Been away in Dorset

and have missed all the fun ....

NuLab, The Speaker and incompetence

They are so incompetent that they can't even do a stitch-up properly....

J.K.Rowling's £1m

OK it's her money to squander on lost causes -but her justification seems a bit thin comparing the Tories views on tax breaks for married couples with Labour's record on child poverty - conveniently forgetting their infamous 10p tax break which shoved even more poor people into difficulties.

However, one other point needs to be raised: I suspect that she can afford the best accountancy and tax advice that can be bought, and that her tax burden has been shrunk (all legal - don't get me wrong) to the absolute minimum. So I do wish Labour will finally shut up about the Tories taking donations from people who have done exactly the same.

Why the rebels will fail...

I see that the number of nomination papers submitted to initiate a challenge to Gordon Brown is now up to seven (although Guido reckons the number of sympathisers is now up to about 40) but I fear that it won't happen. Obviously there is an unseen guiding force behind all of this - it is surely no coincidence that a high number of these are women - but what then? Lets suppose for the sake of argument that the magical number of 70 rebels is found to start an election: who in their right (or left!) minds is going to be a token PM (Straw might even lose his seat if current polls are sustained) for 18 months until the next election? Surely the best policy for Labour is to accept that they are doomed (admittedly having a different leader might make them slightly less doomed - at least on an individual MPs point-of-view ie more Labour MPs can keep their snouts in the taxpayer's trough for longer) and then to regroup under a different leader in 2010 who might be able to bring them back from the precipice in 2015.

Will Labour step back from the edge?

No party can survive in power for very long if civil war breaks out within its ranks. Memories of the Conservatives tearing themselves apart over Europe in the 1990's are still very fresh within political circles and the consequences of that and the perceived corruption (I don't like the word "sleaze") was that 11 years of opposition occured.

Once ranks start to be broken - and I think Miliband has initiated that process - then there is a cascade effect as people start jockeying for position and any pretence of unity starts to disappear.

Brown has lost authority and hence, I suspect, that we are going to be watching his descent into political oblivion.

Encouraging voters ...

Every time I see proposals to encourage people to vote the cynic in me rises to the front. Now voting is a privilege that many people in the world do not have (or is abused - Mugabe) and, of course, people should vote. But I always feel that Labour introduces these initiatives not for the greater good of the country but rather for their own benefit, especially since turnout in Labour seats tends to be lower (in both absolute and percentage terms http://www.yougov.com/extranets/yguk/content/kellnerMain.asp?jID=3&aId=1733 ) than Conservative ones.

I recall the postal voting fiasco which was encouraged by "I am an anorexic" Prescott that descended into criminal farce in Birmingham and elsewhere.

The difference between opponents and enemies

I am a Conservative and I will do my damndest to help the Conservatives gain power but I consider Labour to be my opponents and not my enemies (yes I know its an old political cliche but its still true!) so I get deeply worried when I see Labour coming in behind the BNP - who I really despise.