This evening was spend in the company of a Mr Ross Noble. I won't say too much about the show, or, more accurately, I can't say too much about the show, apart from how he manages to keep so many threads of storytelling/trains of thought going on at once, I will never know. Very impressive, and very, very funny.

Mildly (understatement alert) worrying thing I spotted in the various feeds this evening, apparently the Guardian have been gagged from reporting on parliament.

Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes) has posted up, wondering if this is the question that Carter-Ruck obtained the gag over:

Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.

Ah, right. I appear to have copied and pasted it here as well. Whoops.

Still, coming not that long after a member of opposition was arrested, should a gagging order on the reporting of parliamentary affairs a: come as a surprise, and b: should we be surprised when a whole bunch of people thing "meh, don't care, too busy trying to work out who to vote for on x-factor this week, and where to complain about something that someone said off-air to another person, who got offended, was apologised to, and accepted the apology"

As for old Jacqui Smith and her not having to pay back any money if she apologises to parliament, even though she broke the rules, I won't get started. Well, I will, but only to ask:

"Why does she have to apologise to parliament? It was public money she ended up benefiting from, so why doesn't she have to pay it back, or at the very least, apologise TO THE PUBLIC?".

And yes, I'm aware that in the grand scheme of things, a few grand here and there for MPs to fritter away on BBQs, cushions, £400 a month on food, and duck islands is totally inconsequential when compared to the amount the government was borrowing every hour in July. Over £10,000,000 (nope, no mistype there, over ten million pounds sterling per hour).

Whoops, politics, sorry about that. If you read all the way through that, you deserve a little light relief, so here's a video.