Help!

This is all a joke, no?

My nephew. Alex, is keen on a political career. I can say, with not a hint of irony or intentional humour, that he would make a better Prime Minister than Ms Harman. Alex is eleven. There is not a single issue or judgement call on which I would not prefer to rely on his decision than Ms Harman's.

On the other hand...it's the one way to guarantee Cameron victory, so it has some logic.

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Waste not: want.

There's a superb piece by Carl Mortished in today's Times demolishing our increasingly embarrassing PM's latest nonsense:  

Food waste and overindulgence is a sign of new wealth. It is no accident that America is afflicted by so many diseases connected with overeating. It is because so many Americans are recent immigrants. If you have been poor or you fear poverty, an abundance of food is comforting and a symbol of your newly acquired wealth. We shouldn't blame the overweight office cleaner with a fast-food addiction any more than we should blame the skinny woman who nibbles at her posh lunch. Both are food wasters, but they are a sign that Britain is rich.

In a market economy, it is not the ration coupon that determines our consumption but our ability to pay for excess. And, up until recently, we were in a position to pay

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Full marks so far

Blimey. If it carries on like this, I'm going to be voting for a Conservative government for the first time in my life.

The party's education policy seemed to me the only positive reason for a Conservative vote. But Cameron's speech yesterday was superb. I was particularly taken by the clarity of his remarks on knife crime (my next book deals with politicians and criminal justice policy in depth, so I've been paying special attention). The evidence that prison works is overwhelming, especially on the young. The only chance we have of stemming the tide of knife crime is to lock up anyone caught in possession.

I was also taken with the force of Cameron's remarks on personal responsibility. Regular readers will know that this is a bugbear of mine.

I think this is the single best thing I have read from a senior politician...

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Good and bad gestures

I suppose this is two sides of the same coin.

At the weekend, we went to Portsmouth. I've never been before and my wife, who was brought up there, wanted to show me round. I didn't have particularly high expectations. But I couldn't have been more wrong. I've rarely been more more impressed with a tourist attraction than with Pompey's 'Historic Dockyard'. Everything about it confounds your expectations of British tourism and customer service.

First, it's very reasonable - £17.50 for an annual admission pass, which includes everything: HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, the Mary Rose, the museums, a 45 minute harbour boat trip, and lots more. Most places would charge a tenner just for one of them. All the staff were smiling, friendly and amenable. On the boat they brought round refreshments.

Really first class - a brilliant day out.

Last...

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Bloody-minded unions? Yes, the BMA is deadly (The Times)

I have a piece in today's Times on Dr Hamish Meldrum and the BMA. Here's an extract:

...When we think of bloody-minded unions, it's the likes of Jack Jones and Bob Crow that usually spring to mind. But when it comes to feather-bedding, screwing the public and a rigidly focused protection of its members' interest at the expense of everyone else, no other union comes close to the the British Medical Association.

Yesterday Hamish Meldrum, the BMA's chairman, added another string to its bow: cruelty. Speaking about the current rules governing co-payment - patients forced to pay privately for drugs denied by the NHS are then deemed non-people and refused any further NHS treatment - Dr Meldrum said the NHS should not treat patients who have paid for drugs themselves: “My gut instinct is that this goes against the sort of NHS I believe in, which

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