ToryDiary: Michael Gove, banding, school admissions - and selection by abilityFrancis Davis on Platform: The Big Society should be the means by which people reclaim duties and rights stolen from them by overwhelming bureaucraciesLeftWatch: GMB leader in threat to withdraw funding for Labour if David Miliband is elected leaderMark Wallace in Local Government: The word "community" should be restored to its true meaning Q. What is your earliest political memory? A. Kenny Everett, Big Hands - 'Let's Bomb Russia' in 1983!  Mind you, at that age I was more impressed by the 'Big Hands' than the underlying political message. - Justin Tomlinson MP answers ConHome's Twenty Questions for the Class of 2010WATCH: BBC Director General Mark Thompson defends the corporation in this year's MacTaggart...

Here it is official at last, a true competitor to the iPad, the Galaxy Tab. WE’ve talked about the rumours lots here at MightyGadget and we’ve definitely sung the praises of the Galaxy S, Android phone too go alongside it. It will be officially 100% unveiled at IFA on September the 2nd but Samsung have unleashed a wonderful little teaser video showing just what the Tablet can do.   The 7” tablet PC will run the wonderful Android 2.2 Froyo OS and will feature video calling, HD video playback, e-reader functions and will allow connection to a PC it also has a camera on the back of it, certainly something over the iPad there to take into consideration. If it’s as good as the Galaxy Phone then you’re looking at some serious piece of slate.   Keep your eyes on IFA then(next...

Police arrest man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers during current Test at Lord'sPolice arrested a man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers earlier today following allegations of match-fixing during the current cricket Test match between England and Pakistan.The penultimate day of the Test at Lord's gets underway tomorrow morning overshadowed by allegations in the News of the World that a number of members of the Pakistan team were involved in cheating during the current match.A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Following information received from the News of the World we have today arrested a 35-year old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers."The newspaper alleged that two bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, delivered three deliberate no-balls...

Today Total Politics announces the top 20 Northern Irish blogs.Here's the full list:1 (1) Slugger O'Toole2 Splintered Sunrise3 (3) A Pint of Unionist Lite4 (2) Three Thousand Versts5 (5) A Tangled Web6 Open Unionism7 (14) Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland8 (10) 1690 & All Thon9 (7) Bobballs10 (6) Ulster's Doomed11 Ultonia12 Bavarian Orange Order13 (8) Devenport Diaries14 Alan in Belfast15 Hand of History16 (18) O'Conall Street17 Jeff Peel's Diary18 Burke's Corner19 (20) The Dissenter20 East Belfast DiaryIf your blog is one of the ones featured above please feel free to put the following button in your sidebar and link it through to this post:This list is the result of more than 2,200 people who voted in the Total Politics Annual Blog Poll during the second half of July. All these...

• Review of IPCC calls for tighter term limits on top bosses• Changes required to ensure science panel's credibilityRajendra Pachauri, who leads the UN's science panel on climate change, is coming under pressure to step aside as chair of the organisation after an independent review of the panel's work called for tighter term limits for its senior executives.Pachauri has come under heavy fire in recent weeks amid the swirl of allegations concerning the scientific basis of climate change, including accusations of conflict of interest and charges of inaccuracy in the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which he has chaired since 2002.The most serious error, which slipped into the IPCC's fourth assessment in 2007 and prompted a global outcry, was the...

Over the past week or so, William Hague has been the victim of malicious rumours about his sexuality and relationship with a new aide. I first became aware of it due to a sudden and inexplicable increase in the hits on this blog to an old post in 2008 – itself blogged due to the same search term. Eventually I was able to track it back to this post by Guido, where the issue was aired oh-so-subtley (without actually using the word “gay” or “affair”), but rather less subtle were the commenters, some of which were very crude. Not particuarly surprising for Guido’s commenters, but still. The next “relevation” was that in 1995 Hague faced questions about the appointment of another young aide… followed by “ZOMG THEY SHARED A HOTEL ROOM...

Tea Party activists gather in Washington to hear Glenn Beck on anniversary of King's 'I have a dream' speechTens of thousands descended on Washington today for one of the biggest culture clashes in decades – one that pitted an almost exclusively white crowd against one that was predominantly African-American. Both claimed the legacy of Martin Luther King.The biggest crowd was for a rightwing rally supported by the Fox Television host and author Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Tea Party activists, who gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, where King delivered his "I have a dream" speech 47 years ago to the day.Beck estimated that the crowd, the biggest show of strength by Tea Party activists this year, numbered in the hundreds of thousands, many of whom had travelled long distances. He claimed...

That is the question most UKIP members are wondering as the Party looks ahead to its Annual Conference later this week in Torquay.Farage is a founding member of UKIP and is by far the Party's best known face and personality. Speaking personally, he is the man who inspired me to become active in politics with his trademark ebullient performances on BBC Question Time. I know I am not alone in citing such media performances as the inspiration that sparked me to take the plunge and join UKIP.After being the Party's main media man and spokesperson for many years, Farage finally stood and was elected to the leadership of UKIP in 2006, some 13 years after he helped form the Party, in a landslide result. What followed was a focus on broadening UKIP's agenda beyond the EU to immigration, a push at...

The week ended with a flurry of activity, Sebastien Squillaci’s signing confirmed and the draw for the Champions League deciding that Arsenal had not travelled far enough in previous campaigns, send Wenger and the squad to the Ukraine in November. That draw could have been harder, no-one in the group is an obvious barrier to qualification and Arsenal’s history of failure in Ukraine, Portugal and Serbia should not be considered relevant either. Crucially, the fixtures have worked well in conjunction with the Premier League. The trip to Donetsk precedes the away match at Newcastle, arguably the ‘easiest’ fixture of the six following Champions League group encounters. Belgrade is less than three hours flying time which should not be a factor before Stamford Bridge...

Since 1963, the TARDIS has always been played by Judi Dench, who is also bigger on the inside.Based on an anonymous contribution.This post started off on my blog - http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com - there are so many features on there that are not in the newsfeed, or posted elsewhere, you really need to check it out!...

Dog owners are being urged to clean up after their pets to help stop the spread of a virulent parasite. The parasite, Neospora, is found in dogs’ faeces and, if they foul grazing land and pregnant... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...

We asked what was the point of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)  recently and… well… didn’t really come up with a decent answer. They’re like toothless combs scraping over a bald man’s shining dome. Well, now the ASA can be equally non-effective in the online realm as they’ve got the power to wag a pointless finger at the internet as a whole. The official line is that online marketing and advertisements will face with same strict advertising rules as trad. arr. media from March next year. The reality is that people in marketing are probably shrugging their shoulders at the news and continuing to pick specks of cocaine from their receding gums. If they actually do their job, this could be good though. The ASA are going to have the power to ban...

In 2003, a month after coalition troops invaded, Jonathan Steele reported from across the country on how ordinary people had reacted to the toppling of Saddam. Before the last US combat troops pulled out last week, he returned to track down the people he had met – and ask how their lives had been affected by the warIn Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, the ruins of the Farouk palace, one of his many mansions, stand bereft and strewn with rubble. It seems only yesterday that I walked through them with the first Iraqi looters in April 2003.During the night Hellfire missiles from US Cobra helicopters had knocked huge holes in the facade above the Tigris, bringing a triumphant end to the three-week invasion 96 hours after the fall of Baghdad.Their guns slung, US troops were wandering...

A chef from Texas is set to become a hero to beer and fried-food loving men everywhere... after creating a recipe for deep-fried beer. Mark Zable says he came up with the idea while sitting in a bar (where else?) and being bored by the majority of items on the menu.Zable then tried countless ways of frying beer including using liquid nitrogen to freeze it before covering it in batter and submerging it in hot oil.But it was only after three-years of trial and error he worked out beer could be placed in a ravioli-like pocket of pretzel dough and flash fried for about 20 seconds… personally we can't think of a better way of spending three years. The 39-year-old says he has patented the process of placing any liquid in a dough type product for frying purposes, and now hopes to...

The Royal Mail have finally gone and done the thing we’ve all been yearning for. We’ve waited years, but at last, it is here. Ladies and gentlefolk, the Royal Mail has made an intelligent stamp. We know that you lot have been itching for something like this. We’ve had millions of emails stating that you’ve long stared a postage stamps and wanted something more from them. Even our editor, Mr Dawson, has been known to scratch away at them in an attempt to find hidden extras inside. WELL WAIT NO LONGER! The Royal Mail’s latest stamp works with image recognition technology, which means that, when you scan it with your smartphone, you get a whole bunch of useless shit. The new stamp, which is part of the Royal Mail’s Great British Railways edition, will...

• No easing of burden for at least five years, says Treasury chief• Hope of cuts for better-off and middle classes dashedThe extent of austerity measures facing Britain is laid bare today as the Treasury chief secretary reveals there will be no cut in the overall burden of taxation for at least five years.The message from Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat in charge of slashing the record £155bn deficit, will alarm Tory MPs and others who hoped that the government's programme of savage spending cuts would create room for tax reductions before the next election.But speaking to the Observer in his first national newspaper interview since entering the Treasury, Alexander makes clear that total tax revenue will have to remain at least at current levels throughout the parliament to put...

In the end, Belfast City Airport’s recent outreach event didn’t attract a lot of people over the terminal threshold to hear what the airport was up to. While 21,000 local homes may have received the regular airport newsletter, only 42 people turned up at the two half-day Community Information sessions run last week.As I blogged over on Slugger O’Toole, a bigger blow was dealt this morning when Michael O’Leary announced at a press conference in the Europa Hotel that Ryanair would be pulling out of Belfast City on 31 October, ceasing their routes to Bristol, East Midlands, Liverpool, London Stansted and Prestwick. (They're continuing to fly out of City of Derry airport.) O’Leary has run out of patience with the continued lack of runway extension and the delayed public...

Afghan authorities are keeping a close eye on world wheat prices as they seek to boost strategic stocks ahead of winter and ensure that demand is met as some traditional suppliers halt exports. Afghanistan is among the most vulnerable countries in the world for food supply, according to the Food Security Risk Index 2010, compiled with the UN’s World Food Programme. The country, one of the world’s poorest, faces a shortfall of 700,000 tonnes of wheat, the mainstay of the Afghan diet, the agriculture ministry said. Afghanistan usually imports most of its annual shortfall from Russia, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Devastating natural disasters — floods in Pakistan, drought in Russia — meant Kabul would rely on Kazakhstan this year, said Majidullah Qarar, ministry...

Sony is back in the digital camera game, introducing new models which are powered by the world’s first translucent mirror technology that paves the way for simultaneous auto focus and capture in an interchangeable lens digital camera. These new models are capable of deliver continuous phase detect AF during 10 fps High-Speed Shooting and Full HD Movie Shooting moments. The two models that we’re talking about would hail from the Alpha range, where they are known as the SLT-A55V and the SLT-A33. Just what is Translucent Mirror Technology, you ask? More on that in the extended post. Translucent Mirror Technology basically delivers performance that was previously unattainable with traditional DSLR technology. Both the a55 and a33 models are able to continuously and quickly focus...

Bottles and stones thrown as police separate EDL from anti-fascist groups in Yorkshire cityBottles, stones and a smoke bomb have been hurled by supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) and opponents from Unite Against Fascism during protests in Bradford.About 700 people had gathered at the Urban Gardens, in the city centre, police said.There were also between 250-300 people at the crown court plaza for the Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford event. Meanwhile, 150 people were at the community event called Be Bradford – Peaceful Together, at Infirmary Fields.Supporters of the far-right EDL threw bottles, cans and stones over a barrier towards opponents gathered opposite the Urban Gardens.A smoke bomb launched over a temporary 8ft-high wall between the two groups landed on the...

The Member of Parliament for Redcar, Ian Swales, will be joining a fundraising bike ride on Saturday 4th September. The event is one of around 50 'Fresh Air Miles' events taking place across the country to celebrate 15 years of the National Cycle Network.The event is being hosted by leading UK charity Sustrans who help people to make smarter, healthier, cleaner and cheaper travel choices.Sustrans work with families, communities and partner organisations so that people really do have options. Ian Swales will be joining Philip Chisholm who is Sustrans' volunteer liaison ranger in Redcar on the bike ride.It will start from Saltburn Allotments/Howard Drive,Marske at 2pm and he will ride to the Council's old Cargo Fleet Offices in South Bank. All are welcome to join in on the ride and Ian...

Federal Reserve chairman appears before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in Washington• Lehman boss Dick Fuld was defiant in the hotseat yesterday2.41pm: There are 4 or 5 countries which are the most important that the US has to work with on solving the problem of 'too big to fail' banks, Bernanke says. Presumably (hopefully) that includes the UK. "There a lot of work to be done and I think we have a way to go" but there's plenty of co-operation and goodwill from international partners.2.38pm: So what's changed? Well, nowadays, Bernanke says, firms will have "living wills" giving instructions on how to wind them down.But a key problem, he says, is the international dimension - one bank supervised by the Fed has offices in 109 countries, each with its own bankruptcy rules and...

Industrial action on London Underground to start on 6 September in protest against plans to cut 800 jobsTalks aimed at averting a series of strikes by London Underground workers from next week have broken down and the industrial action will go ahead as planned, union leaders said today.The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said LU had failed to remove the threat of cuts to safety and safe staffing levels that would have allowed "meaningful discussions" to take place.Thousands of Tube staff are due to launch the walkouts from next Monday evening, 6 September, in protest against plans to cut 800 jobs, threatening travel chaos in the capital.The RMT accused LU management of "sabotaging" talks today at the conciliation service Acas with officials from the union, and the Transport...

Former Cuban president says the 9/11 mastermind is in the pay of the CIA and cites WikiLeaks as his sourceFidel Castro has more reason than most to believe conspiracy theories involving dark forces in Washington. After all, the CIA tried to blow his head off with an exploding cigar.But the ageing Cuban revolutionary may have gone too far for all but the most ardent believer in the reach and competence of America's intelligence agency. He has claimed that Osama bin Laden is in the pay of the CIA and that President George Bush summoned up the al-Qaida leader whenever he needed to increase the fear quotient. The former Cuban president said he knows it because he has read WikiLeaks.Castro told a visiting Lithuanian writer, who is known as a font of intriguing conspiracy theories about plots...

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is currently seeking damages for what he believes are gross patent violations by Google, Apple, FaceBook, eBay, AOL, and Netflix. That’s quite a hit list. One blogger succinctly put it this way: he’s suing the whole internet. What for? Apparently Allen is fighting for four important patents that his lab developed some years back, patents that have become an indelible part of e-commerce and online activity in general. These include how related stories are provided after you read a particular article and search engines suggesting material you check based on your previous searches. The other two patents are those that allow ad placements and links next to an item that’s being viewed. These are the only details to have circulated in the press so far and...

Theresa May: Home Secretary and an evil, loathsome woman.Having woken up to the existence of the European Arrest Warrant, Iain Dale shows a touching faith in Our New Coalition Overlords™ in his confident assertion that they will do something about the disgusting injustices visited on British citizens under this legislation.And if Theresa May is the woman I think she is, she will pick up the phone to her Greek counterpart tomorrow morning and ask him to put right this apparent massive injustice.Go on Theresa. You know you want to.If Theresa May is the woman that I think she is, she will sit on her fat arse and do fuck all. Theresa May couldn't give two fucks about the rights of British citizens, and nor do the rest of the Coalition: as many of us have said for years, the only thing...

Outbreak at University College London Hospital affected 13 premature babiesA premature baby died at one of England's leading hospitals during an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that affected 13 infants, it emerged today.The death has raised fresh fears about the dangers of superbugs, which doctors are struggling to treat because they lack the right antibiotics to combat them.The dead child was one of 13 premature babies found to have gram-negative bacteria on or in their bodies last month in the neonatal unit of University College London hospital. The bacteria – which included E coli and Klebsiella – posed acute difficulties because they are resistant to gentamicin, the antibiotic the hospital used to tackle infections in newborns.In four of the 13 cases the bacteria got...

Men send messages of love and gratitude in grainy 45 minutes film which shows them optimistic and heartyStripped to their waists and sweating in the heat, unshaven, scrawny and filthy but all, it seemed, optimistic and hearty: the first video footage of the 33 trapped Chilean miners gave hope today to their families waiting above ground.In the haunting 45-minute video, released on Thursday night, the miners send messages of love against a backdrop of tunnels and caverns that have entombed them since the cave-in on 5 August.At the entrance to the San José mine, where family members have set up camp, the atmosphere was jubilant. Ruth Contreras, whose son Carlos Bravo is one of the trapped men, said: "He's skinny, bearded and it was painful to see him with his head hanging down, but I am...

Talks in Washington – the first direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine for 20 months – 'can and must' succeed, says PMThe Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, warned today that a "moment of reckoning" was approaching as Israel and the Palestinian Authority prepare to embark this week on their first direct negotiations for 20 months.Setting out his second-year plans to build the institutions and framework of a Palestinian state – which the US wants complete in 12 months – Fayyad said the talks "can and must" succeed or the chances of a two-state solution to the conflict would fade."Every day that this conflict is not resolved there are more facts on the ground that make a two-state solution less likely," he told a press conference in Ramallah. The international...

Her son Sajad says she was told she would be hanged at dawn on Sunday and visits by her family and lawyer have been deniedSakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning, was told on Saturday that she was to be hanged at dawn on Sunday, but the sentence was not carried out, it emerged tonight.Mohammadi Ashtiani wrote her will and embraced her cellmates in Tabriz prison just before the call to morning prayer, when she expected to be led to the gallows, her son Sajad told the Guardian."Pressure from the international community has so far stopped them from carrying out the sentence but they're killing her every day by any means possible," he said.The mock execution came days after prison authorities denied family and legal visits to Mohammadi Ashtiani. Her...