T Boone Pickens or everyone else?

The improbably named T Boone Pickens alleges that global oil production is at a peak and that prices will now rise ineluctably. Economists, governments and the financial sector say differently. However, so far T Boone's forecasts have proven more accurate - a short interview here.

Kevin Maguire is absolutely right

'Red Flag' Kevin Maguire writes in the Mirror today that Labour should keep its nerve and get behind Gordon Brown. I absolutely agree.

Lord Freeman should resign the Tory whip

We're all grown ups here, and realise that the primary responsibility of the Chairman of a plc is to its shareholders. It's also a fact of life that the 'revolving door' is more alive in the defence and aerospace sectors of industry than elsewhere; ex defence ministers, civil servants and staff officers segue seamlessly from Whitehall to Boardroom.

Lord Freeman, who as Roger Freeman was Kettering's MP and served in the last Tory administrations holding ministerial posts in defence, health and transport, and was also a partner and former MD of Lehman Brothers. Elevation to the upper house in 1997 opened up for him a number of useful board appointments, including Chairmanship of the UK Advisory Panel at PricewaterhouseCoopers, London, Director of Thales SA France and Chairman of Thales UK plc, Chairman of Metalysis (a Cambridge University spin-off), Chairman of CrossCore Optimisation (an Imperial College, London spin-off) and Chairman of Cambridge Enterprise Ltd (The Technology Transfer Office). As a good capitalist I have no particular problem with any of this.

No. The problem comes with ID cards. As became evident in Crewe and Nantwich, the Tory party is opposed to ID cards for everyone (as opposed to just immigrants as dirtyLabour suggested). Good. So am I. Implacably. I am wholly in line with Tory party policy here.

Looking at the list of shortlisted contractors for the Government's ID card scheme, I can easily boycott goods and services from three of them; IBM, Fujitsu and EDS (Hewlett Packard). Oh yes, I am a serial boycotter. The lost profits to these companies of me not buying a new PC or printer from them may be miniscule, and a business purchasing decision to subject them to particular scrutiny only marginally more painful for them, but it helps me feel I'm doing my bit.

The remaining two shortlisted companies I can take no direct action against; CSC is American, and Thales UK plc doesn't make anything I buy personally or am responsible for buying.

However, I do think it's a bit off for the Chairman of Thales to continue to take the Tory whip in the Lords. For Freeman to quietly resign the Tory whip and sit as an independent would be both honourable and circumspect under the circumstances.

If Crewe and Nantwich were repeated nationally ....

If the Crewe and Nantwich result were repeated nationally (which of course it won't be), the excellent Electoral Calculus site (enter yesterday's figures in the 'Make your prediction' page) suggests a Conservative majority of 228 seats in Parliament. The unlucky Labour losers would include some of the best known names in Zanu Labour:

Aberconwy	CON	gain from	LAB	: Betty Williams
Aberdeen South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Anne Begg
Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine	CON	gain from	LIB	: Sir Robert Smith
Amber Valley	CON	gain from	LAB	: Judy Mallaber
Angus	CON	gain from	NAT	: Michael Weir
Arfon	NAT	gain from	LAB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Argyll and Bute	CON	gain from	LIB	: Alan Reid
Ashfield	CON	gain from	LAB	: Geoff Hoon
Barrow and Furness	CON	gain from	LAB	: John Hutton
Basildon South and East Thurrock	CON	gain from	LAB	: Angela Smith
Bassetlaw	CON	gain from	LAB	: John Mann
Bath	CON	gain from	LIB	: Don Foster
Batley and Spen	CON	gain from	LAB	: Mike Wood
Battersea	CON	gain from	LAB	: Martin Linton
Bedford	CON	gain from	LAB	: Patrick Hall
Berwick-upon-Tweed	CON	gain from	LIB	: Alan Beith
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk	CON	gain from	LIB	: Michael Moore
Birmingham Edgbaston	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gisela Stuart
Birmingham Hall Green	CON	gain from	LAB	: Roger Godsiff
Birmingham Northfield	CON	gain from	LAB	: Richard Burden
Birmingham Selly Oak	CON	gain from	LAB	: Stephen McCabe
Blackburn	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jack Straw
Blackpool North and Cleveleys	CON	gain from	LAB	: Joan Humble
Blackpool South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gordon Marsden
Bolton North East	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Crausby
Bolton West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ruth Kelly
Bradford South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gerry Sutcliffe
Bradford West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Marsha Singh
Brecon and Radnorshire	CON	gain from	LIB	: Roger Williams
Brent North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Barry Gardiner
Brentford and Isleworth	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ann Keen
Bridgend	CON	gain from	LAB	: Madeleine Moon
Brigg and Goole	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ian Cawsey
Brighton Kemptown	CON	gain from	LAB	: Desmond Turner
Brighton Pavilion	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Lepper
Bristol East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Kerry McCarthy
Bristol North West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Doug Naysmith
Bristol West	CON	gain from	LIB	: Stephen Williams
Broxtowe	CON	gain from	LAB	: Nick Palmer
Burnley	CON	gain from	LAB	: Kitty Ussher
Burton	CON	gain from	LAB	: Janet Dean
Bury North	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Chaytor
Calder Valley	CON	gain from	LAB	: Christine McCafferty
Camborne and Redruth	CON	gain from	LIB	: Julia Goldsworthy
Cambridge	CON	gain from	LIB	: David Howarth
Cannock Chase	CON	gain from	LAB	: Tony Wright
Cardiff North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Julie Morgan
Cardiff South and Penarth	CON	gain from	LAB	: Alun Michael
Cardiff West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Kevin Brennan
Carlisle	CON	gain from	LAB	: Eric Martlew
Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Nick Ainger
Carshalton and Wallington	CON	gain from	LIB	: Tom Brake
Ceredigion	NAT	gain from	LIB	: Mark Williams
Chatham and Aylesford	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jonathan Shaw
Cheadle	CON	gain from	LIB	: Patsy Calton
Cheltenham	CON	gain from	LIB	: Martin Horwood
Chester, City of	CON	gain from	LAB	: Christine Russell
Chippenham	CON	gain from	LIB	: Unknown (new seat)
Chorley	CON	gain from	LAB	: Lindsay Hoyle
Cleethorpes	CON	gain from	LAB	: Shona McIsaac
Clwyd South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Martyn Jones
Colchester	CON	gain from	LIB	: Bob Russell
Colne Valley	CON	gain from	LAB	: Kali Mountford
Copeland	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jamie Reed
Corby	CON	gain from	LAB	: Phil Hope
Cornwall North	CON	gain from	LIB	: Dan Rogerson
Cornwall South East	CON	gain from	LIB	: Colin Breed
Coventry North West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Geoffrey Robinson
Coventry South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jim Cunningham
Crawley	CON	gain from	LAB	: Laura Moffatt
Crewe and Nantwich	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gwyneth Dunwoody
Croydon Central	CON	gain from	LAB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Dagenham and Rainham	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jon Cruddas
Dartford	CON	gain from	LAB	: Howard Stoate
Delyn	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Hanson
Derby North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Bob Laxton
Derbyshire North East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Natascha Engel
Derbyshire South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Mark Todd
Devon North	CON	gain from	LIB	: Nick Harvey
Devon West and Torridge	CON	gain from	LIB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Dewsbury	CON	gain from	LAB	: Shahid Malik
Dorset Mid and Poole North	CON	gain from	LIB	: Annette Brooke
Dorset South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jim Knight
Dover	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gwyn Prosser
Dudley North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ian Austin
Dudley South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ian Pearson
Dulwich and West Norwood	CON	gain from	LAB	: Tessa Jowell
Dumfries and Galloway	CON	gain from	LAB	: Russell Brown
Dunbartonshire East	CON	gain from	LIB	: Jo Swinson
Ealing Central and Acton	CON	gain from	LAB	: Andrew Slaughter
Ealing North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Stephen Pound
Eastleigh	CON	gain from	LIB	: Christopher Huhne
Edinburgh North and Leith	CON	gain from	LAB	: Mark Lazarowicz
Edinburgh South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Nigel Griffiths
Edinburgh South West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Alistair Darling
Ellesmere Port and Neston	CON	gain from	LAB	: Andrew Miller
Elmet and Rothwell	CON	gain from	LAB	: Colin Burgon
Eltham	CON	gain from	LAB	: Clive Efford
Erewash	CON	gain from	LAB	: Liz Blackman
Exeter	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ben Bradshaw
Feltham and Heston	CON	gain from	LAB	: Alan Keen
Gedling	CON	gain from	LAB	: Vernon Coaker
Gloucester	CON	gain from	LAB	: Parmjit Dhanda
Gower	CON	gain from	LAB	: Martin Caton
Great Grimsby	CON	gain from	LAB	: Austin Mitchell
Great Yarmouth	CON	gain from	LAB	: Tony Wright
Guildford	CON	gain from	LIB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Halesowen and Rowley Regis	CON	gain from	LAB	: Sylvia Heal
Halifax	CON	gain from	LAB	: Linda Riordan
Hammersmith	CON	gain from	LAB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Hampstead and Kilburn	CON	gain from	LIB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Harlow	CON	gain from	LAB	: Bill Rammell
Harrogate and Knaresborough	CON	gain from	LIB	: Phil Willis
Harrow East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Tony McNulty
Harrow West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gareth Thomas
Hastings and Rye	CON	gain from	LAB	: Michael Foster
Hazel Grove	CON	gain from	LIB	: Andrew Stunell
Hendon	CON	gain from	LAB	: Andrew Dismore
Hereford and South Herefordshire	CON	gain from	LIB	: Paul Keetch
High Peak	CON	gain from	LAB	: Tom Levitt
Holborn and St Pancras	CON	gain from	LAB	: Frank Dobson
Hove	CON	gain from	LAB	: Celia Barlow
Huddersfield	CON	gain from	LAB	: Barry Sheerman
Hyndburn	CON	gain from	LAB	: Greg Pope
Ilford South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Mike Gapes
Ipswich	CON	gain from	LAB	: Chris Mole
Keighley	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ann Cryer
Kingston and Surbiton	CON	gain from	LIB	: Edward Davey
Kingswood	CON	gain from	LAB	: Roger Berry
Lancashire West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Rosie Cooper
Lancaster and Fleetwood	CON	gain from	LAB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Leeds North East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Fabian Hamilton
Leeds North West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Leicester South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Peter Soulsby
Leicestershire North West	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Taylor
Lewes	CON	gain from	LIB	: Norman Baker
Lewisham East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Bridget Prentice
Lewisham West and Penge	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jim Dowd
Leyton and Wanstead	CON	gain from	LAB	: Harry Cohen
Lincoln	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gillian Merron
Loughborough	CON	gain from	LAB	: Andy Reed
Luton North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Kelvin Hopkins
Luton South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Margaret Moran
Manchester Withington	LAB	gain from	LIB	: John Leech
Middlesbrough South and Cleveland East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ashok Kumar
Milton Keynes North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Milton Keynes South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Phyllis Starkey
Montgomeryshire	CON	gain from	LIB	: Lembit Opik
Moray	CON	gain from	NAT	: Angus Robertson
Morecambe and Lunesdale	CON	gain from	LAB	: Geraldine Smith
Newcastle-under-Lyme	CON	gain from	LAB	: Paul Farrelly
Newport East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jessica Morden
Newport West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Paul Flynn
Newton Abbot	CON	gain from	LIB	: Richard Younger-Ross
Norfolk North	CON	gain from	LIB	: Norman Lamb
Northampton North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Sally Keeble
Northampton South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Unknown (changed seat)
Norwich North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ian Gibson
Norwich South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Charles Clarke
Nottingham East	CON	gain from	LAB	: John Heppell
Nottingham South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Alan Simpson
Nuneaton	CON	gain from	LAB	: Bill Olner
Ochil and South Perthshire	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gordon Banks
Oldham East and Saddleworth	CON	gain from	LAB	: Phil Woolas
Oxford East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Andrew Smith
Oxford West and Abingdon	CON	gain from	LIB	: Evan Harris
Pendle	CON	gain from	LAB	: Gordon Prentice
Perth and North Perthshire	CON	gain from	NAT	: Peter Wishart
Plymouth Moor View	CON	gain from	LAB	: Alison Seabeck
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport	CON	gain from	LAB	: Linda Gilroy
Poplar and Limehouse	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jim Fitzpatrick
Portsmouth North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Sarah McCarthy-Fry
Portsmouth South	CON	gain from	LIB	: Mike Hancock
Pudsey	CON	gain from	LAB	: Paul Truswell
Reading West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Martin Salter
Redditch	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jacqui Smith
Renfrewshire East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Jim Murphy
Ribble South	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Borrow
Richmond Park	CON	gain from	LIB	: Susan Kramer
Rochdale	LAB	gain from	LIB	: Paul Rowen
Romsey and Southampton North	CON	gain from	LIB	: Sandra Gidley
Rossendale and Darwen	CON	gain from	LAB	: Janet Anderson
Sefton Central	CON	gain from	LAB	: Claire Curtis-Thomas
Sheffield Hallam	CON	gain from	LIB	: Nick Clegg
Sherwood	CON	gain from	LAB	: Paddy Tipping
Slough	CON	gain from	LAB	: Fiona Mactaggart
Solihull	CON	gain from	LIB	: Lorely Burt
Somerset North East	CON	gain from	LAB	: Dan Norris
Somerton and Frome	CON	gain from	LIB	: David Heath
Southampton Itchen	CON	gain from	LAB	: John Denham
Southampton Test	CON	gain from	LAB	: Alan Whitehead
Southport	CON	gain from	LIB	: John Pugh
St Austell and Newquay	CON	gain from	LIB	: Unknown (new seat)
St Ives	CON	gain from	LIB	: Andrew George
Stafford	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Kidney
Stalybridge and Hyde	CON	gain from	LAB	: James Purnell
Stevenage	CON	gain from	LAB	: Barbara Follett
Stirling	CON	gain from	LAB	: Anne McGuire
Stockton South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Dari Taylor
Stourbridge	CON	gain from	LAB	: Lynda Waltho
Stroud	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Drew
Sunderland Central	CON	gain from	LAB	: Bill Etherington
Sutton and Cheam	CON	gain from	LIB	: Paul Burstow
Swindon North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Michael Wills
Swindon South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Anna Snelgrove
Tamworth	CON	gain from	LAB	: Brian Jenkins
Taunton Deane	CON	gain from	LIB	: Jeremy Browne
Telford	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Wright
Thornbury and Yate	CON	gain from	LIB	: Steve Webb
Thurrock	CON	gain from	LAB	: Andrew Mackinlay
Tooting	CON	gain from	LAB	: Sadiq Khan
Torbay	CON	gain from	LIB	: Adrian Sanders
Truro and Falmouth	CON	gain from	LIB	: Matthew Taylor
Twickenham	CON	gain from	LIB	: Vincent Cable
Tynemouth	CON	gain from	LAB	: Alan Campbell
Vale of Clwyd	CON	gain from	LAB	: Chris Ruane
Vale of Glamorgan	CON	gain from	LAB	: John Smith
Wakefield	CON	gain from	LAB	: Mary Creagh
Walsall North	CON	gain from	LAB	: David Winnick
Walsall South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Bruce George
Warrington South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Helen Southworth
Warwick and Leamington	CON	gain from	LAB	: James Plaskitt
Warwickshire North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Mike O'Brien
Watford	CON	gain from	LAB	: Claire Ward
Waveney	CON	gain from	LAB	: Bob Blizzard
Weaver Vale	CON	gain from	LAB	: Mike Hall
Westminster North	CON	gain from	LAB	: Karen Buck
Westmorland and Lonsdale	CON	gain from	LIB	: Tim Farron
Winchester	CON	gain from	LIB	: Mark Oaten
Wirral South	CON	gain from	LAB	: Ben Chapman
Wolverhampton South West	CON	gain from	LAB	: Robert Marris
Worcester	CON	gain from	LAB	: Michael Foster
Wyre Forest	CON	gain from	MIN	: Dr Richard Taylor
Yeovil	CON	gain from	LIB	: David Laws
Ynys Mon	NAT	gain from	LAB	: Albert Owen
York Outer	CON	gain from	LIB	: Unknown (changed seat)

T. Boone Pickens sums it up

"The world produces an absolute maximum of 85 million barrels of oil a day to satisfy a demand of 87 million barrels a day."

Good. Now go figure the price elasticity of demand for oil and tell me what will happen to prices ...

Dunwoody: "Would you like that large, Sir?"

I'm just a single, unemployed mother of five fighting hard for a job - Tamsin Dunwoody-Kneafsey

Your luck's in, ducks. Can you start tomorrow?

Apis Mellifera and Maize

There was an old schoolboy riddle that asked "why don't polar bears eat penguins?" that played on the victim's ignorance of the geographical separation of the species. It came to mind yesterday when I was talking to a young man who had spent some short time in east Africa with one of the international volunteer organisations and therefore regarded himself as something of an expert on the required solutions to Africa's problems.

His argument got to the point of blaming the imposition of western agricultural systems as destroying the indigenous 'village' agricultural systems. "If we let them grow their traditional crops of maize and cassava in their own way ..." he said.

At that point I was obliged to point out that maize and cassava, and peanuts and sweet potato too for that matter, were not in the least native to Africa but were introduced there from the Americas by the Europeans. Only millet and sorghum would have been familiar to Africa prior to European intervention. His argument lost a great deal of its moral force at that point.

And so with the honey bee, Apis Mellifera. Generations of north American children who have grown up with Disney apparently believe the honey bee to be a native American species. But not so. Honey bees were confined to Europe and Africa before the colonisation of America, and were taken there to pollinate the crops introduced from Europe that were not pollinated by native American pollinators.

And therefore the title of this post is a little misleading; native maize in the Americas never required the honey bee to pollinate it. Many of the US' cash crops however do now rely on the honey bee; almonds, peaches, soya beans, blackberries, raspberries, cherries and pears being amongst them.

Around the world bees are dying from something called Colony Collapse Disorder, and no one knows why. Microwaves from mobile phones, GM crops, insecticides including imidacloprid and fipronil, climate change and other causes have been hypothesised but nothing is known yet. France has lost over 1,000 tonnes a year of honey production and has banned some pesticides, but to unproven effect. If the global collapse of honey bee populations continues, the US may lose valuable cash crops but Europe risks starvation.

I try not to be too Cassandra-like on this blog, but for over a year I have posted from time to time on the growing risks to our most basic well-being. The mass-migration of tens of millions of Africans driven by hunger, thirst and want northwards into Europe's soft underbelly, cheap air travel that provides a motorway for pandemics such as HN51 and multi drug resistant infections, Peak Oil and the prospect not of $200 a barrel (now almost a certainty) but $500, the effect of the increasing numbers of Extreme Climate Events on global food production, the dependence of the UK on imports for almost half the food we consume (we haven't been self sufficient in food since the Industrial Revolution), and the potential for a global economic depression that will make the events of 80 years ago seem mild in comparison.

On any balanced analysis of risk, the above overwhelmingly outweigh the insignificant risks of Jihadist terrorism. Yet the government and the opposition almost seem to have tacitly agreed to focus the public's mind on this rather minor threat.

Cameron's major speech this week included the following

... we have set out how we will achieve that mission – by ending the era of top-down state control and big government. We want to respond to what should be a new postbureaucratic age, by decentralising power, by giving people more opportunity and control over their lives, by making families stronger and society more responsible.

... Where services are individually consumed we will transfer power over those services to individual people, giving them a choice between competing providers. And where services are collectively consumed, we will transfer power over those services to the lowest practical tier of government, opening up provision to social enterprises, private companies and community organisations.

It's an encouraging signal at this stage. Nothing more. But if we're going to come though the coming crises as a nation, the economy and public administration must be ready to operate on what amounts to a war footing; Cameron's team should also be examining policy as it relates to a number of contingency plans to deal with national and international emergencies. Labour's Big State Centralism is ill-equipped to respond effectively to even a single threat event, let alone a multiple risk scenario.

When the chips are down, we will rely on our abilities of self-organisation at community and neighbourhood level; self-reliance will be the key, not waiting hopelessly for State aid. Local and intermediate institutions must be strengthened. The family and not the State must take precedence. We must learn to live without micro-management from Whitehall. If we do so, we stand half a chance of successfully facing whatever will be thrown at us in the coming years. But we must all be conscious of the threats. And as busy as bees.

Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur

The 'Standard' tells us this evening that Boris is facing his weekly assembly meetings with rare good humour. The continual sniping from the few remaining Labour members is interspersed with shouted interjections from the odious BNP AM Richard Barnbrook. When Barnbrook's idiocies irritate Boris sufficiently he responds in Latin.

British to smoke more, says Imperial

An encouraging piece in the Guardian this morning with Imperial Tobacco's announcement that cigarette sales in the UK are set to rise this year. This goes hand-in-hand with an announcement yesterday from the organic food producers that sales of organic foods are set to fall sharply this year. The government's forthcoming helpful advice on which drinks contain the most units of alcohol will also assist booze sales to increase. I also predict that sales of fat, sugary comfort foods will increase and yoghurt and beansprout sales will plummet, and also that Britain will waste less food this year. Gym and fitness centres will feel the pinch as subscriptions and income fall.

Good. We're getting back to normal.

And for those not in-the-know, the French government sold the Gauloises brand to the Spanish firm Altadis some time ago. Imperial has now bought Altadis, and has therefore added Gauloises to its stable of brands. Even though I pay my tax and duty to the French treasury rather than the British treasury, it's nice to know I'm now contributing to the profits of a British company.

South Africa heads down Zimbabwe route

Last December some members of the NEC (yes, it stands for the same as Zanu Labour's) of the ANC were worried that that plod was closing in on their corruption. The solution? Disband South Africa's highly effective anti-corruption unit. Mbeki has just approved the measure, keeping his own thieving and corrupt supporters sweet. Transparency International, of course, deplores the measure.

They'll soon get a taste for this. Any independent voice in South Africa that questions their incompetence and corruption will be closed down, shut out and silenced. This is just the beginning of South Africa's slow but certain descent into the horror of Mugabe's Zim.

God rot their foetid souls.

Plod kills another innocent

As yet another innocent person's corpse lies in a mortuary fridge tonight as the result of a high speed police chase, the time has come to call a halt to this carnage. Every week another person is killed or seriously maimed by 'red mist' gormless idiots at the wheels of police vehicles.

Let's be clear about this. Chasing a car without a tax disk at high speed, or a moped rider not wearing a helmet, isn't worth the risk to public safety. It gives the idiot plod at the wheel a satisfying and addictive adrenaline rush, but that's about all.

Heather Mills, loathe her or hate her, lost her leg to a speeding police vehicle. No-one deserves that. Just google deaths in police chases site:uk and pages of innocent lives cut short by this moronic power-trip come up.

Being a plod isn't a licence to have fun at the cost of pain, death and the ruin of innocent lives. Here in London too many of these idiots on 'blues and twos' rushing to the Mcdonalds drive-in or just because they're bored in a traffic queue deserve dismissal. It's time to say STOP to this criminal and anti-social behaviour.

Update
=======
The suggestion has been made elsewhere that permission to use lights and siren or to drive at speed in pursuit or response should be given by the control room, and not left to the vehicle's driver to decide. I wholly agree with this. Any accident caused by a vehicle using blues and twos without consent would then automatically result in the driver's prosecution. A simple measure that could be implemented immediately.

Uniform in an age of 'rights'

Unlike their continental counterparts, British officers like to escape from uniform into 'mufti' at the earliest opportunity. When commanders become sufficiently senior to please themselves, they have long eschewed uniform even for duty; Wellington favoured a plain old hunting coat, and Monty spent as much of the war as he could in baggy cords and an old gardening jumper.

The wearing of uniform off-duty was often at the insistence of the battalion commander. The public behaviour of an officer in uniform reflects the honour of the regiment, and inhibits the more louche behaviour. Officers siting in a cafe or a hotel lobby sipping a gin and French would stand when approached by a woman, or someone more senior. They couldn't carry packages or parcels unless for a lady. And they certainly couldn't get drunk in public. No wonder so many preferred to keep uniform for the mess, where a less public decorum could prevail, and to seek the anonymity of 'mufti' for the rest.

Still, the sight of Household Brigade officers in blue 'patrols' with cap, gloves and cane around the streets of Chelsea always added a touch of class and a bit of glamour. They're still recognisable, though these days in jeans, polished brogues and Jermyn Street shirt they're more likely to stumble pissed from the door of Boujis at 3am than to chat decorously amid the palms of an Edwardian hotel lounge. What's changed of course is deference.

Since the 1970s the social status of all those who used to be prescribed for the signing of passport photographs - doctors, lawyers, MPs, ministers of religion, officers in HM armed services - has fallen into desuetude. This doesn't mean we're a more equal society, because we're not. Social mobility was far greater thirty or forty years ago. No, it's part of a long term erosion of the authority of intermediate institutions by a central State jealous of power. Paradoxically it's the MPs who are now feeling the brunt of the demise of deference; it's all your own fault, mateys.

And it's this pernicious 'rights' and 'equalities' agenda that fosters the illusion in the mind of the meanest underachieving scrote that he's as good as anyone; an officer in uniform runs the risk of an uninvited approach from such as these, ending in the inevitable challenge "You think you're better than me, don't you?". No wonder they prefer to remain in 'mufti'. So yes to officers in uniform at private functions, in the steward's enclosure, in the audience at the Royal Opera. But no to walking the street or enjoying a drink in a public place in uniform - it's not fair to expose them to the grungy, repellent chimera of aggressive 'rights' and 'equalities' alive in the lowest parts of our society.

Tamsin Dunwoody - What Crewe and Nantwich should ask

Tamsin Dunwoody appealed to the council estate vote today when she said "I am just a single, unemployed mother of five fighting hard for a job".

Dunwoody-Kneafsey, granddaughter of Baroness Phillips, daughter of an MP, was educated at the Grey Coat Hospital and the University of Kent. A thousand council houses could be built on her estate in Wales. The public purse paid for her NHS training, where she accumulated 15 years experience. She currently works (or last worked) as a management consultant.

Dunwoody-Kneafsey has never had to fight hard for a job in her life. If she is economically inactive at present, it is by choice - indolence rather than injustice. She has more advantages than 99.5% of the population. If she can't use them, she must either be lazy or stupid.

Do the voters of Crewe and Nantwich really want to elect a lazy (or stupid) candidate who can't hold a relationship together?

For £10m, I'd get the middle classes drinking MUCH more

I don't think I'll see much of Labour's risible new £10m advertising campaign on alcohol units, but by all accounts it's fairly useless anyway.

I've been intimately acquainted with alcohol for many years, and this campaign smacks of amateurism. If we're to get the middle classes drinking more efficiently, then it misses three essential variables; cost per unit, the quality of the pissed, and environmental factors.

A bottle of Pichon Lalande drunk over three leisurely courses barely makes an impact at all. A pint of strong, cold lager quaffed in one immediately after mooring the boat up single-handed in a strong breeze and a 4 knot tide on a hot day produces a rapid warm euphoria and infectious bonhomie. Half a bottle of gin is a decent aperitif with good company and good conversation. A bottle of house red in a pub garden to wind down after work is more effective than a bottle of red quaffed at home in the same circumstances.

And in these straitened times, the middle classes might appreciate some advice on the cheapest and quickest route to inebriation; by and large they will be ignorant of the empirical research diligently undertaken on this by street drinkers and the underclass. Forget units, it's the mix that matters most here - a can of Diamond White cider mixed in a jug with a can of Stella lager (a small measure of Framboise or Creme de Cassis can be added) makes a cheap and effective skullblaster for a quick drink in the garden and the neighbours will mistake it for Kir. However, the quality of the pissed is not high.

No, these silly amateur tipplers have really missed the point. If they gave me the £10m I'd guarantee to increase middle-class drinking by at least 15%; I doubt this campaign will achieve much more than a 5% increase. Another Labour failure.

I'll agree with Fraser Nelson on this

The abortion debate is one in which we each must listen to our consciences. I make no criticism of those who support the status quo, for such support is in line with their individual conscience. But for myself, the letter reproduced in Fraser Nelson's coffee house piece, and a harrowing article in the Telegraph from a gynaecologist have eliminated whatever doubts I had.

Yes, all MPs should read these accounts before they vote.

Teenage Gordon Brown would have been on 'special needs' register

I have so far this year seen nothing so dismal and depressing as the government's new 'Common Assessment Framework' for every young person from a foetus to a 19 year old. The form, which must be filled in by an adult who has undergone the government's five-hour training course, can be found HERE. The manual is HERE. The Mail reports that the police have dubbed it 'Every fat kid matters'.

Unless a child manages to conform to all the dreary non-aspirational tenets of Statist normalcy it is to be classified having special needs and placed on a State register. Interestingly, an 18 year-old Gordon Brown would probably have been so classified. Here is how his form may have been completed:

Health conditions or impairments which significantly affect everyday life functioning whether chronic or acute, including obesity
Subject is blind in one eye and pale and podgy. Admits he eats chips and porridge.

Being well-nourished, being active, rested and protected, gaining control of the body, acquiring physical skills
Subject admits occasional loss of control of his body, but feels his throwing skills for small objects are well developed

The ability to communicate effectively, confidently and appropriately with others
The subject admits deficiencies in these areas. He says people don't understand him. This leads to frustration and temper tantrums.

Ability to gain attention and make contact, access positive relationships, be with others, encourage conversation
Subject says he has no skills in these areas

Listening and paying attention to what others say, making playful and serious responses, enjoying and sharing stories, songs, rhymes and games, learning about words and meanings
He says songs, rhymes and games are frivolous and time-wasting, and he isn't much interested in other people's opinions.

Appropriateness of social and communications skills, for example, body language, excessive use of expletives or inappropriate language, for example brusque manner
Subject says he is impatient of others and sometimes has to throw mobile phones at them

Anti-social behaviour for example, destruction of property, aggression towards others, harm or risk of harm to others
See above

Early sexual activity, unprotected sex, lack of reflection or positive decision making about sex and relationships
Subject says he has no interest in girls and would rather read 'Engels for Boys' and has made a positive decision about sex and relationships - he's not interested.

Sense of belonging, being able to join in, enjoying being with familiar and trusted others, valuing individuality and contributions of self and others, having a role and identity within a group, acceptance by those around them
Subject says Labour Party is the perfect collectivist group so long as he can be in charge and no-one contradicts him

Understanding of the way in which appearance and behaviour are perceived and the impression being created
Subject picked his nose and chewed his nails continually during the assessment. His hair is greasy and unwashed and his standards of personal hygiene dubious.

The ambitions of the child or young person, whether their aspirations are realistic and they are able to plan how to meet them
Subject says he wants to be elected as Prime Minister. He can't see this is an unrealistic aspiration as his lack of capacity to engage emotionally won't make him a vote-winner. "Then by any means necessary" he responded. Assessor got scared at this point and terminated the assessment.

Conclusion: The subject is sociopathic and borderline psychotic. Immediate multi-agency intervention is recommended.