Gordon is pulling out all the stops in his assault on welfare cheats. That's ok with me, so far as it goes; but , he's pushing his luck when he's pontificating on his favourite subject of British Citizenship, asking migrants from non-white countries, yes non-white countries only, that they should wait a year or more before they can claim benefits; and that they should do voluntary work to show their committment to Britain. Well, I'm all in favour of voluntary work, particular from people who are not actually engaged in anything productive ie the unemployed, the retired, the 16-18 year olds, and even prison/probation population. But expecting newly arrived migrants to our shores, who have enough trouble as it is getting used to our way of life and settling in, to ask them to spend a few hours a week contributing to the good of society is, I think asking a bit too much, before they can even be considered for benefits.

As they say, a week is a long time in politics, and Brown is recovering his bounce at PMQ's. Cameron is coming across as quite a hystrical old maidan. Straw says he has noticed a certain spring in his step. Well, Cameron is on the ropes over Conway. Its the same old Tory sleaze. At least their 'sleaze' is a lot more reprehensible than ours. But we have to be really careful. Scratch beneath the suface and I am sure you could find half a dozen Conways on either side of the House. I bet all MP's are a bit nervous at revealing all their financial 'arrangements' within the family. The point is Parliament is at fault; MPs are not accountable to anyone. We thought they were accountable to us, but thats not so. They are a law unto themselves because they make the law. Did I miss that they hadn't voted themselves a pay rise above that of inflation? or is that just wishful thinking.

Look, I know we shouldn't be speaking ill of the dead, and we should let sleeping dogs lie, but two stories caught my eye about Anthony Blair, ex-PM.
1. His official portrait has been shown for the first time. Not bad, but Cherie might consign it to the attic.
Why? because Tony is not just over yet. 
2. Some people are seriously suggesting that Blair might become the next President of Europe!!! Unbelievable!.  That's what we thought too, as Blair only lent grudging support to the idea of European Unity during his spell in No 10. He didn't actually promote the idea, but left it more to our imagination. So is he the right candidate?
Well swat's almanack says he will be as much use in resolving the Palestine question, as assisting the Rwandan's not to kill each other, as in settling the European question. Even after 30 years Britain is still debating 'out' or 'in'.
But we think that he will do pretty well in the boardroom of whatever merchant bank he is selling his name to.

Peter Hain has put out a statement explaining the events that led to donations of more than £100,000 paid into his campaign funds. But its not good enough. To just apologise and expect things to be as they were will simply not do. You cannot transgress and expect normal service to be resumed. 'I've apologised; I'm sorry; now can I get back to my work?' No. Because we have to take some responsiblity for our actions. Hain is trying to sit it out, waiting for the results of the two enquiries already set up. Even if they were to clear him, his reputation will still be tarnished. So why sit it out and embarrass Labour further. The declarations should have been made within 4 weeks, instead of sitting on them for months and months. We accept that Hain didn't intentionally set out to decieve, but it happened, and his Agents let him down. But he has to carry the can in the end. And just saying sorry is not enough.

Poor Peter Hain, he is being hounded for failing to declare donations to his DL election campaign. Its something that can be easily overlooked in the heat of an election campaign. Its wasn't his fault unless he was made directly aware of it himself. Surely he would have had his Agent take care of all those legal technicalities. If any heads should roll then its that of those Agents. He's done the right thing and apologised and it should be left at that.

The Govt has at last come off the fence and decided to commission a new generation of new nuclear power stations; an annoucement is likely to be made in the very near future. Its a wise move; we cannot afford to be held hostage to our energy requirements by a reliance on the vagaries of some unstable states. At least 20% of our future energy will be sourced by nuclear energy.

The best policy that developing countries can adopt is that of Non-Alignment. Tito and Nehru understood that all too well in the sixties and seventies. Where you have two opposing philosophies or superpowers, the best path is one straight down the middle. Yes, you can be courted by both, and accept aid and assistance from both to develop your economies, but you should not promise anything in return, certainly not the permission to build military bases. Any newly independent countries should bear that in mind.

At last Gordon Brown has come up with a positive suggestion: that MP's should not vote themselves a pay rise. MP's should be setting an example to the rest of us. MP's  should never be left to take the final decision themselves; it should be left to an Independent Body, a Citizens Panel, to make the award on a recommendation, or not, as the case may be. They should also consider 'performance related pay' as a factor. But until then, Gordon needs to be more decisive and put his foot down: he should order a 3 Line Whip on the matter.

Well its another day. We've had Pakistan, then Kenya and now that its Sunday, it must be the turn of Georgia. Unpopular corrupt Presidents and Oppositions who are probably funded by wealthy outside donors so that they can take a cut of the profits if their Party ever gets in, and rigged elections; calls for mass demonstrations on the streets in protest which will inevitably result in oppressive suppression by the police and deaths.
They obviously cannot govern themselves.
Makes you wish we were back in the old USSR, when there was some semblance of order, you could walk safely out on the streets, and the shelves were filled, and practically everybody had a job.
Ok it too was corrupt regime and the commissars were taking their cut, and the secret police were monstrous, but at least there was order and some certainty and the poor people could get on with their lives instead of being buffetted and filled with false promises and subjected to consumerism and all the downsides of capitalism and greed.
Lets have the Russians stepping in and arbritrating this dispute. The last thing they want on their doorstep is a string of unstable Republics in the pocket of the West and a threat to their security. The Russians want some order on their borders.
Can someone tell me when the Ukraine is next up for the polls?

In 1983 the old Gypper Reagan nearly dropped the world into Apocolypse. Reagan had been talking belligerantly about the 'Evil Empire', the USSR, and initiated Star Wars, and Nato had decided to stage a full scale nuclear exercise in Europe without telling the Russians. The Russians picked up their intelligence about missile movements etc from their agents and presumed that any 'exercise' would preceed an actual nuclear attack. Who could blame them? The Americans always said that they'd never be the first to start a nuclear war. But could you believe them? The Russians said they would never be the first to start a nuclear war, and you could believe them; after all they'd lost 20 million in the last war. Thank goodness the Russians were sensible and didn't press the nuclear button otherwise we wouldn't be here. But Apocolypse is only postponed until we scrap all nuclear weapons. And Britain can start the ball rolling by disarming unilaterally, now, and scrapping Trident.

The day that N-Power decided to hike up their energy prices I had two men from edf knocking on my door, asking me would I like to switch. I said no. Ill stick with British Gas thank you. Why is there such a big sell to get you to switch energy, credit, banks, car insurance, broadband, etc when it makes not the blind bit of difference in 3 months time down the line. Its all a big con. And I wish it would stop.  

So far Brown and Milliband have done the right thing, called for calm, compromise and a coalition Govt in Kenya. There is no another way out of this impasse. From a rigged election to a humanitarian crisis in a week, both Kibaki and Odinga are responsible for the breakdown in law and order and the deaths of 300+ poor Kenyans. Africa's envoy Tutu has also come in as a concilliator. But the rest of Africa could be doing a lot more. Britain could also act as a friendly arbitrator in settling this deadlock, but it has to be asked.

Frank Field has come up with some suggestions: the frontloading of child benefit, the election of Chief Constables and allowing some children to leave school earlier than 16. I agree with two out of three of those suggestions.

A sad day for Pakistan. Benazir was the last hope for Pakistan to get back on the road to democracy.

So nobody gets done for the de Menezes fiasco. Not Sir Ian, whose determined to tough it out, not the officers responsible, who went over the top by pumping 7 bullets into the poor man, at close range, when two would have been enough, not Cressida; nobody. And nobody gets done for the Omagh bombings fiasco either. Makes you wonder about public trust in our law enforcement.

The trouble with Gordon is that he can't do Foreign Policy, and neither can Milliband. In a way its a good thing. It means that Gordon can concentrate a bit more on sorting out our little domestic problems ie like starting more house building, road taxing and finally, finally getting our kids reading, instead of prancing about the world. But in other ways it makes GB look pretty foolish. Peace in the Middle East is a no no, not that is until the international community cuts Israel down to size and dictates the actual terms of peace.

Has Diane had a make over?

Where is Ming; he hasn't shown his face in the Commons for 3 weeks now. This must be the biggest sulk since Ted Heath. Mind you Vince has minded the fort magnificently and earned respect, more than Ming ever could. Ming always gave the impression that he'd just stepped out of a Victorian novel, greeted with groans every time he got up to put a halting question. Ming, either show up or resign and spend more time with the family.

Happy Diwali!