I had better not say what I would like to happen to this woman

There is no more repulsive figure in British politics than Margaret Hodge. In the Eighties, as Labour boss of London's Islington Council, she not only aggressively covered up a major paedophile scandal in the council's care homes, but publicly libelled the victims - for which I for one have never forgiven her. Incomprehensibly (or rather, all too comprehensibly, since Tony Blair lived in Islington and was her friend) she not only survived this abomination, but was actually elected to the Commons and promoted to minister - and minister for children, at that! An outcry from people who, like me, remembered, forced her transfer somewhere else; but wherever she went, she left the traces of ham-fisted party conformity, grovelling ambition, and flatfooted political hackery. She is a born crawler, made to grovel before party bosses and to stomp on the common people who pay her wages.

This, however, is the straw that breaks the camel's back: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/04/nprom204.xml

And while we're on the subject of repulsive -

- I never even bothered to read the article, but is this not the most mentally-challenged headline you've ever seen? http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/DougGiles/2008/03/01/would_christ_carry_a_concealed_weapon

Thoughts on the current disquiets

Nobody likes war. At the same time, suppose Chavez really carried on with his provocations until he made it inevitable: I think that, unless the Venezuelan Army had a fit of sanity and removed him, its result would delight us. Think for a minute: the Colombian Army, hardened by years of war against the FARC, against the Venezuelans, who have not fought a war in living memory, and insignificant Ecuador. Wouldn't it be nice to see Chavez having to seek refuge in Habana or Harare?