Helping the NHS?

Tony Blair is keen for people to take responsibility for their own health to relieve pressure on the NHS and avoid "a crunch in policy down the line."

What incentives are there for people to take responsibility for their own health? As the NHS is 'free' at the point of need, people who are irresponsible with their health are not penalised financially!

Will private health insurance become tax deductible?

Caravan off!

You drive half way across England, followed by a queue of irate car drivers, to enjoy some peace and quiet at a Caravan Park. Next day, a caravan pulls up alongside you and Margaret Beckett gets out.

It would be the mother of all Caravan nightmares!

Disorganised crime

The IRA is no longer involved in any centrally organised criminality, just individual members doing their own thing!

There probably is still some localised individual criminality by former and maybe existing Provisional IRA members for their own private gain. - Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.

So that's alright!?!

Ministers' memoir monopoly

MPs want to prevent civil servants from publishing unauthorised memoirs of their time in office but Ministers would be treated differently as they "do not have a contractual relationship with the government".

If successful, the proposal can only increase the value of ex-Ministers' memoirs by nobbling the competition.

How convenient!

Golden Fleeced

"Research shows that the so-called golden age [of tough school examinations] is as mythical as Jason and the Argonauts" - Education Secretary Alan Johnson.

Channel 4's 'That'll teach them' disagrees! 68% of viewers thought that education in the 1950s was better than today's.

Many of the pupils predicted 'A's and 'B's failed their O-levels.

The West Cardiff Question

The 'Government of Wales Bill' represents the biggest transfer of power to the Welsh Assembly since it was founded seven years ago and allow politicians in Cardiff Bay to make their own laws.

Following this legislation, should Welsh MPs be prevented from voting on English matters? Will it be long before English voters also oppose a Welsh Prime Minister!?!

The 45,001

Will the Government be building prisons to hold 45,000 new prisoners in the next couple of years!?!

Bargain of the century?

Should London's taxpayers subsidise London's hotels?

Transport for London has paid £1.5m to host the first stage of the 2007 Tour De France and "predicts a boom for the capital's hotel industry during three days of opening events in London"!

If hosting the race really is "worth £70m", why didn't it cost more to host!?!

Sorry is not the hardest word.

If young criminals can avoid court by apologising to their victims, will they also accept an apology when the victim thumps them!?!

The 45,000

The Sunday Times reports Home Office concerns that 45,000 "undesirable" migrants could legally arrive in the UK from Bulgaria (population 8m) and Romania (population 21m) when they join the EU next year.

How many Turkish migrants will the Home Office identify as "undesirable" when Turkey (population 71m) joins the EU?

"I have no doubt that if bringing Turkey in [to the EU] is the prize, it is worth fighting" - Jack Straw, former Foreign Secretary.

Racially motivated murder?

Should the murder of 20-year-old Shezan Umarji be considered an even worse crime if Police 'discover' it was racially motivated? His death should be treated as a tragedy, regardless of the circumstances.

Have Lancashire Police had a "two-hour meeting with leaders of the [white] community on Saturday afternoon to help reassure families living in the area" if they are not yet sure that the attack was racially motivated?

Update: Will Lancashire Police spend longer investigating Shezan's murder than a 'typical' murder inquiry as they have "declared it [] a racist murder investigation"?

Parliamentary discipline

What do MPs need to do to earn a "strong rebuke" from Parliamentary Commissioner Sir Philip Mawer?

Mr Prescott is likely to receive only a "mild rebuke" because he swiftly listed his visit to Mr Anschutz's ranch on the register of members' interests.

John Prescott only registered July 2005's visit to Philip Anschutz's Colorado ranch after he was found out by the media this year.

Swift registration indeed!

Sounding off

'Dr' John Reid blames the 8% increase in street robberies and muggings on the "rise in numbers of young people carrying expensive goods, such as mobile phones and MP3 players" and is "already taking action to address it".

Will he tax mobile phones and MP3 players so fewer young people can afford them in the first place!?!

The Government should not claim credit for a 3% reduction in vehicle crime. Car manufacturers fit immobilisers and car alarms as standard to make vehicle theft more difficult!

Judges "in touch with reality"?

How many judges can afford to be insulated from reality when they earn anything between £95,000 and £155,000 per annum!?!

Gordon Brown's Britishness

Gordon Brown may proclaim his Britishness, but he still ensured his son was born in Edinburgh as any proud Scot would...

On a wing and a party.

Is it credible that Gordon Brown, Labour's greatest Chancellor of the Exchequer since Denis Healey, master of the PFI, seller of Britain's gold reserves and creator of tax credits has no links to Lord Levy's creative party funding at all?

More importantly for Labour party members, if Gordon is waiting in the wings for Tony to step aside, why hasn't he been involved in plugging Labour's £27m deficit if there is nothing to hide!?!

Creeping state control

Control orders were originally introduced as an anti-terror measure, however, like all good ideas (!), mission creep ensures the idea spreads to other areas. The Government noiw wants control orders for "gangsters" who avoid prosecution.

Who will be the next group of individuals to face control orders?

It would be ironic if the "gangsters" cannot be prosecuted for involvement in any actual crime but are found guilty of using a mobile phone or travelling inappropriately!

What about the bus drivers!?!

"We regard the people who work on our railways as skilled professionals, responsible for the safety, operation, logistics and customer service of our network." - Chris Grayling MP, Shadow transport secretary

Remember Chris the next time your train is cancelled due to a "lack of drivers", "leaves on the line" or they go on strike again!

- South West Train drivers to strike on July 31st, August 11th and August 21st...

Planned Teenage Pregnancies

Would the Government's "Teenage Pregnancy Strategy" be more successful if the Government accepted that some teenage girls do consider having a baby is a better option than a low-paid "dead-end" job?

We reject that view completely - Beverley Hughes, minister for children, families and young people

Ignoring reality will not contribute towards Government goals on reducing child poverty!

Middle East crisis

Having demonstrated it's military strength in The Lebanon, would it be best for Israel to unilaterally cease it's military offensive and only resume if Hezbollah rocket strikes continue?

Pride and stubborness have always been the worst traits in politicians.

Welsh health tourism

Why should Welsh Local Health boards expect to pay less for the treatment of Welsh patients at English hospitals than English local health authorities do?

Agreement has been reached with the Department of Health that cross-border activity between England and Wales will not be subject to the English tariff in 2006-07, and guidance issued by both the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government confirms this agreement. - Welsh Assembly Government spokesman.

Sickness rates

GPs 'see big rise in sick notes' - BBC News Website - 14th July 2006.

Absence 'falls among UK workers' - BBC News website - 16th July 2006.

Knife amnesty

100,000 knives have been handed into Police following a five week knife amnesty.

"Every knife that is taken off our streets is one that cannot be used to kill, maim or intimidate" - Tony Melville, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

How many knives are manufactured each day!?!

We want to be together!

Why doesn't David Cameron have the courage of his convictions and insist that Conservative MEPs leave the EPP immediately rather than in 2009 when they can join a new group?

Why should anyone vote for Conservative MEPs who favour closer European integration!?!

Defrauding the taxpayer

The "Natwest Three" are accused of defrauding Natwest and GNW by persuading GNW to sell an Enron subsidiary despite knowing it was worth much more than $1m sale price.

How many Civil Servants and managers in the UK should be charged with defrauding the taxpayer!?!

Train Leasing companies were originally sold to their managers at bargain basement prices.

Carlyle Group earned £370m profit on a £42m investment in QinetiQ.

Some more equal than others.

Lord "Loans 4 Labour" Levy has complained that his arrest by Police was "unnecessary".

One of the questions that we maybe ask the police is whether this [arrest] is designed to be a symbolic act to show the seriousness of the investigation or whether it was genuinely necessary to advance the investigations. - Tony Wright MP, chairman of the public administration committee.

Do the Police always have to justify their decisions before a committee of MPs?

Natwest three

Would the Natwest three have stood a better chance of remaining in the UK if they had been illegal immigrants!?!

It's good to see that MPs were so incensed with their extradition to America on Thursday that they voted to go home early! True dedication...

Gordon's busted!

If UK unemployment rate is at a six year high, is immigration at a six year low!?!

"It's a political reality that around half a million irregular migrants can't readily be deported and EU migration alone cannot be relied on to fill the jobs many of them are doing" - Habib Rahman, chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.

Are you sure Habib!?!

Protect the workers!

Are twelve trades unions who are joining forces to oppose further NHS reforms doing it for the benefit of patients and taxpayers or to protect their members' jobs?

Funding priorities

When will the Home Office spend £300,000 funding a conference for racists and far-right groups so it can engage with people "who don't necessarily share the same point of view"!?!

Would the Foreign Office have funded the conference if it wasn't for the "tiny minority of Muslims who [] unleashed violence and terror - by distorting the teaching of Islam upon innocent neighbours and fellow citizens"?

Public lessons

What does David Cameron think the private sector can learn from NHS managers whose "inadequate leadership and ineffective management are the causes of the worst deficits in the NHS"!?!

Registering Failure

What is the point of identifying the brightest 5% of 11 to 19 year olds if they are not able to attend Grammar schools to prevent a "terrible waste of talent"? Is it a Government admission that Comprehensive schools are anything but comprehensive!?!

How will the students be identified? Will teachers simply recommend students or would students sit an exam when they are 11 called the '11+'!?! If you pass the exam, you automatically qualify...

New Terror Alerts

The Government has announced new terror alert levels:

Low: Gordon Brown (1) - No boom or bust.
Moderate: Patricia Hewitt - It's the best year ever.
Substantial: Hazel Blears - Head in the sand.
Severe: Gordon Brown (2) - Jaw dropping.
Critical: John Prescott - You're stuffed.

Murals to die for?

Should murals in Protestant parts of Northern Ireland be preserved for their historical significance or painted over as part of the "peace process"?

How much public money is being spent to paint over murals in Catholic parts of Northern Ireland?

How many tins of paint does £3.3m buy!?!

Private school pupils "pay more tax"

28.6% of pupils whose parents paid full private school fees pay tax on earnings of £70,000 or more by their mid 30s compared to just 7.6% of those who attended state schools!

Tombstoning

If youngsters ignore Maritime and Coastguard Agency advice that "tombstoning" is a dangerous activity that can result in serious injury or death, should they be fined when they are injured!?!

Not one finger on the pulse!

What does David Cameron expect to achieve by asking people to empathise with "hoodies"?

He risks alienating natural Conservative supporters and wavering Labour voters up and down the country by demonstrating, once again, how remote he is from the problems facing normal people everyday!

Judicial confidence

Public confidence in judges has been undermined by the recent spate of media attacks on the judiciary - Lord Falconer

I don't deserve to be in prison. At least I don't think so, not with what people get away with nowadays. - Daniel Hardman

Daniel's six month prison sentence for glassing a pub landlord and witness intimidation was reduced to 200 hours of community service as the judge felt remorse when Daniel cried in court as sentence was passed.

Free nursery places

Do unemployed parents living in some of the most deprived parts of Scotland really need free nursery places for their children when they already have plenty of free time each week!?!

Scotland Open, England Closed.

Scottish Trade and Industry secretary Alistair Darling has rejected calls for shops in England and Wales to be allowed to open for more than six hours on Sundays.

Alistair's Scottish constituents will be unaffected by the decision as there are no restrictions on Sunday opening hours in Scotland.

Funny that!

Child poverty

In seeking to reduce child poverty, what is the Government doing to discourage people from having babies until they can afford to look after them without state support?

Unemployed 21 year old Keith Macdonald has fathered seven children by seven different women and supports none of them financially!

Why should taxpayers be expected to support his children?

ID cards and welfare fraud

If the Department for Work and Pensions is serious that the introduction of National Identity cards will reduce benefit fraud, why not insisting that only benefit claimants must have an ID card?

Only drivers need driving licences...

Jobs, jobs, jobs!

Why does the Government have no intention of "increas[ing] or reduc[ing] the number of people coming to the UK" even though 75% of people think too many immigrants are coming to the UK?

Will immigrants be competing for jobs with 1m incapacity benefit claimants that the Government is also keen to get back into work?

Where will they all work? The public sector?

Must be Labour!

Why does the BBC forget to mention the political allegiance of ex-council chief Colin Inglis who is accused of abusing a 13 year old boy?

They didn't for "former Liberal Democrat leader of Derby City Council", Maurice Burgess, who faced charges of indecent assault.

They didn't for "former Conservative councillor" and leader of Bedfordshire council leader, Albert Whinnett, jailed for indecently assaulting two girls!

They didn't for Conservative mayor Chris Morgan after being "arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children".

They didn't for Conservative leader of Dartford Borough Council, Kenneth Leadbeater, "who admitted making indecent images of children on his home computer".

No it doesn't!

"We should be sympathising with the family of both of the soldiers, particularly the Muslim family because this actually proves the fact that Muslims also give their life for Britain." - "Prominent Muslim" Labour peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham

Would any "Prominent" Christian peer ever say "We should be sympathising with the family of both of the soldiers, particularly the Christian family because this actually proves the fact that Christians [] give their lives for Muslims."!?!

Number crunching

49 Percentage of British Muslims who believe that further suicide bombings in the UK are likely.

49 Percentage of British Muslims who think it is offensive that some non-Muslims feel anxious if they see someone they think is a Muslim on public transport carrying a backpack.

18 Percentage of British Muslims who feel anxious if they see someone who looks Muslim with a large bag or backpack!

Data courtesy of The Times / ITV poll.

Welfare Reform

If the Government is determined to shake up incapacity benefit, it only needs to reduce the amount of benefit paid out.

Individual claimants are best placed to determine whether work pays or not. Specialist advisers are not required, they are merely a ruse for increasing the public sector headcount again.

The Al-Qaeda Police

If Al-Qaeda sympathisers are trying to infiltrate MI5, how many have already joined the Police where security checks are presumably less rigorous?

Smoking Consultation

Why does the Government need to have a three month consultation on raising the legal age to buy tobacco from 16 to 18 or even 21?

Who are they expecting to defend the current age limit?

Ken Clarke on Ken Clarke

Will Ken Clarke be describing "English votes on English matters" as "Xenophobic" and "anti-foreigner"!?!

Employment Opportunities?

Why did the UK Immigration department think that Britain could benefit by allowing an 11 year old Somali orphan with learning difficulties live in the UK?

Did they think she would provide plenty of 'case work' for social workers?

Naturally, the BBC only mention the girl is "of Somalian origin", other details are not necessary...

A cunning plan

If reforms costing £540m have failed to improve the CSA, and in some aspects even worsened it (!), on what basis does the Government think that spending another £560m will improve the CSA by 2010?

Is it the same logic that suggests spending just another £x bn will reduce poverty in Africa?

Where did the electorate go?

Labour party chairman Hazel Blears has described the Bromley by-election result as an "absolute disaster" for the Conservatives, even though they retained the seat despite haemorraging 12,000 votes!

Despite Hazel's claims, tactical voting appears to have broken down in Bromley, Labour lost 8,000 votes yet the Liberal Democrat vote only increased by 1,600.

The real disaster in Bromley is that not even half the electorate were sufficiently engaged with politics to vote, nearly 20,000 voters disappeared!

Freed foreign prisoner

has killed, but has he paid his council tax!?!

No remission

Murderers do it, thieves do it, rapists do it but those imprisoned for non-payment of council tax or fines don't...

Qualify for parole half way through their sentence.

Courtesy of Laban Tall.

Institutional religious intolerance

Is the UK government guilty of "institutional religious intolerance" if it prevents children possessed by witchcraft from being 'cured'!?!

If such cases are acceptable in Africa, should the UK make an exception for them here!?! What a delicious dilemma for white, middle class liberals...

Whatever happened to the Christian missionaries who were supposed to convert them!?!

Net pay

Now that Tony Blair endorses "equal prize money" at Wimblemdon and Roger Federer considers the disparity to be "so small that you might as well just make it equal", will he be troubled if the men's prize is reduced by £30,000 to the women's level!?!

Why should men be expected to play an extra set in future if their pay is the same!?!

Institutionally racist prisons?

Would prison staff have been guilty of 'racism' if they have only allowed white prisoners to share a prison cell with psychopathic killer Robert Stewart?
Stewart "should have stood out" two years before he attacked Zahid Mubarek but apparently a tattoo, "RIP", on his forehead didn't suggest anything untoward in his personality!

I certainly wouldn't want to share a cell with him!

So what!

Are Britons really so stupid that they listen to what two washed up singers, Bob Geldof and Annie Lennox, think about whether promises made in haste last July about Africa have been kept or not?

KKK

If no official complaints have been made about two members of the public gate crashing a carnival dressed as members of the Klu Klux Klan, why has Cumbria Police decided to investigate whether any race hate laws have been breached?

Would Police time be better spent focusing on violent crime in Cumbria?

Euro apologies

Will people who called for the UK to join the Euro "otherwise foreign direct investment will dry up" apologise for the error of their ways!?!

The UK received more foreign direct investment than any other country in the world last year.

Naturally, the BBC can't let this story pass without praising Gordon Brown - "It's a vision of Britain that Gordon Brown has promoted."!

Easy porridge!

If nearly half of all Scottish prisoners are back in prison within two years of their release, does this show that prisons are not working or life inside should be harder if prison is to act as a deterrent?

Why not increase all prison sentences by an extra two years!?!

Smoking pays...

Why is a healthy baby not a sufficient reward for pregnant women in Tayside who stop smoking? They will be rewarded for not smoking by being offered cinema tickets and grocery vouchers.

Will non-smoking mothers be penalised for being sensible and be denied the cinema tickets and grocery vouchers!?!

Positive protest

If a proposed National Front march has been banned in Bedfordshire "as no positives can be taken from [it] being allowed to go ahead", what "positives" did Police expect from a certain protest in February?

New Labour Varnish

"In fact, we have done exactly what it said on the tin." - Tony Blair.

New Labour Varnish - Applied to the UK in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Gives everything a smooth, new appearance that looks great for a couple of years but does nothing to prevent the decay beneath the surface.

With apologies to Ronseal.

Real life maths lessons

To keep England's teenagers more interested in maths, new "real life" lessons are planned using examples about football, fashion and the Olympics, not that teenagers are one-dimensional stereotypes or anything...

Liverpool are playing Manchester United, if Liverpool score one goal, what is the minimum number of goals Manchester United need to win the match?

If a football game lasts 90 minutes and the teams have been playing for 33 minutes, how many minutes of the game remain?

300 hooligans riot following a football match, if Police only manage to arrest 1% of them, how many escape to riot another day?

With the UK having the highest level of teenage pregnancies in Europe, would it be more appropriate if lessons were focused on the welfare benefits available...

You are 19 years old, unemployed with one child, how much extra benefits will you receive if you have a second child?

Top heavy top shelf!

Claire Curtis-Thomas MP wants magazines like 'Zoo' and 'Nuts' to be restricted to the top shelf as they are "repulsive" and "degrading to women".

Does she also want magazines such as New Woman - currently featuring a guide on kinky sex, "Spanking paddles at the ready, girls" - moved to the top shelf?

Would any magazines be left on the bottom shelves!?!

Number crunching

3 month prison sentence for:

Hit and run driver who killed a three year old girl and admitted careless driving, having no licence or insurance, failing to stop and failing to report an accident.

Not paying your council tax.

The Respect Squad

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Respect Squad.

However, unlike the A-team, they will not spring into action but "offer the chance of a swift resolution" by coming up with "recommendations" to tackle anti-social behaviour that "will be passed to the chairman of the crime disorder reduction partnership (CDRP)"...

What can the CDRP do next? It has to be assumed that the Respect squad would only be used when existing agencies, including the CDRP, have failed to achieve anything.

John Reid is simply adding another layer of bureaucracy destined for failure. Meanwhile, discipline in many schools is in freefall.

Formula politics

Why is there no mention of the Liberal Democrat's review of the Barnett formula on the BBC's England section?

If The SNP warn[s] that changing the system would result in Scottish spending cuts, it should mean there is more money to waste / spend in England!

Why has the Labour Party got no plans to review the formula when a Scottish Labour Party spokesman recognises the "£11bn black hole at the heart of the nationalist plan to divorce Scotland from the rest of Britain" if the English subsidy was scrapped?

The white man's burden?

Has the Education Department really delayed publishing a report into "witch child" abuse amongst African children as they are more concerned about upsetting race-relations than preventing child cruelty?

I think it is almost as crude as white, liberal, middle-class people thinking they can’t be seen to be telling black people what they are doing wrong. It is ridiculous when you are dealing with children’s rights. - Richard Hoskins, visiting research fellow in the sociology of religion at King’s College London

Contextually adds nothing

How many civil servants are employed in the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to calculate the contextual value added that adjusts pupils' test performance according to gender, ethnicity and poverty?

Unfortunately for DfES, beyond schools and colleges, the commercial world needs the best pupils from whatever background.

Gender, ethnicity and poverty should never be used as excuses for poor performance.

Cadbury's Creme Eggs

Now salmonella free too!

Footballs

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas says that German police only arrested 100 English fans after they "started singing racist and quite insulting songs about quite a lot of people, throwing some chairs, bottles and tables".

He can only be concerned that chairs, bottles and tables were being thrown, racist and insulting chants don't disturb UK Police!

Moron

Andrew Hawkins has apologised on behalf of his more illustrious ancestor, Sir John Hawkins, for taking part in the "African holocaust", slavery.

How many of the Africans present would be leading better lives in America if only their ancestors had been victims of the slave trade!?!

And the survey says...

If 56% of British Muslims don't think that Arabs destroyed the World Trade Centre in September 2001, who do they think did!?!

Monkey nuts

How can a black seven year old be so energised about his ethnicity that he is upset to be cast as a monkey in a school play? Are his parents raising him as a victim of society or using his ethnicity as a negotiating position at the school?

Garage clearance politics!

If a group of MPs are "astonished" that the majority of garages across the UK are not used to store vehicles overnight, when will legislation be introduced to force garage owners to use them more responsibly!?!

Impartial BBC

Just how out of touch is Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski!?! He has praised the BBC for being "impartial on domestic politics"!

Educational balls

What is the educational value in sending 400 UK schoolchildren to watch a World Cup match in Germany!?!

Have they learnt that Tony Blair can perform miracles!?!

Can the English have their £11.3bn back!?!

Will Scottish Police investigate the racist attacks on two English fans in Edinburgh and Aberdeen as vigorously as the Met. would if, say, two Ghanaians were attacked for wearing their national shirts in London!?!

In Dumfries and Galloway, other vandals removed an England flag from a building and tried to set it on fire!

It can't be long before many in England will question why they have to subsidise such thuggery by £11.3bn per year!

Will anyone be celebrating the 1707 Act of Union next year, either north or south of the border!?!

Smokin'

If smokers are already prepared to risk their health by smoking, how can a potential Government campaign possibly reduce demand for cheap smuggled cigarettes even if they are higher risk!?!

Childish logic

David Cameron is calling for working parents to qualify for tax relief on childacre as it is "pretty offensive" that a working man gets tax relief on his mobile phone bill but a working woman cannot if she uses a child minder.

It is "pretty offensive" that working people don't get tax relief on their rent or mortgage payments but will that change!?!

How much would childcare costs increase if the state effectively subsidises them?

Public Service Broadcasting?

Why is the BBC unable to provide any further details about two teenagers arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 16 year old boy in Kent?

The Telegraph reports they are former asylum seekers in foster care and granted permission to remain in the country indefinitely. How inconvenient for the BBC!

Number crunching

2 1/2 years: Prison term for Sarah Jane Porter who "recklessly" infected a lover with HIV.

8 years: Prison term for Mohammed Dica who infected two lovers with HIV.

The A380, a symbol of European incompetence?

When the A380 superjumbo recently landed at Heathrow for the first time, Gordon Brown was able to praise it as a symbol of European co-operation.
I think it's a great success story for European co-operation. I think it's also a big triumph for British manufacturing, British technology, British science

Unfortunately for Gordon, The Times now reports that the "A380 has become a symbol of all that is wrong with Europe — incompetence, misplaced ambition, greed and bickering".

France and Germany are now squabbling over who is to blame for a six month delay in delivering the first A380s.

Green with envy

If Sir Philip Green has managed to avoid paying £300m in income tax in 2004/5 by partly living in Monaco, is he still worthy of a knighthood!?!

Prison Overcrowding

If British prisons are nearly full, why has the UK government agreed to imprison former Liberian leader Charles Taylor for war crimes when other European governments have refused to host him!?!

Out of Office

I'll be on holiday until June 17th. Normal service will resume then!

Home truths

As the son of a Polish exile, Denis (Matyjaszek) MacShane should appreciate that Germans often made themselves "feel at home in other people's countries" more than most!

Welsh racism

Should English fans be allowed to fly the Cross of St. George from their cars whilst in Wales?

The deputy chief constable of North Wales Police fears Welsh fans could be provoked into violence or racism by English fans flying the flag. Would he arrest the Welsh 'patriots' or the English fans who provoked them?

Would any senior English Police official advise 'foreign nationals' not to antagonise latent English racism by flying their own flags!?!

Liberal Democrats to cut income tax!

When will one of the main political parties promise to reduce income tax by cutting back on welfare payments or reducing the number of quangos?

Business lessons from the public sector?

David Cameron says that banks, insurance companies and utilities firms are guilty of poor customer care and could learn from the public sector.

What could Tescos learn from them?

Vet bills

If animal welfar suffers when farmers "cannot afford veterinary bills", will vets be reducing their bills in future!?!

Conservative cynicism

If David Cameron feels it necessary to praise 5m public sector workers to shatter the Labour party's 5m block vote, how long will it be before Dave wants welfare benefits to be increased for everyone who wants them?

Aylum seeking boomerangs

If 2,000 asylum seekers have been tempted to leave the UK with a £3,000 bounty so far this year, were they really asylum seekeres in the first place!?!

How many will be tempted to come back to the UK to claim the bounty again?

Benefits of the NHS?

Will the NHS be apologising for the eleven week delay that would have proved fatal for Gary Harris had he not opted for a private brain scan costing £700?

If my workmates hadn't paid for that scan I would be dead now

They more than saved my life - they saved my daughters from growing up without a dad and saved my wife from having to bury a young husband.

Pride of England

Why did British Airways name their aircraft ferrying the England World cup squad to Germany "Pride of the nation" when it should have been "Pride of England"!?!

Tax credit overpayments "acceptable"?

Tax credits worth £1.8bn were overpaid in 2004/5 yet when measures to reduce such overpayments are "fully implemented", they will be only reduced by a third. Why?

Conservatives accept high taxes

Does the Conservative Party stop attacking Labour's tax rises since 1997 if George Osborne is unable to promise tax cuts following a future Conservative general election victory?

The Conservative party has stymied public debate on the growth of the public sector by meekly accepting Labour's view and funding of it.