Uh-oh, tighten those belts. The Bank of England says it's going to be choppy in 2008 thanks to global mortgage-lending buffoons. Presumably the Tories are now well ensconced in the "any bad news is good news for us" zone, so Happy New Year, Davey! Cleggers is investing in social mobility,… read more…

BONG! From today, you can drive from Lisbon to Tallinn without a passport. Which is extraordinary, given that 60 years ago you'd have needed a tank and a dose of megalomania. We're still reeling from the fact there's now a Polish food aisle in Dog Kennel Hill Sainsbury's. Given they… read more…

Is it us, or does Christmas come earlier every year? News has fallen off a cliff in the last 48 hours since the terrific excitement of Cleggers' election. And yes, we are including the announcement of the Cleggers "front bench team" (actually front-bench-and-a-bit-off-to-the-side team). BONG! He might not believe in… read more…

BONG! The LibDems have a shiny new leader: all hail CleggHuhneMan! And more importantly these days, they have a shiny new homepage, featuring new leader without a tie. Gasp! Casual inclusiveness! BONG! Government proposes to cut tourist visas to three months from six for non-EU visitors, to prevent people "overstaying… read more…

BONG! Darling's reassured us about data loss, saying none of the 25 trillion entries has fallen into the wrong hands. He didn't make clear how he could know that. Did he nick it himself? BONG! Britain is sending "80 policemen and judicial officials" to Kosovo. Is that the 21st century… read more…

BONG! Soldiers are turning to coke because of stress. Insert marching powder gag here. BONG! 160 MPs call for a rethink on police pay, and ask for three speeding tickets and a fine for indecent exposure to be taken into consideration. BONG! Victims of violent crime are waiting longer for… read more…

BONG! No-one knows what goes on behind closed doors, as Charlie Rich sang. Except we do, don't we? Gordon Brown signed a "historic" European treaty behind closed doors today, didn't he? BONG! Yvette Cooper's sick of him indoors getting all the attention. So she's come out with her own social… read more…

BONG! "No negotiating with Taliban" says Brown, who's also busy not negotiating with policemen and Mediterranean types who are hawking around a treaty-thingy. BONG! The police may strike. Yorkshire miners currently offering their services to government as replacement cover if needed. BONG! The public has spoken. The £50 million Big… read more…

BONG! Ed Balls releases his Children's Plan: foreign languages! adventure playgrounds! personal tutors! And some stuff about how video games are bad for you (boo!). BONG! Gordon IS going to Lisbon, but only for the private-sardine-dinner-and-EU-Treaty-signing-without-cameras. BONG! The public don't want it, the Commons don't want it, the terrorists don't… read more…

BONG! If someone hasn't thought of that headline already, we're copyrighting it. Anyway, Dave put his Unionist T-shirt on in Edinburgh today, before nipping out to buy some Scottish wool and shortbread. We think our picture is more descriptive of the Tory-Scotland interface than another one of bloody Mel Gibson,… read more…