Tennis - officially the best sport in which overpaid public schoolboys yell 'aarrgh' all the time as though they're undergoing gastric surgery rather than just hitting a ball with a racket - has always been bereft of political presence. Until now. That's right: ex-PM Tony Blair has decided to… read more…

Laughter may be 'the best medicine', but it can also be your worst enemy, as this frankly magnificent clip of Streatham Labour MP Keith Hill goes to prove. Odd how a phrase such as 'short sea shipping' can trigger the humour gland so violently ...… read more…

The ID card debate is beginning to move along interesting lines. Encapsulated these are: A growing and significant minority (25%) who are firmly opposed to the idea and, according to the NO2ID campaign, could refuse to comply with it (wishful thinking that, of course, as most of that 25% would… read more…

It is a thing of wonder to behold. John Redwood - Vulcan, nutjob, purveyor of over-egged exaggerations to the Daily Mail - has finally found the right forum for his thoughts, and it's a blog. Pretty good one, too - although given that the average standard of MP blogs in… read more…

Robert Hutton, a London reporter from Bloomberg, has taken a valuable public service in hand: tracking the number of policy reviews in the Brown government. He's been given a hat-tip by venerable lobby-dude Michael White. Hutton reckons there have now been 31 policy reviews announced since June 27, including four… read more…

Compass supremo Neal Lawson's continuing disappointment that his past cheerleading for the Gord hasn't resulted in an invitation to come inside the Big Tent is played out (again) on the web pages of Comment is Free.  … read more…

A big thumbs-up from everybody here at Westmonster to those clever chaps at Demos who will not rest until they've brought about a New Golden Age of democracy in which we've all been winched out of the pub in order to engage in citizens' juries, community budgeting, text message voting, and ... you… read more…