We've seen a couple of silly remarks taking an axe to people's reputations of late - politicians who don't particularly harbour any racist inclinations but have said something distinctly ill-advised. Bringing up old slave plantation slang terms? Arguing that the black sector of the population can 'go home'? Fair… read more…

Maybe in years to come - rather than being seen as the year in which spiralling fuel prices heralded the beginning of the collapse of civilisation - 2008 will go down in history as the year in which several politicians made absolute arses of themselves by slipping racist nonsense… read more…

Sticking to your guns can often be a good thing. It shows commitment, courage, stamina and integrity. If, however, people are calling for your resignation after you used a hugely offensive racial slur at a public meeting, it's probably for the best to admit your stupidity and graciously accept… read more…

We've all had the occasional memory slip - left the house without our wallet or phone, left the keys inside the car, walked into a room and forgot immediately the reason for doing so. It happens. Chances are, though - if you were carrying a set of documents that… read more…

Train-based alcohol ban aside, Boris Johnson has been keeping a remarkably low profile since his installation as Mayor of London a few weeks back. Theories have run rampant around the Westmonster office as to what he's been up to, and we managed to come up with two relatively convincing… read more…

When most people hear the word 'comeback', they tend to think of some desperate 80's pop singer prancing about on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here with trowel-applied makeup and a searing blaze of loneliness in their sad eyes. They tend not to think of farms in… read more…

Sometimes the headline just says it all, doesn't it? Yes ... in a move roughly about as tactful as wheeling out some 'Uranus' puns during a Challenger eulogy, Kent Tory councillor Ken Bamber has really put his foot in it. And then his other foot. Then his torso, arms,… read more…

Here at Westmonster, we've got a lot of time for the citizen's arrest. Especially when we intertwine our own personal law-enforcing stance with Dirty-Harry-style tactics, thereby emptying the barrel of a Magnum into a group of chavs playing insipid R&B music via their mobile phones on the 55 bus.… read more…

Here at Westmonster, we've said it before and we'll say it again: it really isn't turning out to be Gordon Brown's year. After a non-stop calvalcade of scandal and general incompetence, the PM has seen his government take a rapid downturn in the popularity stakes and has even had… read more…

Big news doing the mainstream meeja rounds: Irish PM Bertie Ahern has stepped down after 11 years in office due to controversy surrounding his financial affairs. Here's a quick roundup of the most interesting slants on the subject: Ahern's resignation statment in full: Guardian The view from sunny California:… read more…