Friday, June 19, 2009

Back From the Dead

OK, after a miserable 24 hours I am now feeling a bit better. Thanks to those of you who have emailed me to encourage me back to better health! And yes, I will be doing my radio show tonight as usual from 11-1pm on PlayRadioUK.

By the way, the Hansard Society Speaker Hustings will be televised in full, including the questions that were put to the candidates by MPs, at 9pm on Saturday June 20, on the BBC Parliament channel, available on Sky (Channel 504), Telewest (Channel 612), NTL (Channel 128/13) and Freeview (Channel 81). Just thought you'd like to know.

I will be blogging a bit later on the Speaker election and declaring who I would vote for. Have you already guessed?

27 comments:

Bob said...

Sir George

Pam Nash said...

Nice to see you back, Iain!

Don't know what you've been keeping up with, but Gordo is no longer PM (it's now Hazel Blears), All the MPs have paid back every penny of claimed exes for the last 10 years. Oh and Ken Clarke is now leader of the Conservatives! *

*All of the above may, or may not, be true..........

David from Ealing said...

AW?

Rob said...

George Young is the only feasible candidate left. Frank field would have been the perfect choice but some bitter little trotskyites on the government benches had to take a partisan line.

AndyL said...

Humpty Dumpty said:

...but Gordo is no longer PM

you can check the truth of that using this handy site:
http://isgordonbrownstillprimeminister.com/

Pam Nash said...

AndyL said...

you can check the truth of that using this handy site:
http://isgordonbrownstillprimeminister.com/
___________________________________________

You just had to depress me for the weekend, didn't you? :(

Anonymous said...

Just as long as it isn't Bercow.

Thats News said...

Let me guess... John Bercow?

anagram of speaker John Bercow MP

= Pomp-Backer John Sewer

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Iain!

At the hustings, I was really impressed by Cormack. Didn't expect to be. What a pity nobody gives him a cat's fart in hell's chance of winning. The other candidates ranged from okay-but-flawed (Young -- smarmy; Widdy -- blackout-happy; Bercow -- unevenly supported) to the pretty dreadful I thought. I don't understand Beckett-mania at all -- she used a point about being non-partisan to make a shameless, snide partisan point.

But I'll be intrigued to see who you pick and why.

David Boothroyd said...

It should still be Sir Alan Haselhurst - the candidate with the most experience of actually controlling a boisterous House of Commons.

Anonymous said...

@David

Do you think Ann Widdecombe's not capable of controlling a "boisterous" Commons?? She scares the hell out of me!!! :-)

Oh and Iain... stop whingeing about the cold!!! It's only Man-Flu after all!!!

Thomas Rossetti said...

No, I haven't already guessed, Iain. Should it be obvious?

I think Ann Widdecombe would be the best choice. She's a very strange person (as was seen in Louis Theroux's documentary) but she doesn't put up with nonsense and would bang heads together.

The fact that she's leaving at the end of this term makes her an even better option. Hopefully she can show the way for her successor.

Pam Nash said...

@Thomas Rossetti

Agree totally. Short term appointment to sort them all out and let them know it's NOT a gravy train, or the kindergarten. Who knows, she may be persuaded to stay on?!

MikeyP said...

Glad you are back in the land of the living, but Telewest, NTL? A bit behind the times, methinks. Try Virgin Media!

Lee H said...

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3707833/brown-and-mcbride-still-partners-in-crime.thtml#comments

Any comments? Is he a liar? Can we call him a liar now? Can an MP ask him at next PMQ to clarify?

Philipa said...

Back from the dead? I'm glad you are well, Iain. But how about a comment on the fact the the midlands hosts half the cases of swine flu in the UK and they won't shut schools. Oh they have, but no longer it seems. They've admitted they can't contain the virus here. But children are still forced to congregate in large numbers by going to school.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't vote for any of them. Not one of these chumps will change a thing.

Got over the hangover, have we?

Plato said...

Uncle Bob - hope you are right, I've backed him at 11/2 :)

Iain Dale's ravaged anus said...

Gay on gay.

Anonymous said...

Dear Iain,

Please stop whining about your cold, you layabout, there is a democracy at stake.

Yours,

a reader but not for much longer if you dont stop complaining

Anonymous said...

Iain, I don't think your heart is in this blog anymore. Be honest - you've lost interest. Correct?
There's little passion.

Anonymous said...

Canvas, I don't think there's any intelligence left is in your comments. Be honest - you've lost at least 50 IQ points. Correct?
There's little point in your comments.

Retire now.

Anonymous said...

anon-your feeble comment is about as high brow as this blog gets these days. that's sad.

Iain Dale said...

Canvas, Yes. I've lost interest in this blog this week - and a lot of other things. I've been ill. being ill makes you lose interest in a lot of things. Get over yourself.

Anonymous said...

I don't need to 'get over myself' to point out the obvious. You didn't need to post a bloody magazine - perhaps a TIME OUT symbol would have been fine? get well soon. hug hug hug

Weygand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Adrian said...

Why not Haselhurst? He always seems to be doing a good job when I see him deputising for Auld Meikle.