Nothing to see here....

Whilst I did go to conference yesterday, today I am back at work, and there will be no further posts today unless I get a spare minute. Am currently playing around with agentx and MIBs which is far more exciting than politics. Have to go for an snmpwalk now.

See you all later. Enjoy.

Nadine Dorries to quit blogging?

Yesterday at Conference (am now back in London) I did an event with Guido, Devils Kitchen, Iain Dale and Nadine Dorries. During the discussion Nadine announced that she is considering stopping her blog because of time constraints. Newspaper diary columns lose another vital source?

I realise that some might say she's not a "propa blogger" because she turned off comments (after threats were made to her and her family), but at the end of day it would be shame if her diary disappeared.

Note: Croydonian blogged this news live from the event.

UPDATE: It;s been noted in the comment by Unity that Nadine did not turn ocmments off because of threats but because she ran away scared from lots of bloggers who accused her of making statements about a journalist falsely. What Unity has failed to realise is that it is perfectly possible for the faslity against a journalist to be true simulatenously with the threats against her and her family. Of course, if you instantly assume that anything someone says is a lie then an acceptance of logical reality will never work anyway.

Some Tory Conference Thoughts

OK, having been to Tory Conference for a day (got blisters that crippled me), I have two simple comments to make. First, why the fuck, and yes I did use the word fuck, do they not have day passes for the event?

Seriously, I realise that you have to take security seriously, but surely it would make sense to allow those of us normal people, and by normal I mean working people, the ability to pop in for just one day on the off chance like?

Ifyou want to appeal to a wider audience other than sad political anoraks, then how about making it possible for people who have an interest in politics but who are not "anal retentive, never had a job morons" get in without having to pay quote so much money?

This is politics after all. The allocation of values for the masses. So shouldn't it be more accessible to the masses? Not to mention students of course. Take this weekend, the conference has been held in a Uni town, wouldn't it make sense to offer day passes?

The second comment is this. Why is it that I have an MEP yet there is no conference to tell me what the party has been doing in the EU? As my representative on matters which impact my life I have to sod off to various fringe events to hope against hope that one will give an indication of what is coming down the line.

Would it not make more sense to have an extra day at the beginning added to conference that is dedicated to the European Party representative rather than the National one? After all, things the MEPs do tomorrow are things that MPs will have to deal with in the EU the next week (shortened time lines is artistic license).

So let's start having a day of conference that is dedicated to the MEPs and an update of what they are doing. After all, in some cases, they actually exercise more power than the Prime Minister.

Conference: Iain Dale and David Davis have a chat

Am currently watching Iain Dale interview David Davis in the Freedom Zone about his civil liberties campaign. He's just come on to the issue of Britishness, citing Gordon Brown's obsession with it and how to define it. He noted that once, the directory Liberty, Shami Chakrabati, thought that for Gordon Brown the campaign would have to be called "Make Liberty History".

Davis also said that he has never had a regret about doing what he did on this issue, and at no point has he ever thought "what the bloody hell was I doing?". Apparently, when he resigned the conversation with Cameron was a two minutes rushed conversation about the risk.

Davis also said that he believes if the House of Lords holds it nerve on 42 days, that the issue of civil liberties will be high up on the agenda as the Parliament Act is likely to be needed to push through the policy, this is apparently why the issue seems to have gone quiet for Davis in the last few months.

UPDATE: Davis thinks that Cameron is probably going to have the worst economic handoff from Brown since 1979. Never a truer word spoken I think. Davis is, he says, not interested in a Government job because he doesn't see anyone that he could replace. There was however, in essence, a "never say never" which is understandable I think. Davis has also conceded that h got one thing wrong in the leadership campaign, and that was he got Gordon Brown wrong, and didn't think he would be as bad as he has turned out to be.

When asked if he would have done anything differently, Davis said that if he had been leader he would "not let my shadow Home Secretary resign"

EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea and Fulham tapping up scandal?

Word reaches me that last night, Alex Hilton, the founder of Labour Home and Recess Monkey tried to tap up Michael Ashcroft for £50,000 towards his campaign for Labour's challenge on the Chelsea and Fulham seat. The response was apparently "send me a business plan".

You have to love a tryer don't you?

Freedom calls

Am up in Birmingham at the moment for the Tory Conference sans pass, so I will be hanging around in the Freedom Zone which does not require a pass, plus I am speaking on a panel with Guido, Dale, Nadine Dorries and the Devil. Should any gossip be heard I will let you know. Now I have to go outside and smoke as I'm not allowed to in the Freedom Zone. Go figure.

Hello Alice, welcome to Wonderland

The 21st Century should also be known as the "Through the Looking Glass Century" shouldn't it? I say this simply because I've just seen a picture in todays Independent (not online) that shows protesters in America not happy with the bailout of banks.

The thing is, these are no0t rabid market fundamentalist right wingers protesting, these are people from the Inetrnational Action Center, who, if you have a cursory glance at their website appear are a grassroots coalition "to oppose U.S. wars abroad while fighting against racism and economic exploitation of workers here at home". Pretty clear from that these are basically Stop the War type trots right?

Yet, here we have them opposing the US bank bailouts, alongside the market fundamentalist. The IAC of course says "bailout people not banks". But isn't it a bit weird to have right wingers opposing the bailout because it is affront to free market capitalism, whilst the hard Left oppose the Government taking a stake of capitalism into their ownership?

Confused by the 21st Century? I fear you and the undergraduates of the future will be too. Wars against brutal dictatorships where the opposition are those who claim to care about human rights, and now we have trotskyite lefties opposing the Government taking ownership of huge capitalist monsters that are driven by, what they would say, the exploitation of workers.

Marx woulod be turning his grave surely?

Saturday Question

If a bank does go under and is not saved, for example Northern Rock, what happens to those people that have mortgages with the bank? Specifically what happens to their property? Who do they owe the money too?

Dangerous dogs exploded by bomb squad

How I love Fridays, and how I also love the USA for providing gems of the most bizarre and amusing kind. This for example via CBS3.

The discovery of several hot dogs in packages outside Citizens Bank Park brought the bomb squad out and forced the temporary evacuation of the stadium Wednesday evening.

According to police, Pattison Street between Darien and 11th Streets was shutdown as officials investigated the discovery of several suspicious packages near a ticket office.

Fans inside the stadium were evacuated, but players remained on the field during the incident.

Bomb squad members further investigated the packages and determined they were simply several hot dogs in foil wrappers. Sadly, the wieners were detonated as a precaution.

Better to be safe than sorry I guess.

Man sues doctor for amputating his penis

Oh yes, really. A guy went in for a circumscision, the doctor says he found cancer so he thought it best to cut the guys knob off. The guy then woke up and presumably said "WTF?!? Now I won't see it even if I'm really thin! I'm suing the wanker because I can never be a wanker again!"

What amazes me is how the news presenters didn't laugh. Watch the video, not even a titter. What professionals!