Another day dawns and shatters another illusion as it does so. This time, it's our overly romantic ideas regarding espionage that have taken a bit of a bruising - especially our secretly-held belief that those working for the MoD or other Government defense agencies really are as suave and as… read more…

The government's fight against teenage knife crime has reached the next stage of moral panic with the release of a new £3m advertising campaign. Devised by bonafide 'teenagers', the commercials will make use of real life stories, graphic images, viral ads, and promotional postcards that carry a thumbless hand (no… read more…

Snotty media-types throughout the country are said to be flying into a series of involuntary paroxysms today. As a result, our contacts at the BBC have reported the introduction of an 'elevator rule' which stipulates that there is to be no more than one person at a time in all… read more…

Ah, another day, another Orwellian analogy to be made. This time it comes after the BBC reveals that the government is considering plans to maintain a national database of every phone call and e-mail sent in the UK. Big Brother is watching you? See you in room 101? How'd you… read more…

Figures released by the Home Office today have shown an increase in the use of Taesers by police officers, detailing that between September 1st 2007 and February 29th 2008, Taesers were used a total of 252 times (236 of which were in the last three months). Of this there… read more…

Guess who's crawled out from under the (Northern?) rock. Why, it's the Prime Minister! Yesterday he stopped in with Andrew. Today he's got an extended interview in The Guardian. Tomorrow, Westmonster expects to see him in New Hampshire moderating a debate. And what's Gordon on about in his new… read more…

Who was ever going to like this proposed policy? The international press is, unsurprisingly, not amused. In the British press, the detractors are lining up to have their say. Keith Vaz makes the point that a wedding could cost a family £20k in guest visas. The Joint Council for the… read more…

La, la, la, 42, 42, 42. Oh, wait. Look at this number tucked away down there at the bottom of the article! So the home affairs committee is still considering 56 eh? Very sneaky. Otherwise, Gordon's had a bit of a bashing from the press this morning. Again. The Telegraph… read more…

Boulton & Co. reports on a possible climbdown on the part of the Government on the extension of 28-day detention. This is because the Home Office realised that Satan would be going to work in a snow plough before that one was nodded through on the quiet by Parliament the Gord heads… read more…

Predictably, the Affair of the Missing Disks is the top story this morning, although the Today Programme seems to be getting unusually excited about a prehistoric crab. Humphrys must be having one of his hot flushes again. Ann Treneman reports on the Parliamentary response to the data-loss news, the Telegraph… read more…

Is being leader of the Opposition easy, we were asking last night in the pub? Yeah, we all know that being an MP is bloody hard work if you do it properly, and the higher you get, the more demands there are on you. So how has Davy Cameron made… read more…

The Gord is set to deflect attention from the woes of Jacqui and assorted immigration traumas by getting all tough on terror. Yup, straight after PMQs he's going to announce the conclusions of two major security reviews which - one presumes - will have the rather welcome side-effect of putting the… read more…

The mystery of the missing immigrants is inadvertently solved by the Home Office. Jacqui Smith's billed to appear before the House at 3.30pm today to make a statement.… read more…

The Parliamentary week begins with Home Office questions. According to a highly representative poll carried out by Westmonster (sample size: one), Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is a laydee of many charms, not least of which is the ability to stand up in the Chamber and administer a strong performance without… read more…