Content provided in partnership with
The diary
Independent on Sunday, The, Feb 26, 2006 by Iain Dale
I don't know what the Liberal Democrats are drinking, but it does seem to be getting them into trouble. Take the Liberal Democrat councilor Isabele Campbel, for example. She's up before the Dingwal sheriff court in the Highlands on Thursday accused not only of drink- driving but also of "having wilfuly vomited, urinated and defecated" in a vain attempt to purge her body of alcohol, to try to avoid being charged. She was also charged with conducting herself in a disorderly manner and breaching the peace in a police car. You might think that as a member of the local police authority, she might have known better. But the brazen Mrs C is a fighter. She has resigned from the authority but insists she wil stand for reelection in May. "I've done nothing wrong," she protests. Perhaps a little too much.
- Most Popular Articles in News
- The Ten Best Laptop bags
- Tata plans cheapest-ever car for Indian market
- GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD
- Corn is good for you; Corn is not only a tasty treat, but also a cereal that ...
- THE 50 BEST STYLISH HANDBAGS TO CARRY
- More »
Last week's Bookaid auction raised nearly pounds 70,000 to improve literacy in Africa after a host of celebrities offered signed tomes to be auctioned. Bob Geldof, Jacqueline Wilson, Tom Stoppard and Tracey Emin supported the event along with the rather more surprising figure of Freddie Forsyth. But the night's spending was dominated by a certain Daniel Rad-cliffe, aka Harry Potter, an inveterate collector of J K Rowling memorabilia, as well he may be. Sadly, as Daniel is not yet 18 his mother had to bid on his behalf. Bless. Magically, she managed to shell out pounds 30,000 on the evening. I can guess whose signature was on the cheque, though.
Gordon Brown has a new nickname among Treasury officials, who are growing increasingly bemused by his recent rather comical attempts to change his image from a dour Scot to Mr Happy. Having been someone who could force himself to break into a weak smile only if Raith Rovers won an away game, he has now obviously been instructed by his new best friend Alastair Campbel to do so at any available opportunity. Hence the new nickname: Mr Potato Head.
The international aspects of the Italian elections are get murkier by the day. Stories have begun to emerge in the Italian press that Silvio Berlusconi is being advised by the White House guru Karl Rove. Berlusconi's campaign certainly carries all the hallmarks of a classic hardhitting negative Rove style with posters going up all over Italy proclaiming, "Plenty of illegal immigrants? - No Thank You". Every politician seeks advice from consultants these days but should the rumours prove true about Rove's involvement, watch out for fireworks. Rove would be breaking American law because he is a paid White House official, not a freelance consultant.
The former Reading East Labour MP Jane Griffiths is a woman who bears a grudge. Her blog (www.janestheones.blogspot.com) is ful of highly entertaining and occasionally libelous blasts at her nemesis, Martin Salter, the Labour MP for Reading West, whom she blames for getting her the boot at the election. In a recent entry she relates the tale of how Reading Labour Party officials contacted David Cameron and his constituency officers with a view to helping them beat Griffiths in 2001. Cameron apparently thanked her for al her help. As Griffiths says: "You have to take your hat off to those Reading Labour Party boys for working so hard for the Tories."
The villagers of Six Mile Bottom in Cambridgeshire never did care much for Neil Kinnock. His pronouncements last week on replacing miles with kilometres have gone down like a cup of cold sick. After all, who'd want to live in a village called Nine point Six Kilometre Bottom?
The neocon Tory MP Michael Gove, recently voted "new MP to watch", is picking a fight with the US polemicist and leftie film maker Michael Moore. So incensed was Gove by Moore's anti-Bush movie Fahrenheit 9/11 that he is publishing his book in the summer titled Centigrade 7-7. Get it? I'm told the title was the idea of the veteran publishing magnate Lord Weidenfeld, whose eponymous publishing house wil bring the book out a week before the first anniversary of the 7/7 bombings.
Imagine yourself sitting on your commuter train and the bloke beside you has got his iPod turned up too loud. You'd like to say something, but he looks a bit of a nutter. Chances are that in future he might be listening to a podcast he has downloaded from an MP's website. No, seriously. Three MPs are testing technology which will enable them to put pod-casts on their websites. So if you fancy learning more about antics of New Tory Ed Vaizey, Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson or Labour's Shahid Malik you won't have long to wait. It's the brainchild of the Smooth FM DJ David Prever, who has set up a podcasting consultancy. Politics On Demand, with the former LBC managing director Mike Flanagan and adman Pat Murphy. Can it be long before we have weekly podcasts from our Dear Leader? I can hardly wait.
Christopher Silvester is a way
Copyright 2006 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
