POTS & KETTLES

Despite my best efforts, I can't rid my mind of 'donorgate'!!!

So, here's a thought - perhaps sometimes we can be too insular. Can you imagine the next time that Mugabe or the Burmese regime or anyone of that ilk offends against our sense of decency or commits some sort of atrocity? The young whippersnapper, Milliband, will call the relevant cronies into the FCO and say: "Well, look here chaps. We can't have this going on, ya know. It's just not cricket... you know, it's so corrupt." Said cronies begin giggling behind their hands. The short-trousered one, by now looking a bit pasty and red-faced, might feel inclined to add: "And...errrm...we just don't do that sort of thing over here, don't you know." And said cronies start rolling about on the floor!

QED really.

DONORGATE

With all the brouhaha about the above - and with so many others far more eloquent and effective than me on the case - I've little enough to add. (In fact, I'm so cheesed off and appalled by the whole sordid mess that I think I'm going to try and do something a little more useful than letting my blood boil about it for the rest of the week-end!!!)

But, like others (not least this from Burning Our Money), it is worth emphasising the point as vehemently as possible that there is categorically no justification for the Great Bottler using his party's mendacity/incompetence (see Matthew Parris' article here for 'guidance') as an 'excuse' to wish upon us (the innocent and long-suffering public) state funding of political parties. It is unlike him but Guido puts it rather more gently: "There is no real need for new laws or reviews, there is a need for politicians to simply not break the existing laws." And this, of course, is the real point - if this miserable shower can't comply with the laws that they themselves have introduced, then they should face the full consequences of having broken that law.