Headlines to vote for?

If the Conservative Party fail to make progress in next week's local elections, they might as well pack up and go home. Could anyone in Conservative Central Office have wished for better headlines recently?

Hewitt heckled by furious nurses
Clarke to explain prison releases
Prescott 'regret' over affair

Hopefully, the Conservatives will also be battered next week though! They deserve it for giving up on Conservatism!

Breaking Records

If you do not keep full records for HM Revenue & Customs, you can be fined up to £3,000. What penalites does the Home Office face for only keeping records on just 75% of the 80 most dangerous foreign prisoners recently freed?

Missing records on such a scale suggests systemic failure throughout the Home Office. What is the opinion of the National Audit Office? Have they been allowed to check Home Office record keeping independently?

If Home Office minister Hazel Blears insists the most serious offenders are out on licence and being monitored why can't the Police find them?

Angelina Jolie's praise is a bit rich!

Why is the sixth highest paid actress in Hollywood, Angelina Jolie, praising Gordon Brown for backing a campaign to boost global education when it's £8.5bn of UK taxpayer's money that is being spent over the next ten years!?! She should be praising me!

As Angelina Jolie commands $15m per film, why has she only adopted one Ethiopian girl!?! Can't she afford to adopt another one!?!

English tuition tax

Who could have predicted that one third of English undergraduates would not have started their degree had they been expected to pay £3,000 per year for the privilege?

If English students receive no additional benefit compared to Welsh and Scottish students then tuition fees are nothing more than a tax on English students!

Justice served?

How is justice best served by increasing the two year sentence given to Angela Dublin for causing a pile-up in which three boys and an adult died and for which she has shown 'real remorse'?

She was clearly wrong to have seven passengers in the car and it is not possible to fully empathise with the feelings of pain and loss suffered by the families of those killed and injured in the crash.

Should everyone caught driving an overloaded car be imprisoned for five years or just those who subsequently have a crash?

Welsh speedbag

Q. Who has campained against speeding all his life and recognises that speeding is a killer?

A. Neil Kinnock, just banned from driving for six months and fined £800 after collecting 15 penalty points for speeding in just three years!

In other news, drivers who are caught by speed cameras are more likely to be involved in accidents than those with clean licences.

Office of the Desk Polishing Minister (ODPM)

No wonder John Prescott forgot to pay his council tax and didn't notice fraud within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

'Two jabs' was busy polishing desks with Ms Tracey Temple.

Oops

The Home Office has released 1,023 foreign prisoners without considering any of them for deportation? Why isn't deportation automatic? So far, only 20% of those tracked down have been deported. This is despite Tony Blair's recent claim that he wants to "harry, hassle and hound" criminals into giving up crime or leave Britain!

Is it better for a convicted and released Algerian murderer to remain in the UK or face possible torture if deported back to Algeria?

Will Charles Clarke regret his recent call for an "adherence to professional journalistic standards [and a] requirement to examine the facts and check them with rigour"?

Tax credits overpaid, again.

If tax credits have been overpaid by £2.2bn for the second year in a row, how much should have been paid out?

Would a universal increase in the personal taxfree allowance have achieved what Gordon Brown wanted with no increase in administrative costs and no overpayments?

Police and legal system "useless"?

If criminal gangs trading in people and fake ID are "out of control", does this suggest the Police and legal system in the UK are useless!?!

Would the introduction of ID cards help restore control or would such enterprising gangs be able to overcome this hurdle too?

Unhealthily all black?

Would Professor Ted Cantle, a senior Government race relations advisor, be allowed to describe certain areas as "unhealthily all black" if it is acceptable for him to describe certain areas as "unhealthily all white"?

Migrant workers "boost UK growth"?

East European migrant workers are "plugging gaps in a variety of industries" according to an Ernst & Young (E&Y) report. This helps keep inflation under control, boost output and raise tax revenue.

However, is the E&Y picture still rosy when the number of unemployed people rose by 108,000 to 1.54 million between October and December 2005?

Do unemployment benefits need to be reduced to encourage them to plug the gaps?

NHS job losses only in England?

How many of the 7,000 job losses announced by the NHS over recent weeks affect the NHS in Scotland or Wales?

Brussels MP3 murder

The BBC reports that "80,000 people have taken part in a silent march in Brussels to protest over the murder of a teenager who refused to give thieves his MP3 player".

Silent march and thieves suggests that there is more to this story than the BBC lets on. Sure enough, google "Joe Van Holsbeeck" and you discover that Joe was murdered by thieves of North African descent.

Immediately after the assassination the police inquired whether Joe had made any “racist remarks” whilst been mugged. So what if he had? Would he deserve to die if he made such remarks?

Blair on immigration?

If Tony Blair thinks MPs are "out of touch" with the electorate on crime, does he believe that MPs are "in touch" with the electorate on immigration?

Nanny vouchers

Why does Demos think that any families don't already make decisions based upon what's best for them?

If families are to receive "nanny vouchers" to help with cleaning and cooking so that women can return to work, can childless individuals also have vouchers so they don't have to cook and clean for themselves when they return from work!?!

Happy St. George's Day!

Good to see that Google has remembered to celebrate St. George's Day.

The BBC continues to rue the day...

Gordon Brown on climate change

Gordon Brown is highlighting the "moral need" to fight climate change.

Will he reduce the number of times he uses the Royal flight to demonstrate his commitment to the environment?

A cabal of mediocrity

It's difficult to know which panellist will make me more angry on Question Time this evening, Charles Clarke MP, the Home Secretary; George Osborne MP, the Shadow Chancellor or Vince Cable MP, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

For the sake of my television, it may be best if I don't watch...

Government Priorities?

£8.5bn - Additional educational aid for Africa and Asia over the next ten years courtesy of Gordon Brown

£5m - Reduction in the compensation budget per year for those wrongly convicted of crimes in England and Wales courtesy of Charles Clarke.