Governments wanted the military victories to reflect on them and to distance themselves as rapidly as possible from defeat. But what is different now is the extent to which ideas as well as developments have been taken over by leaders seeking to be associated with the novel and the newsworthy. I assume that's what he was signalling.simoncarr75 hotmail More from Simon Carr. Mr Salter signalled with his fingers that he'd only asked two. Especially those hedgehogs.NB: The Speaker told Martin Salter to sit down He'd asked three supplementaries. The rebate is negotiable." The cleverest questions don't get an answer from the Prime Minister but they can sometimes reveal the way he doesn't answer.Responding to the Leader of the Opposition he offered this: "Pending clarification from France, there's no point in our having a referendum." Clarification, you wonder? What exactly is unclear? And the Government's defence is bewildering, when you look at it. And cancelling our referendum, as the Government has just done, keeps the constitution alive? Lewis Carroll would have enjoyed it in the gallery yesterday.Finally: What's the PM referring to here? "Long term, it's the single biggest issue we face." International terrorism? Education? The challenge of Chinese productivity gains? Climate change? The spread of democracy to the Middle East? Renewable energy? Giant mutant hedgehogs capable of squashing cars? Yes, is the answer All of the above.
To continue with our referendum to ratify the constitution somehow declares the constitution dead. In spite of it all though, I have to say that Not David Davis asked a question of such epic stupidity and uselessness that he may well be Andrew Lansley's PPS in a week's time.By contrast Simon Burns asked a model question. It was brief: "Is the British rebate from the European Union negotiable?" The Prime Minister replied very firmly: "The rebate will remain We will not negotiate it away Period." In other words: "Yes. It will be very hard to prosper in the Conservative party with a name of an inner thigh infestation: things have changed, you see.
"David T C Davis" the Speaker called out, and the House went into rapture. A man with middle initials! Of such trifles are parliamentary careers made.At school, we had epidemics of a fungal infection called TC It used to infest our inner thighs. A photographer at the gates of the Palace of Westminster got very excited as I cycled through; she crouched and fired off half a dozen shots before calling at me to turn back to the camera "Mr Davis!" she cried "Mr Davis!" Oddly enough, I quite liked it. In spite of the fact that David Davis has a broken nose and is six inches shorter than I am, I found myself flattered.
