FAME AT LAST FOR THIS BLOG

I didn't realise the nation's national newspaper journalists were avid readers of this Blog, but if you read today's Sunday Times you'll see I was wrong. It reports on my previous posting...

"Is Iain Dale, owner of Politico's, absolutely sure he wants to swap the gentle pace of bookselling for the thrusting world of politics? On his web diary the Tory candidate for North Norfolk recounts what seems a fairly typical candidate's day: visit to a police station, discussions at a health truyst, school governors meeting, talks with business leaders. And how do you think that all went Iain? He reports simply: "I'm knackered." Guilty as charged m'lud. Perhaps I should have mentioned the four hours paperwork and 300 miles I drove that day as mitigation! I never realised "politician admits being tired" would make the Sunday Times, but I suppose it must have been a light news week on the Sunday Times diary.

HOW'S THE DIET GOING THEN?

Regular readers of this Blog will know that I have embarked on a sponsored diet. It's been going for 5 weeks now and I have lost well over a stone, so I'm already half way there. My bathroom scales say I have come down from 18 stone 2 to 16 stone 7, but I'm not sure I trust them. I have an official weigh in on 15 April, so more news then! I must say I feel very much better for it. I'm almost half way to having a flat stomach for the first time in 10 years, not that I'm vain... The downside to losing this amount of weight is that I am going to have to buy a lot of new clothes. Try not to picture this vision in your mind but I put a pair of jeans on the other day, did them up and they prompty fell to my ankles. Not a pretty sight.

THE APPALLING BEVERLEY HUGHES

Beverley Hughes must be one of the most useless Ministers in living memory - although with this lot she's got a lot of competition. But to hear her bleatings in the debate about not being incompetent and acting with total integrity you wonder whether she was pulling an onion out of her pocket. I know Ministers have a lot of paperwork but put yourself in her place. If a fellow Minister wrote to you alleging the kind of scam that was going on in Bucharest and you then replied to that Minister promising action, don't you think it would stick in your memory? That's why I believe that she is not only incompetent but a liar too. And that's par for the course with New Labour.