http://www.blueidea.co.uk A Conservative-supporting thinking blog. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:45:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland has been accused of "unparliamentary language" after this little outburst in the Commons [via Tory Radio]:Greg Mulholland: Will the Minister give way?Mr. Lewis: We are all fed up with it. I return to the substantive issues.Greg Mulholland: Will the Minister give way?Mr. Lewis: I will ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/lib-dem-a.html Via Mike Rouse, who nicked it from an internet forum:Dear Minister,I’m in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this.How is it that Dick Smith of T.V. Rentals Glasgow has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a TV cable from them back in ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/writing-to-a-minister.html Sam Coates has received an email from FCO about the "myth and fact" of the Lisbon Treaty [aka EU Constitution], entitled "Not for Publication". So, of course, he published it on his Red Box blog.Maybe they just meant to send to to the Independent as their next leader on the ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/1203.html So Derek Conway has resigned. He really had no choice after the revelations that he had employed both of his sons at the taxpayer's expense for minimal work, and Cameron withdrew the whip from him. Personally, I appreciate Iain Dale's stance on Derek Conway: he's a friend, so anything he ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/relatively-working-for-mps.html Dining rooms are dying out as more and more homeowners knock down walls to create bigger living areas, new research claims.More than half a million dining rooms in British homes are likely to be demolished over the next 12 months...[I]if the trend continues, the traditional home of the formal dining ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/the-death-of-the-dining-room.html Exactly what it says on the tin... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/drunk-monkeys.html The proportion of middle class children going to university has grown under Labour:The educational gulf between rich and poor has widened over the last 20 years as more middle-class teenagers go to university, according to a report published today...Reforms introduced since 1997 - such as an increase in choice between ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/educational-class.html If this makes Cameron weak, Mike, what does that make Brown?!At least Cameron is actually taking action against someone who broke the rules, rather than ignoring it with members of his Cabinet! Conway, at least, was just a backbencher.If Cameron has shown himself to be "weak", what has Brown shown ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/1198.html Tory MP Derek Conway has been outed as employing his son as a parliamentary researcher whilst he was a full-time student and paying him £1,000-plus per month, with a total of around £13,000 salary - plus bonuses. And all from taxpayer's funds, for work that wasn't done. Certainly not work ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/derek-conway.html After all, he's spent the last decade trying to make his name on economic competence as Chancellor, yet Tony Blair is the one getting all the high-paid business jobs in the financial sector!And to add insult to injury, according to the Telegraph "[v]oters pin [their] financial hopes on David Cameron".Gordon ... http://www.blueidea.co.uk/2008/01/gordon-brown-must-be-feeling-sick.html