councillor and government minister. "We've never heard of him," said the Prime Minister's office today. Subscribe in a...

The Guardian reports:One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante".Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith's advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: "It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had." Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that...

Why is the pound at a 12-year low against a basket of other OECD currencies? Peter Mandelson and Gordon Brown have peddled some pretty good bilge in their time, but I don’t think I have ever... [Visit boris-johnson.com for the full post and more information about Boris!]...

Boo hoo, I'm the star of the show not John SergeantIt's all a bit pathetic really, all the catty judges & reality TV addicts getting all bothered because people are treating their precious 'talent' show with the contempt it deserves.Reality TV is just nonsense and celebrity based reality TV is nonsense x 100 end of story. Don't complain if the public decide to have a bit of mischeif.And while we are at it can the BBC presenter stop referring to it as "Strictly" please. It's just...

Thursday:I think I have to say I'm appalled about Baby P; apparently it's now COMPULSORY.So yes, I'm appalled. And, obviously, I'm appalled by the people who did it.But I'm ALSO appalled by the people who are BAYING for BLOOD. "Put them to the torture!" seems to be the common consensus.No, no, a thousand times no.COMPASSION is what is supposed to separate human beans from animals. And on that ground, Baby P's mother and her partner and their lodger have FAILED. But that is NO REASON for US to fail the same test.Torturing people is WRONG even when they themselves are torturers.Killing people is WRONG even when they themselves are killers.So why do people say otherwise? Sometimes I have to think that you people are not MONKEYS at all, but some kind of no-horned species of BERSERK...

In light of the bipartisan enthusiasm that has met this rumor, it might seem churlish to recall that Clinton has little foreign policy experience. You might remember the who-has-less-foreign-policy-experience debate...

Should anyone a marvellous example of profilgacy in Government spending I draw your attention to the public inquiry into the Longdendale bypass also known as the A57/A628 Mottram-Tintwistle bypass.The public inquiry opened on the 26th June 2007, according to the Government it has sat for 15 days since then and the total cost to the public purse so far is £16,000,000.That's about a million pounds each month for one day each month.More here at the local anti-bypass...

I take it all back, Strictly lacklustre? Perhaps not and we're loving all the controversy here so talking of 'hoofers' like Fred Astaire can you believe the John Sergeant furore this morning and even worse the headlines?John shunned by fellow Strictly competitors... (the rotters)John not trying hard enough...( how very dare they)John like wheezing Winnie the Pooh dressed up in sequins...( but we all adore Winnie)There is national uproar and "Excuse me, wake up Britain you nation of idiotic klutzes, this is a dancing competition please take it seriously " statements from all and sundry.In which case, why invite John onto the programme? Just to make a fool of himself and provide a bit of entertainment before the real 'hoofers' strut their stuff ?There's no publicity like bad publicity so,...

Douglas Alexander is squashing “chatter” that Labour are planning to call a spring election in order to benefit from their current recovery in the polls: As election coordinator I haven’t spoken to Gordon Brown about the possibility of an election… Not a poster site has been booked - we are getting on with the job of focussing on how we can help families through the difficult times they are facing… Of course there will be chatter in the newspapers, there may be chatter in the tearoom but I can assure you at the level of the cabinet we are entirely focussed on trying to help people with rising food bills, rising fuel bills and all the concerns they have got. He’s dusting off the old “getting on with the job” mantra. But he is certainly...

1. Independent - Facebook vigilantes identify mother of Baby P: The identity of the 27-year-old mother of Baby P was last night being circulated on the internet with the names of her boyfriend and the third man convicted of causing the child's death, after online vigilantes began a campaign calling for violent retribution against them. An order issued by the judge who oversaw the trial of the woman and her boyfriend forbids details about them, including their names, photographs and addresses, from being made public. But yesterday the information was listed on unofficial news websites and social networking sites... Another social networking site, Bebo, removed the mother's profile page after abusive messages were posted, while her Friends Reunited profile was also being circulated. The...

Tech-savvy US president-elect Barack Obama faces a fate worse than death for geeks when he takes to the White House ... he may have to give up email and his Blackberry.Under the Presidential Records Act, when Obama becomes President in January all of his correspondence must be available in the public domain and can be subpoenaed by Congress and courts.This means that any 3am emails from his trusty Blackberry 8700 are 'on the record' - for the same reason Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush both gave up personal e-mails while in office.However it is not thought to have been too much of a sacrifice for 'Dubya' ... he had owned his computer for years without realising to get the most out of it he should turn it on.Obama is the first President to use a Crackberry and shows many of the...

A stunning polemic was delivered today by Melanie 'Mad as snakes' Phillips, who describes herself as 'progressive' and 'liberal'.Examing the tragic case of Baby P, Mel 'The Merciless' bravely came to the brave conclusion that his apalling treatment and horrific death was not in fact the fault of his depraved and psychopathic parents as much as it was the doing of 'the so-called progressive intelligentsia'.Laying the blame at a panoply of of perpetrators, the crazed columnist pointed a bony finger at everyone and everything from lone mothers to academic research, fixing an icy stare on 'self-regarding social commentators and corrupted academics, feminist zealots and spineless male child psychologists and psychiatrists and sociologists' along the way.In a daring broadside against pretty...

(Picture of the Millenium Stadium Cardiff)I was at a policy forum in Cardiff on Saturday. It was interesting to hear how many informed commentators at the event are beginning to think that Gordon Brown will call an election next spring. The over-riding feeling of those who believe this will be the case is that there is real trouble in the economy at the moment and the chances are that unemployment will rise considerably between now and the end of next year – hitting an estimated 2 million by Christmas and 3 million by next Christmas. Last week, I wrote about the shrinking pound … what I forgot to say is that when Harold Wilson devalued the pound in his Sterling Crisis, the devaluation was by about 14% against the US Dollar. So the devaluation of around 20% against a basket of...

So the march (as his Paso was described) of John Sergeant goes on. Yet again the political correspondent was the worst on show on Saturday night, but he was spared the dance off yet again. Instead that fate went to Cheri Lunghi and Lisa Snowdon with professional partners James Jordan and Brendan Cole. The Saturday before this weekend when Caron was out enjoying a well earned weekend off...

As noted yesterday, Barack Obama will be the first US President to have his weekly address shoved on You Tube. Indeed, he'll be the first President to have his regular broadcast available in pictures rather than just in audio via network radio, as it has been before. Votemaster notes that Obama will also be the first President to have a computer on his desk. He has asked for a notebook...

I was totally shaken to see how gorgeous Baby P looked before he became a punch bag. Don’t you just want to squeeze those chubby cheeks and bounce him on your lap, sing a nursery rhyme, clap hands and laugh together. That’s what most mums would have done with this bonny boy. But not Baby P’s mum. Instead of enjoying this kind of happy childhood, the blond haired, blue-eyed toddler was brutally battered to death at his home - a place which should have been his place of safety. It doesn’t matter to me who gets sacked for this - and I’m sure it won’t be long before Sharon Shoesmith, Haringey’s Director of Children and Young People’s services, is deservedly given the boot. Baby P, who was 17 months old, suffered more than 50 injuries while...

I share Iain's disdain for some of the sillier Sunday newspaper stories, and had raised an eyebrow when reading Isabel Oakeshott's piece in the Sunday Times. But the Sunday papers are ever thus. And they only publish such stories when they give a wider sense of what is undoubtedly a political truth. The truth is that George Osborne is flailing.Watching his interview this morning's Andrew Marr show showed why. It was not that Osborne lacked fluency or made any obvious gaffes. Rather it was his inability to speak in a language beyond the cliched soundbite. Instead of trying to provide a coherent explanation of the Tory opposition to Brown's planned tax cuts and spending, we got rhetorical slogans about 'tax cons' versus 'tax cuts'.Whatever an Eton education provides, it surely teaches good...

Much has been made in the British press of the comments by George Osborne on a future British currency crisis, what he called "having a proper sterling collapse, a run on the pound". Leaving aside- for the moment- the convention which Osborne has broken that opposition politicians do not talk down the British economy, let us examine what George Osborne is saying.On Friday, Sterling hit a a six and a half year low against the US Dollar and a record low against the Euro. The immediate cause was a series of extremely gloomy predictions for the UK economy and the expectations, that despite the 150 basis point rate cut, there could still be further reductions in British interest rates. None of this, you note has much to do with UK government borrowing. However the risk of a run on the Pound...

In a piece that undoubtedly counts as testing the mood of the nation today's Sunday Times tells us that members of Prince Charles’s inner circle are preparing the ground for him to break the monarch’s traditional vow of silence when he is king.The Prince's friend and biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby says that “there are now discreet moves afoot to redefine the future role of the sovereign so that it would allow King Charles III to speak out on matters of national and international importance in ways that at the moment would be unthinkable”.“To breach this convention, however cautiously, would represent a seismic shift in the role of the sovereign,” says Dimbleby. It “has the potential to be constitutionally and politically explosive”.He writes that Charles, as king, would not...

Scrutinizing my savings account this morning - as I have been doing since the Crisis recently - the rate has been slashed today by a whole 1.5%. There shall be no knee-jerk reaction to this provocative act from me.I will lie in wait for a week or two, until the banks and building societies have all reacted to the Crisis by penalizing savers. Then I shall make a move, closing accounts and transferring funds as...

BBC NEWS | Politics | Osborne faces pressure over pound Sterling has fallen sharply in recent weeks amid fears about a UK recession. It has lost more than a quarter of its value against the dollar and hit a near-record low against the euro. On Saturday, Mr Osborne said the more the prime minister borrowed, the less attractive the currency would become. His comments attracted criticism from Labour politicians...Chancellor Alistair Darling questioned Mr Osborne's political judgement...Mr Brown, who is also in Washington, said he was disappointed by Mr Osborne's "partisan talk"....some MPs suggested that the shadow chancellor could find himself in serious trouble if the pound plunges when currency markets open again on Monday. He is a State Traitor for pointing out the bleeding obvious...

George Osborne has today accused the government of causing a "sterling collapse, a run on the pound". No doubt he is trying to evoke memories of 1970's "sterling crises" (Osborne is rather obsessed with the 1970's - when Labour nationalised Northern Rock in February, Osborne's response was to say "We will not back nationalisation. We will not help Gordon Brown take this...

that's Mrs. Clinton. Rumours are about that Clinton is to return to the White House as Obama's Secretary of State. Which explains why she wasn't the VP candidate. Watch this...

US President-elect Barack Obama plans to use YouTube to modernize the traditional White House weekly radio...

I don’t have much to say about the ‘Baby P’ case, mainly because the needless horror of it defies my ability to articulate.But I want to make a small point about some of the commentary on it. This Times leader, a voice that strives for respectability, is a good example.But this is not just a story about Haringey, or the child protection system. It is a story about Britain today. … Baby P was not killed by low-paid social workers, but at the hands of adults who were unimaginably depraved. These adults were part of Britain's dependency community.… The story of Baby P provides a glimpse into the colossal failure of community, in which dependency on the State is a way of life.…The story of Baby P is one that will haunt Britain for years to come. But for some, its message is...

The global financial crisis could lead to the collapse of political donations, shadow chancellor George Osborne has warned.In an interview with the Times, he accused the prime minister of being "deeply irresponsible" by not putting in place a system to ensure that billionaires and corporations could continue to bribe MPs on yachts in the Mediterranean. Dodgy donations have fallen sharply in recent months amid fears of recession and revelations about Osborne, Lord Mandelson, Deripaska and great big wads of cash.  A Labour spokesman said Mr Osborne was being "hysterical" and insisted that graft, corruption, and blatant greed would continue under Gordon Brown's leadership.On Friday, the number of brown envelopes being slipped into jacket pockets slipped to a 13-year low.  The former...

You can almost script it. Every time a tragedy occurs where some section of the state apparatus could have intervened you just know that someone somewhere will talk about the need to learn lessons.And yet how often does it seem that no such thing happens, that we will again sadly soon read about another child suffering needlessly whilst the adults that should have cared for or protected them appear to do nothing?It's understandable that people would feel this way and certainly the tragic case of Baby P would provoke any right thinking person into such outrage. Because of this it's no surprise that the story continues to dominate the media this weekend with a number of new angles coming to the fore.I have no problem with any of this, not least the hope that lessons will this time be...

It's really not possible to take Bush seriously these days When Georgian troops attacked in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted to invade Georgia, hang President Saakashvili, and set up a new government in Georgia. He was dissuaded when French president Nicolas Sarkozy pointed out that it was the sort of thing George W. Bush would do: The Russian...

There is no doubt that the tragic events leading up to the death of Baby P present a huge challenge to government, both local and national. However, they also present a challenge to politicians who, in their role as tribunes for the public, have multiple responsibilities. I've now watched the incident at Prime Ministers' Question Time which has caused so much controversy, and I'll return to...

Tax Avoidance by Supermarkets Must End to Rebalance Tax System Clamping down on tax avoidance practiced by large companies should form a key part of rebalancing the tax system to make it fairer, Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg said at the ACS Heart of the Community seminar held in London yesterday. In his...

...Obama was silent and out of sight in Chicago, one day after quietly meeting with Clinton at his headquarters there. She addressed a transit conference in New York and said emphatically, "I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration, and I'm going to respect his process."Obama is also reaching out to Republican Sen. John McCain, hoping to make an ally of the man he defeated for the presidency only last week. Obama meets with McCain on Monday.Obama has not made his choice for secretary of state and is considering other candidates, said Democratic officials, speaking on a condition of anonymity about deliberations they weren't authorized to...

From: Greenpeace"Rampant deforestation in the world’s largest forested nations, like Indonesia and Brazil and ongoing logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is driving up greenhouse gas emissions and further fuelling the dangerous climate change that we are already witnessing.Indonesia is currently losing its forests faster than any other major forested country. According to FAO (2006), Indonesia loses at least 1.8 million hectares of forest per year, making Indonesia the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, after the United States and China. The main source of Indonesia’s emissions is deforestation and the drainage of carbon-rich peatland.The main drivers of Indonesia’s fast rising deforestation are the aggresive expansion of palm oil and large-scale logging for...

Devotees of 'The West Wing' - and I am one - will know a relatively unknown congressman - Matthew Santos - was elected president, after President Bartlett served his two terms in office. He defeated Senator Arnold Vinick - a respected and much older senator from California. When it came to the job of Secretary of State, Santos realised there was only one man for the job, the man he had been fighting for months, and Vinick - after much thought - accepted the offer.Coming back to the real world, President-Elect Obama has had a meeting with Senator Clinton. There is speculation he may offer her the job of Secretary of State. Whenever I see or hear the senator, a chill always runs down my spine and it is not a pleasant feeling. Diplomacy has never been her strong suit, so I can't see how she...

Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News.InVincibleLast time the Liberal Democrats called a Commons debate on the economy, the treasury minister Angela Eagle was scathing. Our motion read "like the storyboard for Apocalypse Now or perhaps even Bleak House." Why, it even said Britain faced the risk of recession! "Fortunately for all of us," Eagle reassured the House, "that colourful and lurid fiction has no real bearing on the macro-economic reality."For good measure, she added: "Hysterical overreaction … might attract a few cheap headlines … but it is not mature or responsible."That was April. Eagle was in her place again on Monday, but in a very different world. As Philip Hammond, the Tory shadow treasury minister pointed out, her reply to Vince Cable’s opening speech...

The tragic death of the little baby know as baby P could of been prevented if the government had acted on a letter received from a social...

Oh my word! What a coincidence. Just as I wonder out loud whether John Leech has been missing a lot of other commitments recently along comes my They Work For You update with the following interesting exchange (TWFY link): James Purnell (Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions; Stalybridge & Hyde, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source | Video match thisWe have yet to award the contract to the Post Office. Clearly, we will be in discussions and negotiations about that, and that is the right way to proceed. We have made it clear that we will be awarding the contract, which will give people certainty between now and 2015, but the hon. Gentleman is right to say that we should recognise the work that sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses do. I am sure that he will join me in...

The Haringey social services scandal gets worse by the day. Not only has the Council presided over at least two horrific child murders, not only has its senior managers shown a criminal disregard for their own personal responsibilities, we now hear that Whitehall ignored a specific written warning direct from a Haringey social worker, Nevres Kemal, that children were being put a risk:"In February 2007 her lawyer wrote to Patricia Hewitt at the Department of Health as well as the junior health ministers Rosie Winterton and Ivan Lewis, and David Lammy, the local MP for Tottenham, who was a culture minister at the time, saying that measures brought in following a public inquiry into the Climbié case were not being followed. The letters were passed on to the Department of Education and...

The inconsistency of Mr. Gaunt On the 3rd of this month I wrote about how “Jon Gaunt is the most appalling hypocrite”. I pointed out that even though Gaunty had spent years railing against New Labour’s “nanny state”, his own moral politics demand even greater state control over our lives. In this week’s column, Gaunt’s confused and duplicitous idea of state intervention was evident, as he tackles the tricky subject of Baby P - a story that has dominated the news cycle :: A child needs a mum and a dad if possible. [...] The doctrine of always trying to keep the “family” together is garbage. Jon walks his carefully constructed nuance with the words “if possible” and “always”. He carefully checks the box marked...

As regular readers will know, your humble Devil believes that the state's primary responsibility is to protect the citizens of this country—and most especially those who cannot help themselves. The death of Baby P was disgusting and unfortunate and I hope that the two men and the woman involved die, like Baby P, screaming in agony: they are scum and utterly unfit to live. Why they have been convicted of "causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person" rather than straight murder, I do not know.That Haringey Social Services did not protect the child, despite seeing the baby 60 fucking times, is disgraceful. That this was the same organisation that, ten years ago, allowed the death of Victoria Climbié to happen is fucking insulting. That nobody was sacked then is bad...

Guido has a very interesting post on Gordon Brown's visit to Washington. He writes...Speaking at an interfaith conference at the UN General Assembly in New York this morning, Gordon Brown has just called for global tax cuts, "a temporary and affordable fiscal stimulus" was needed to tackle the downturn he said. Gordon told journalists that he intends to ask leaders at the G20 summit to produce fiscal stimulus packages of tax cuts and spending increases to “stimulate growth in our economies”. Perhaps Gordon didn't notice that George Bush actually got his temporary stimulus in at the beginning of the year, whilst our far-sighted financial genius has yet to even announce his growth package, which is probably why US GDP growth last quarter was not quite as bad as UK GDP growth (-0.5). How...

The last few days have seen a determined effort across the Tory blogosphere to nail Gordon Brown over his Commons performance on Wednesday in relation to the Baby P case. It was clearly not one of the PM's best days, but the Tories' ongoing attempts to equate his below-par display with somehow not caring about the dead child are, in my view, a disgrace, although entirely consistent with their general view of Brown as some sort of devil incarnate.If David Cameron really wanted an intelligent debate on the issues surrounding the tragedy, he should have submitted a Private Notice Question which would have obliged the Speaker to schedule an emergency debate, not brought it up in the highly-charged, partisan arena of PMQs.Cartoonist Slob, though, has a slightly different take. As far as he...

When two over-paid ‘comedians’ at the BBC phoned an elderly man and pestered him with expletives and abuse, the Prime Minister demanded that the BBC take action. And so the Director General Mark Thompson did take action. There were suspensions, public reprimands, and the high-profile resignations of senior staff. Cranmer noted how Parliament might learn from the BBC.And Gordon Brown was content that justice had been done, and public confidence at least partially restored.Then a woman and her partner murder their 17-month old baby after an appallingly brutal series of attacks upon the infant, which included a broken back, fractured ribs and extensive bruising.No-one at Haringey Council has been suspended, and no-one has resigned, for it is asserted that ‘proper procedures’ were...

Could Hillary Clinton be Obama's choice for secretary of state? Reports originating with 'two unnamed advisers' to the president-elect are suggesting as much. I have a couple of questions. First, could this be true?Her selection as top US diplomat could... mean a more hawkish foreign policy than that advocated by Mr Obama during his presidential campaign.Second, should she have worn that outfit to the Glamour Women of the Year awards? Here I will defer to the expertise of my friend...

LABOUR aims to undemine George Osborne: Tories face tough choices - and moving George Osborne is one of them - Iain Martin Sadly, George Osborne should go - Janet Daley Why we need Ken Clarke to take on Alistair Darling - Tracy Corrigan David Cameron should replace George Osborne with Ken Clarke - Alex Singleton But how do you unseat a man who has done so very...

This is from today's Guardian -"Gordon Brown tonight called on the world's most powerful industrial nations to agree a programme of immediate and coordinated tax cuts to prevent the global economy sliding deeper into recession."If the world economy is moving into a deflationary position, there is a problem with a co-ordinated programme of tax cuts. In a deflationary situation and with instability, there is an interest in people hording any newly found money from income tax or VAT-style cuts, which can be done by holding it in banks at even low interest rates as well as keeping it in their purses and wallets. For if money will be seen as increasing its value, people will wish to keep hold of it as some form of protection for the future. It will then only be via a growth in unemployment and...

Writing in The Sun, columnist Jon Guant nails what must be done to prevent another Baby P: I’m saying it must never happen again that we allow an elected and unelected metropolitan elite impose their warped views and social engineering on our country. Who could disagree? What must happen is that we allow an unelected pantomime inverted snob in the pay of Rupert Murdoch to impose his warped views and social engineering on our country....

The Conservatives have expelled Den Dover, the Conservative former Chief Whip in the European parliament, after the Strasbourg authorities ruled that he had breached its rules and demanded that he pay back just over...

The Conservatives have expelled Den Dover, the Conservative former Chief Whip in the European parliament, after the Strasbourg authorities ruled that he had breached its rules and demanded that he pay back just over...

An interesting move if the rumour becomes confirmed. Two Obama advisers have told NBC News that Hillary Clinton is under consideration to be secretary of state. Would she be interested? Those who know Clinton say possibly.  But her office says that any decisions about the transition are up to the president-elect and his team. Great Machiavellian politics - keep your friends close, but your enemies closer - but would she be the right choice? By having her on the top table, if Obama’s first administration fails she’s then largely neutralised as a challenger, but do I not recall her foreign policy pronouncements on the primaries trail as pretty hawkish, if not occasionally neoconservative? And she did vote for the war. Would this show Obama displaying bipartisanship in...

Pictured above is the President of Georgia, Mickheil Saakashvili . All in one piece and looking quite healthy. But things might have been different. French President Nikolas Sarkozy reportedly saved him from a serious recent threat by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to depose him from power and “hang him by the balls,” according to an account that emerged yesterday from the Elysée Palace. The Russian PM informed Mr Sarkozy of his plans for deposing the Tbilisi government and rather unconventionally disposing of President Saakashvili when the French leader was in Moscow in August to broker a cease-fire in Georgia. The conversation apparently went like this : “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” said Mr Putin. Mr Sarkozy responded:...

The BBC is reporting: Investigations involving police, social services and health workers are under way after the deaths of two young brothers in Manchester. The bodies of Romario Mullings-Sewell, aged two, and his three-month-old brother, Delayno, were found at a house in Cheetham Hill on Wednesday evening. Their 21-year-old mother has been detained under the Mental Health Act. Police visited the house hours before finding the boys, who were known to social services and the local NHS. The police watchdog is to investigate Greater Manchester Police’s response to calls made in the hours before two young boys were killed. Officers were first called at about 1320 GMT by a GP who raised concerns for the family’s welfare after being visited by the mother. These two little...

Today's coverage: Tories face tough choices - and moving George Osborne is one of them - Iain MartinSadly, Geoge Osborne should go - Janet DaleyWhy we need Ken Clarke to take on Alistair Darling - Tracy CorriganDavid Cameron should replace George Osborne with Ken Clarke - Alex SingletonIain Martin has been becoming noticeably increasingly incensed with the Tory's incoherency on the economy. Today it looks like the whole editorial collective over in Victoria has decided they have had enough of George....

Home Tony Blair Office: ‘Obama’s Obligation & Opportunity‘ Blair BBC video, 9th Nov: Following the meeting last Sunday in Egypt which failed to come to a hoped-for Israeli/Palestinian settlement, he says “there is an agreed strategy and unified international position … two-state and other agreement platforms upon which to build … got to take the essential practical steps”  … And on Gaza -  “for security reasons … turned out to be well founded … I wasn’t able to go … of course I want to go to Gaza” Comment at end 13th November 2008 SO WHAT ARE YOU REALLY SAYING, MR BLAIR? Yes, if it’s Wednesday it must be Africa - America later. In the run-up to meeting President-Elect Obama later today in...

I've been a bit mean about the Daily Mail these past few days, since Paul Dacre claimed that indulging his own neo-Victorian brand of puritanical prurience constituted a vital democratic principle. Still, we mustn't forget all the good they do, so I'm delighted to note that Richard Littlejohn is in top form with a splendid rant about all the Guardian-advertised non-jobs that, he predicts, will prove strangely recession-proof:Yes, Britain's five-a- day coordinators, diversity managers, equality officers, elf 'n'safety enforcer