Brown calls Peter Watt a liar?

Gordon Brown has been asked in Parliament about the now infamous "fund with no name" that Peter Watt referenced in his book "Inside Out". Asked by David Evenett why it was not declared on the Register of Members' Interest. Brown's response was,

I know nothing about what he is talking about

Apart from the roars of laughter in the Commons, presumably he's either claiming that he hasn't read the newspapers, or noticed a complaint about him to the Parliamentary Standard Commissioner, or, he's calling Peter Watt a liar - having already branded him a criminal and screwing him over as detailed in the book.

Update: Corrected Brown quote after second listening, changed "of" to "about".

UPDATE II: ConservativeHome have a copy of a letter written by Eric Pickles to Gordon Brown suggesting he has misled the House with his response.

Will pregnant women be banned from flying by full body scanners?

The picture to the right was doing the rounds yesterday after the Government announced the use of full body scanner in aiirports being rolled out fully.

Now, putting aside the possible fact that the use of these scanners may actually break UK law in terms of exposure to ionising radiation regulations, there is an interesting little problem within the decision, also confirmed in a written question. The ministerial statement says,

If a passenger is selected for scanning, and declines, they will not be permitted to fly.

This was reinterated in response to a Parliamentary question.

So here's a simple question, what about a young woman that is 6 weeks pregnant? Are they really going to refuse to let her fly when she recalls the advice on hospital posters about X-rays and pregnancy and so refuses to be scanned?

One other thing to note, back when this was just a trial at Heathrow, if you refused you were frisked instead. Why is it now the case that if you refuse you are assumed to be hiding something and barred from flying?

Harman Image via Big Brother Watch

Sion Simon for Birmingham Mayor - he's just like you

Sion Simon MP is quitting Parliament to run for Birmingham mayor presumably because "he's just like you" and probably because the expense regime is better than Parliament?

Hopefully he will do some more interviews like this one.

Always worth reminding people what a tit the man is.

Tower Block of Commons - the sheltered life of an MP exposed!

Last night, having recorded it on Sky+, the first episode of the Channel 4 series, Tower Block of Commons, where a number of MPs get sent to mystery council estates and have to live with ordinary people and I have to admit I wasn;t particularly disappointed. There was something rather amusing - in a funny peculiar not funny haha way - to see the look on Austin Mitchell's face as he was led to what he thought was a newsagents but was in fact a methadone dispensary as his host was a recovering smackhead.

The look of shock and then depression on his face that such places actually existed in the back arse end of a run down council hell hole was enlightening. Even he had to admit he'd thought that drugs as an issue was overstated by the media, and here he was surrounded by random syringes on the floor, an all too common sight on an estate of this sort. Likewise, Mark Oaten's reaction to seeing the squalor of a council estate in Essex, leading to him getting a petition going (natch!) was a great illustration of how sheltered a life some MPs actually live.

It's a shame that Iain Duncan-Smith had to pull out of the series because his wife fell ill with cancer, as of all the MPs featured, he seemed like the one that took it most in his stride and didn't appear necessarily shocked by how some people were having to live, and simply expressed how he would like to change it and make it better (no surprise really given his work in this area).

One thing that did stand-out though was Austin Mitchell's refusal to do the moving in with a family part and instead insist on only taking part if his wife could come along and they could have a council flat of their own. There were scenes of them sitting around reading all their daily newspapers, playing on a laptops and using his mobile phone, whilst the Tory and Lib Dem participants had their wallets and phones taken away. Mitchell and his wife even drive off to a friend's nice house for dinner one night.

Most hilariously was Mark Oaten not knowing how to correctly fill out a lottery ticket and then proceeding to get four numbers when he finally filled it out properly - much to the annoyance of his host who had never won more than a tenner in years of playing every week.

Tories go for the "revolutionary" touch?

Oh lordy! George Osborne has been talking about the Tory economic policy and has launched a document calling for a "New Economic Model".


Now, what feckless idiot came up with that phrase? More so, why did no one stop and say "err guys, doesn't that sound a little bit like Lenin's 'New Economic Policy'?" or "Didn't one of Stalin's favoured economists Kuzminov write about a 'New Economic Model'?"

Just saying like.

Defaced Currency....

Ingenious and occasionally poor taste artwork.

More at americasgonebankrupt.com.

Do they really need to hire consultants?

This might seem like chicken feed to many, but am I alone in thinking "WTF?" when reading that the Royal Parks (an agency of the Department for Culture, media and Sports) spends a few hundred thousand a year on consultants?

The running total since 1999 is just shy of £6 million spent on consultants. What the hell are they providing to a free green spaces that costs so much? Research on the prime location for dog shit bins?

Source: Hansard

How annoying....

I find myself torn between opposing principles. On the one hand, I can't stand papal interference into the sovereignty of the UK - we had a Reformation after all primarily because of that.

However, on the other hand I do think that religious liberty, be it Christian, Muslim or whatever, should be exempt from equality laws in terms of faith-based principles and senior position within their organisations.

Ack! how annoying.

See a crime? Browse online?

The Government have launched yet another website, this time to allow you to report terrorist activity that you might find online and hate crimes. Mildly amusing to me at least is the fact that if you tick "Yes" to the first question it tells you to call 999 immediately.

Did someone really think that if someone saw a crime happening or someone's life was in danger they would be browsing to a website to report it?

Smokers more than pay their way don't they?

Apparently, the Government has a new strategy to halve the number of smokers, from 21 to 10 per cent of the population by 2020. This is, they say, to reduce the strain on the NHS because it cost £2.7bn to treat smokers. That's the smokers who contribute £10bn a year in taxes to the Government in case you were wondering.

I'd say smokers are more than covering the costs of their treatment.