The Green Affair

The Ashford MP, the Tories' immigration spokesman since 2005, has denied any wrongdoing and said "opposition politicians have a duty to hold the government to account".
John O'Connor, former head of the London police unit, the flying squad, told BBC Radio 5Live he found it difficult to believe the government didn't know about the investigation.
He said: "If the prime minister and the home secretary were unaware of this police activity - then they must be utterly incompetent.
"And if they were aware of it then that makes them really quite dangerous. So I think whatever way, whatever path they choose it doesn't put them in a good light."

Your Money and the Theatre

Well now we know, can you trust the word of a lib/dem, remember the leader saying no more public money for the Rose, now he’s changed it to, We are not really giving money but buying services. What a play on words, what spin.
We will not have to fight hard to win the next election it is being given it to us on a plate.
For who will trust the word of the LIB/DEMS after this.
I wait to see who votes in favour of this when it comes before council, those who do will have to explain it on the doorstep.
Think what we could do with the millions spent on the Theatre.
Our membership is increasing week by week and that dose not surprise me, for Kingston residents have seen how wasteful and incompetent the Lib/Dems are at managing and keeping their word.
The good news is that they will only be there for just over a year, the bad news is that we have to wait that long.

Taking it out of our hand by stealth

Tory MP takes 'garden grabbing' debate to Commons
Government claims that councils have the power to turn down "garden grabbing" bids by developers will be challenged tomorrow by a Conservative MP.
Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells, will tell the Commons that ministers have effectively changed the law to make it increasingly difficult for councils to stop developers buying up houses with big gardens, knocking them down and then building blocks of flats on the site.
At least 22,000 new homes every year are built on land previously used as a garden.
Mr Clark is demanding a revision of planning laws to give councils the right to reject "garden grabs".
He has received advice from the Commons Library that builders can now appeal against any refusal of planning permission for garden developments "with every chance of success".
Ministers may also face pressure from their own backbenchers, since the debate is on a Commons motion that has already been signed by nearly 40 Labour MPs.
It was previously tabled as an Early Day Motion and attracted more than 170 signatures from MPs on all sides of the House.
Mr Clark is promoting a Bill to protect gardens from developers and will tell the Commons that the problem has arisen from policy changes that require councils to concentrate housebuilding on "brownfield" sites and to increase housing density.
He added that, bizarrely, leafy gardens are officially designated as brownfield for planning purposes.
Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper has insisted that there has been no change of policy.
But her view has been challenged by the independent House of Commons Library.
It has told Mr Clark: "There is enough in the guidance to justify developers appealing any refusal of this type of application with every chance of success.
"In other words, I do think that the overall policy environment has changed in respect of developing on gardens."
Mr Clark will also accuse the Minister of trying to disguise the extent of garden grabbing by first denying that figures were available, then producing them under duress, but still resisting releasing regional breakdowns expected to show that the problem is far worse in the over-crowded south east of England.
Mr Clark is pressing for gardens to be removed from the definition of brownfield land.

Humiliation

Success for Post Office campaignersAlan Duncan has described the news that the Post Office has been re-awarded the contract for the Post Office Card Account as a “triumph” for campaigners.On Thursday, the Government caved into pressure and finally cancelled the procurement process they launched in 2006.Alan, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, said the process has been “a humiliation for the Government and a deeply destabilising waste of time for everyone else.”

What it will cost us

George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said a short-term spending increase of 1 per cent of gross domestic product would mean an increase in taxes in the medium term by the equivalent of almost 4p on income tax.
"That's not just a tax bombshell, it's a cruise missile aimed at the heart of recovery," Mr Osborne said in a speech to the London School of Economics.
The opposition party supported the "automatic stabilisers" of increased borrowing stemming directly from a recession. But Mr Osborne yesterday said monetary policy - lower interest rates - should be allowed to "do the heavy lifting in stimulating demand" rather than trying to boost it through the public purse. "Tackling recession with big spending does not work," he said.

SAS commander Quits

How much longer will this Government keep on making promise , our troops cannot survive on promises in to days war zones, yet hundreds of millions of pounds was spent on revamping the offices of the MOD worth chairs reputed to have cost thousands of pound each, on remberance Sunday, I hope the Govenment minister will think about this during the minutes silance.
the responcability is his

The SAS commander in Afghanistan has resigned amid fresh controversy over the standard of equipment available to British troops fighting the Taliban.

Reports claim Maj Sebastian Morley quit in disgust over the deaths of four of his soldiers when their lightly armoured Snatch Land Rover hit a mine.

In his resignation letter, Maj Morley was said to have blamed "chronic under-investment" in equipment by the MoD. .