AA Strike action called

AA patrol staff are going on strike for two days starting on the second of May.

Members of the Independent Democratic Union (IDU) voted in favour of industrial action yesterday over a pension dispute. The IDU have stated that this is the first in a series of planned two-day strikes. It is their first national strike since the AA was formed 105 years ago.

It used to be the custom for Patrolmen used to salute when they saw an AA badge holder pass or attended a breakdown, I expect a different kind of salute will be in use during the strike.

Large Hadron Collider working (again)

I don't know how much has been spent on 'it', I don't think anyone knows how much has been spent on 'it'... There are conspiracy theorists who think 'it's' so clever that 'it' breaks down on purpose because 'it' is aware of 'how powerful 'it' is', but I bet even 'it' doesn't know how much has been spent on 'it'. I'm not against 'it', but I have noticed that while we're spending a squillion quid (rough guess) to get 'it' to create tiny black holes, there are enormous big black holes appearing all over the place, and no-one is filling them in.

Cash for access

Three Labour former Cabinet ministers and a Conservative MP have all been caught with their snouts well and truly jammed in in the trough.

Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon, and holding up the blue end Sir John Butterfill, were all filmed during an undercover sting operation by reporters for Channel 4's Dispatches programme. The reporters pretended to be from an American lobby group, the politicians pretended they could influence our law making process for cash, indeed Stephen Byers went so far as to suggest he was 'a cab for hire'.

One assumes all their pants are on fire.

Standards, what standards?

The former head of the Commons standards watchdog, Tory MP David Curry, has been ordered by the Standards and Privileges Committee to pay back £28,000 he claimed in expenses for a second home in Yorkshire which he used as a 'love nest' to entertain his mistress 'Cherry' Edwards.

Proving if nothing else 'where there's muck, there's brass' as the locals might say...

Fudgit Budget

With nothing to give away, and no desire to be seen clawing cash from the pockets of people about to vote whether they get another ride on the gravy train, the Labour budget was always going to conservative, with a small 'c'.

This was merely a paper shuffling exercise, not a fiscal agenda, just a 'fudgit budget'.