therealpm

My attempts to ascertain the original cause of my erstwhile lycanthropy not withstanding, this week has been reasonably productive.  Though the legislation surrounding lycanthropes will never be brought to a full vote in either House (how could it), there are various committees that decide on such matters and intensive lobbying is at last beginning to bear fruit.  Not, I will admit, intensive lobbying conducted directly by myself.  I suspect any overt moves made in such a direction would be immediately regarded with suspicion, but Fowler has taken up the cause with what might be considered alarming alacrity.  Though he (and indeed every other member of such a committee) will never be convinced of a werewolf's right to roam, he has at least instated an inherent right to life provided the lycanthrope is willing to take the daily potion, and removed the restriction barring partners from becoming a lycanthrope's legal guardian.  Small steps, perhaps, but welcome.

I therefore intend to spend some time improving the daily potion.  At present it is challenging, though not impossible, to brew correctly, and it has a rather repulsive taste.  I suspect DEFRA consider the sedative and weakening effects to be a feature, rather than a problem, but I suspect that taken over a long period it causes a gradual degardation of health.  This too must be addressed.

The exact combination of ingredients required is yet to be discovered, but given the healthy links I have maintained with various research institutions, acquiring any particular root or grub should not present too much of a problem.  The main difficulty will be finding a test subject.  I can of course use mice for the development stage, but they give so little feedback, and in any case, once the formula is past development and into trials, I will need humanoid test subjects anyway. 

I wonder how that scottish island community is getting on?

"Tony Blair says he would be prepared to become Prime Minister again"


Oh Tony.

Well I suppose it'll make Alastair happy.


...Baroness Warsi cleared of a serious breach of the ministerial code? What nonsense is this?

Moving on from the mayoral elections, it is clear that we will not have a sensible policy with regard to Europe until there is some sort of national consensus rather than the current climate of general apathy and fringe group europhobia.

Europhobia, xenophobia and implicit condonation of the EDL is no way to reinvent the Labour Party. Fighting for the centre ground does not mean adopting the vilest policies of the Tory backbenchers. Blue Labour is nonsense, pandering to the lowest common denominator.

I find it appalling, that when we have the Conservatives on the run over phone hacking and the economy, that Ed Miliband should resort to this political dredging. There is absolutely no reason, when the majority of people are worried about the dog's breakfast that Osborne has made of the economy, to pander to petty prejudice and the Daily Mail mob.

Once again, I believe I have been proven correct.

It is a pity that Cameron's most able spokesman is currently unable to help him. From what I've seen thus far, he rather needs the assistance.

I can't say the man and I ever enjoyed much by way of conversation, but it was a pleasure today to unveil a statue of one of the Labour party's all-time greats.


In other news, it appears that yet another yougov poll has been doing the rounds,this time about who is the nation's most irritating politician. In no particular order the results are:

	Irritating	Not Irritating	Don't Know
Ed Balls	51	31	18
John Bercow	36	18	46
Lembit Opik	63	18	19
Baroness Warsi	39	17	44
George Osborne	52	30	18
David Cameron	48	45	7
Vince Cable	39	38	24
Nick Clegg	52	41	8
Ed Miliband	52	37	11
Gordon Brown	58	33	8
Peter Mandelson	65	18	16
Harriet Harman	54	28	17
William Hague	50	40	10

The boy is doing well, certainly better than is helpful given the current situation. Our long term strategy is reasonably secure, but a short term boost to keep us in the public's good books would not be unwelcome.

...and of course, a scattershot approach to divert media attention elsewhere can be very effective.