They’re still at it!

MPs have resumed debate on the government’s controversial anti-terror bill following a 24-hour stand-off with peers in the House of Lords.

The debate now threatens to stretch into the weekend.

All the pundits I saw or read yesterday were predicting that this stand-off would come to an end this morning. They were very clearly wrong. This is one extended game of table tennis!

Twelve hours since my last post, and it’s still going on. Let’s hope they sort themselves out soon enough to donate lots of money this Red Nose Day!

I’m hooked on BBC Parliament at the moment, watching this bill ping pong like some crazy game involving wooden bats and small plastic balls. I have no inkling as to which way this one will go, but I can’t see it being good for Mr Blair either way – if he’s defeated he’ll look weak, if he’s not then he will be portrayed by Mr Howard as overreacting and irrational. Either way, he’ll appear to be playing politics with terror.

Clearly, though, the best thing for the country would be for this bill to fail miserably. And by the way, I wouldn’t bother tuning in right at this very second because both houses have been suspended, and it looks like they might stay that way for some time yet. Somebody poke the MPs with a big stick and get them working again, please!

I have said to you before that if you have a Phd and a posh accent from a school like yours, you are regarded as a sophisticate

The interesting words of John Reid on last night’s Newsnight, as he attacked Jeremy Paxman for some very unclear reason, before waving about a policy document, telling us eight pages of it were new material, and then attacking the Conservatives… without, once again, telling us what this new material is all about. I, with an above average interest in politics, still don’t know what Labour’s health plans are – all I know is that they don’t like the Tory plans. I have a much better grasp of Conservative plans, which seem sensible enough to me. So if I was choosing between Labour and the Conservatives purely on health issues I’d vote Conservative. But I’m not and I won’t. This does all begin to look like a pretty unsuccessful, excessively negative campaign by Labour, though, and is certainly giving the Conservative party the moral high ground just when Labour need it, after appearing so decietful and dishonest during their government. So, again, not good for Labour. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been able to write a post yet that been positive about the Labour campaign. Which can’t be a good sign for them, I wouldn’t have thought.

I am afraid that it is now clear to me that by failing to reveal your full legal advice and the considerations that underpinned your final advice, you misled the Cabinet and therefore helped obtain support for military action improperly. This is a very serious matter in relation to the war in Iraq, the integrity of your office, your own integrity and the proper working of UK constitutional arrangements.

So says Claire Short, which is good for her, I guess. Though not so good for Mr Blair, who just looks worse and worse as this story progresses. This means, of course, that the legal advice is very damaging, because otherwise he’d have released it and defended it under his masochism strategy. So he’s holding out until he’s out of office, and they can’t touch him. The problem with this stategy is if it somehow gets out before then, which these kinds of documents have a habit of doing, particularly when many in your own party are against you. This could be Mr Howard’s magic weapon to beat Mr Blair with – if he produces this just before the election, it wouldn’t take much for Labour to lose this election. But Mr Howard has a habit of playing these big things all wrong, and would probably end up looking bad himself somehow or other. But this could be political dynamite.

The head of the “most improved” school in England has appealed to ministers not to scrap the qualification behind his students’ success.

The course, said to have “quick, easy assessment”, leads to the equivalent of four GCSEs at grades A* to C.

No wonder the school has statistically improved if the courses it teaches lead to multiple GCSEs – and no wonder the head wants to keep the current qualification!

And this isn’t the only GCSE-level qualification that gives you multiple GCSEs. It’s crazy.

To my great surprise, when I phoned NTL this morning to enquire about this free upgrade they just upgraded it there and then. So I’m now on a superfast connection.

Very good customer service there, much better than usual. Good on you, ntl.

The most ridiculous thing about this news conference was the way in which Mr Blair introduced Mr Reid by saying how the Conservatives wouldn’t reveal their health policy because they were embarrassed about it, and then Mr Reid used almost his entire speech to criticise Conservative policy whilst telling us nothing about Labour policy.

And why is it that Labour completely fail to concede that there are various ways of approaching health issues? They just arrogantly state that their method is right, and everbody else is necessarily wrong. It makes them look silly and puerile, and certainly doesn’t encourage sensible, adult discussion and debate.

For a party that’s supposedly lost its arrogance in it’s Conference Epiphany, it’s doing a very good job of, erm, being arrogant.

My archive of emails I’ve sent and received in the fourteen or so months I’ve been studying medicine has just surpassed 12,000. That’s nearly 1,000 emails per month. I only know this because I’ve given up with Outlook now, because it’s running at such a slow pace, probably precisely because it has so much to think about. Thunderbird, by comparison, whizzes along at the speed of light. And it’s a much, much smaller programme. The only reason I didn’t use t before was because Google Desktop didn’t support it… but now it does! Hurrah!

Introducing my country, a small nation in the Pacific. As I tackle various challenging issues raised by my citizens, the country will develop, and you can monitor its progress via the link on the sidebar.

Today, for example, I was asked to legislate in response to the following:

In response to a slow news week, certain highbrow newspapers have stirred up the debate over voluntary vs compulsory voting.

I don’t like the idea of compulsory voting because it removes a degree of freedom. If people wish to express the view that they do not wish to express a view, then they should be allowed to do so. The democratic process should be open to all, not forced upon people. Refusal to engage with the democratic process is just as important a standpoint as being all gung-ho in support of a political party.

Whether or not people should be forced to express their view, as under the Aussie system, is a more contentious issue, but I’m still against it as I don’t think it’s necessarily right to force people to express their views. Plus, it would cause chaos for those who would have difficulty doing so.

I, therefore, decided that voting should be voluntary, and so my government will enforce this law overnight. I will be presented with a new dilemma tomorrow. And so the country will develop.