Carry On Camping with Berlusconi

The Italian President has said of the victims of the Italian earthquake:

"They have everything they need, they have medical care, hot food...... Of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. but they should see it like a weekend of camping"

Well Silvio for starters when you go camping you generally have a home to head back to when you want to or get tired of it: with all the home conforts available.

Secondly if what the people of the towns and villages affected have been saying is right they are bing told they may be out for at least 3 months, hardly temporary if you want them to be camping though that all.

Best to think before engaging the tongue. Not very sensible way of putting it.

Not So "Quick"-witted of the Yard

Less haste more heed may well be the lesson learnt by Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick today. This morning he exited a car in Downing Street carry plans for an anti-terrorism raid. This evening, after the top sheet was photographed clearly giving far too much information, 10 suspects were arrested in raids.

The obvious conclusion to be drawn was that Quick was entering Downing Street to brief on the plans that were captured. However, as the details on the agency photograph were zoomed across the world the raid and arrests were moved up in Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire. Evening raids of this sort are unusual so it is highly likely that as a result of the slow-wittedness and hasty exit of Quick from that car this operation was put under risk if it wasn't proceeded with immediately.

Whether the police were ready to make these arrests at this time we will no doubt find out if the suspects are in fact held. If they were still gathering information in preparation for it and were maybe waiting for some final piece to slot into place before going in, may well mean that what they could take is what had to be taken.

In a bad few days for the police this failure to protect operationally sensitive data is just another sign that our "police state" is simply not competent to deal with such sensitive data. Whether that is their own operational plans or our DNA or whatever they want to keep neither the police nor this Government seem capable to handling things with the trust they would want, which we should be unwilling to give them anyway.

****Breaking News**** Channel 4 News have just announced that the officer seen beating and flooring Ian Tomlinson, shortly before he died of a heart attack when he wasn't protesting at G20, has voluntarily come forward.

****Breaking Comment**** Still on Channel 4 News Shami Chakrabarti is right that is doesn't look good. Brain Paddick whilst trying to defend the enquiry and the process is not coming across strong enough against the evidence from the three cameras that captured the final minutes of Ian Tomlinson's existance.

The Met's Rodney King Moment

Remember during the LA riots when we all learnt the name of Rodney King. Well during the G20 protests in London we will remember the name of Ian Tomlinson and these images which the Guardian has obtained will help us know why.



Ian Tomlinson wasn't even involved in the G20 protests. He was merely returning from his job selling newspapers when he got trapped within the Metropolitan Police force's kettling operation. But Tomlinson had done nothing to deserve this treatment. It appears that the only people in that video needing to let off steam in the kettle were the police.

That's Life is it Shaun?

If Esther Rantzen were still hosting That's Life no doubt her sidekicks and her would be kicking around the stories of MPs expenses with glee. The fact that a cabinet minister, married to a Sainsbury heiress, with access to the most expensive Government grace and favour property* is one of five cabinet ministers claiming the full £22,083 would raise a rye smile. The fact that Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward, for it is he, was once a researcher and producer on the consumer and current affairs show makes the latest revelation all the more startling.



It's hardly surprising that will all the media hyperbole that the latest Times poll shows that majority of the public think that most MPs are on the fiddle. The press correctly has been pointing out the mess of London MPs in commutable distance of Westminster. Those claiming second homes allowances which equate to more than the taxi fares that would be able to get them home every night is a mockery. But the headline figures of total expenses has failed to recognise staffing and office costs, required travel and the like. Even our own Irfan Ahmed jumped on the bandwagon without truly understanding just how expensive it is for the far flung Lib Dem MPs to carry out work in Westminster and their constituencies every week. Thankfully Mark Valladares called him on it in a sadly as yet unanswered or acknowledged challenge.



What is needed is clearly a transparency in what our MPs claim on their expenses. That way the public can know that the bulk of what is spent is actually required for them to carry out their work. Also it would mean that MPs who do abuse the system would be shown up by claiming for their caravan, blue movies or whatever when the audit is published in full and others are not tarnished with the same brush by association.



The bulk of our MPs I'm fairly certain do not abuse the system, there are even a great many who are wary of even seeming to break the spirit of the system. But a bulk of what are being branded as expenses are not perks for the individuals in question but allowances to enable to carry out the work that those who elected them expect to be carried out. It's time for the leaders of all parties to listen to the public and make it clearer, more accessible and understandable just what is going on.

As for Mr Woodward is that's life for you now I'll be waiting for the You Tube clip of a dog saying "sleazy Woodward" instead of mere sausages.



*Hillsborough Castle.

Not that Innocent?

One of the things I loved about the success of Innocent the smoothies and natural drink manufacturers was that they weren't some big corporation trying to hitch unto the socially conscious bandwagon. However, now that Coca Cola have invested £30million for a 10-20% stake in the company I hope that the principles and morals of the company will not be swamped to appease their new partner.

The fact that PepsiCo had already bought up rivals PJ Smoothies four years ago does make one look at the purchase of Innocent in a different light. Is this the latest step in the war between the two global giants? Are they shifting their concentration from the highly sugared carbonated market as their customers are becoming more conscious of their health.

The co-founders of Innocent Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright do insist that the ethos of their company will not shift with the investment of Coca Cola but this injection of cash plus the experience of their new partner will help them expand into the European market. I hope you are right guys and do not lose the heart of what your product is all about.

Wikio Breakthrough

Of course this blog occasionally does statporn* but this month I've scaled a new height. If you look at the Wikio rankings on the left hand side of the screen you will see they are both in double figures. Yes I'm a new entry into Wikio top 100 blogs of all categories. I've managed to climb 51 spots on that chart and climbs 13 spots in the politics rankings to a new high of 67.



Scarily after praising the other Lib Dems especially the ladies last month for their efforts I find I'm up there with Mr Quist for the biggest Lib Dem climber in the hot 100 this month.



*To be perfectly honest I think all bloggers do just some prefer to do it in a darkened room while their partner is out of the house.

Glorious Sunday for British Sport

It was quite a magnificent Sunday of British sport yesterday. It all started in Sepang Malaysia where Jenson Button after a poor start from pole battled up through the field from fourth and put in a couple of 'storming' laps after his nearest rivals had pitted for that first change of tires to come out well up the track.



However, when the rain came down Timo Glock made the audacious and in the end correct decision to go out on intermediate tyres while the rest of the field put on full wets and start to gain 6 seconds a lap. By the time they pulled Button in for Intermediates as well Glock was passing him as he sat in the pit lane.



Then just after all the field had changed to the Intermediates and Button had just regained P1 Glock dove back into the pits to start the move unto full wets first again to go to what was to prove to be the right tyre. When Jenson followed suit he had again to overtake the German but the race had become a power boat race by lap 32 and was red flagged. The drivers sitting on the grid in a thunderstorm waiting to see if they would restart. So it was that Jenson Button won his second Grand Prix of the season while sat on the grid under a brolly, he only needed a bowler hat instead of his helmet to make the British image complete.



Later in the day over in Miami rain wasn't going to be Andy Murray's worry. Storming to a 4-0 lead in the first set of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami against the man whose position in the rankings he is chasing down, Novak Djokovic, he eased to a 6-2 first set. And then at 1-0, a break up, in the first set he watched his opponent call for the trainer, it seemed to unsettle the Scot as he lost the next 5 games on the trot. But then found the flow of the first set to take six in succession to take the title dubbed the 'fifth grand slam' 6-2, 7-5. In doing so he equalled Tim Henman's career titles at an age when Henman only dreamed of being that good. He also now with three wins this season is the most successful champion on the mans tour as we head into the clay season.



The day was rounded up by Paul Casey over in Houston, where he didn't have a problem despite dropping his one shot led on the eighteenth and bogeying the play-off hole. It was still enough to secure him the Houston Open, his first win on the US Tour where he now plies his trade. An ideal built up to the US Masters later this month at Augusta.