The Met at work

The Met on holiday

Why oh why oh why

Would the deputy chairman of the conservative party wish to have a go about the failure of the party to gain outright victory at the election when giving a keynote speech at the Conservative party conference.

Asking for trouble surely!

Ed and Dave Milliband are idiots

Both inhibit ivory towers. Just listening to Ed now on radio 5, it's cringe worthy stuff.


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The Sunday Polls

There are five polls out today. The best for the tories is pictured here.

Its interesting to note that the polls indicate that people seem to have got over the shock of seeing Nick Clegg on TV. The Tories are on top but not by enough.

Its Labour that need a massive change in fortune. They are doing appallingly. They are in office but being treated like a third party.

The media are bored by the campaigning style of the parties which is very restricting. A fair point. I think the public are to. Hence everyone has gone over board with the TV debates and Nick Clegg.

But it is a fascinating election in that no one knows how its going to end.

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Lib Dem Leader Leads

What an initial impact there has been since Nick Clegg was given the oppurtunity to appear with Brown and Cameron in the first leadership debate on ITV.

The polls that have appeared in the days since the debate have all shown a) Clegg benefitted massively b) it has shaken up the election completely.

I suspect this is all soft support, but if he can keep these floating voters then who knows what will happen on election day.

Clegg will find it harder now as the big guns are turned on the Lib Dems and the scrutiny begins. It will also be harder to shine in the second debate on foreign affairs.

But he has made the most of his oppurtunity and given Brown and Cameron a lot to think about.

Game on all round.

Its Marginal

The NOTW marginal polling seems to suggest the Tories are doing very well there. Not just stacking up votes in safe seats.

However I have not seen anything that throws the Lib Dems into the marginal mix. How are the Tories fairing against them. It will count.


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Sunday Papers

UK paper review - pre-election warm-up bores press

5 January 10 07:04 GMT



After the first day of what is being termed the pre-election campaign in the UK, several commentators are already willing it to be over.

"Five more months of this nonsense!" cries Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail. "Wake me up when it's over."

With "election starts" emblazoned across a television screen, cartoonist Matt's character in the Daily Telegraph covers his eyes in despair.

"If I was wearing exploding underpants, I'd set them off right now," he says.

First blood?

"The sooner we have that election," argues the Sun, "the sooner Britain can get back on its feet."

Labour's bid to launch an attack on Tory spending plans backfired, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The move exposed divisions in the Government's own economic policies, says the paper.

But the Guardian believes Labour drew first blood in the pre-election battle with David Cameron appearing to change policy on married couples' tax breaks.

Al-Qaeda concerns

Britain's relationship with Yemen is the focus of much press attention.

The Financial Times highlights concerns that al- Qaeda is seeking to make Yemen a haven.

It says a crackdown in Saudi Arabia has shifted the threat to its neighbour, adding that al-Qaeda could relocate there from Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The Times notes an added concern - that 14% of Guantanamo Bay detainees turned to terrorism after release and nearly half of the remaining 198 are Yemeni.

Chilled out

The Daily Star notes that the country is frozen solid, with no end in sight.

Beneath the headline "Just Chilling", the Daily Mirror pictures families skating and tobogganing during what it says is the coldest snap for 100 years.

The Guardian says that while it is bad in Britain, it is much worse elsewhere, highlighting record snow in China and South Korea.

The Arctic freeze wreaking havoc across the planet might seem to defy the logic of a warming world, notes the Times.