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Sweet Little Lies

By Francesca Craggs on Feb 8, 10 04:07 PM

They say couples should start out on the path to married life with no secrets.
My sentiments exactly. My husband however, has other ideas.

Newcastle destroy Cardiff

By Stephen Farrell on Feb 6, 10 02:47 PM

Well that was easier than we thought it was going to be wasn't it? The general consensus was that it'll probably be a narrow game, and it was likely only a goal would separate the two teams if at all. How wrong we were.

What's the cost?

By Adrian Pearson on Feb 4, 10 05:58 PM

£42,229. That's a rough estimate of how much MPs from the North East, past and present, owe the region.
I've rounded down, because I'm generous with money.

What would that get us?
Well, around 1,409 tickets to see Newcastle United play Cardiff. Or more than 21,000 trips on the Shields ferry.
Or we could hire a solicitor for more than 400 hours, based on a loose estimate of hourly rates in Newcastle city centre. Should be long enough to get some of the cash back.

MPs expenses - what a mess

By William Green on Feb 4, 10 01:18 PM

WHAT a mess. A year after the expenses scandal first blew up, the stench lingers on.

It took newspaper journalists to shame Parliament into action, after years of doing nothing to deal with the expenses crisis.

Angry MPs first blasted the media for even daring to cover the story, but as public anger exploded, a major inquiry was launched.

Cabinet will discuss electoral reform tomorrow

By William Green on Feb 1, 10 09:13 PM

Nick Brown, North East Minister and Chief Whip, has confirmed electoral reform will be discussed at today's Cabinet.

"The Cabinet tomorrow will consider a proposal to legislative for a referendum on AV. It is a long established policy of the Labour party to make no changes to the Westminster voting system without asking the British people first.

"The change that is proposed is AV. This means you could rank the candidates you wanted to vote for in order."

Government orders info on would-be MPs

By William Green on Feb 1, 10 06:33 PM

Should this be something to worry about or note? The Government has got a public affairs agency - linked to a Labour minister - to compile information on Parliamentary candidates and which party may win which seats?

The documents prepared by Connect Public Affairs and released by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) make very interesting reading.

There are two run downs of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs), the latest being from last April and November - and any link to the expenses scandal. It also suggests who will win the seat.

Now, is that something that a Government department should be worrying about?

Lady Luck's dealt me a bad hand

By Tony Jeffries on Feb 1, 10 04:25 PM

I'VE had some bad news today when I had to pull out of my fight with Nathan King.

I was due to fight King in Nottingham on Friday but after picking up a little niggle in my last sparring session before the fight I've decided to do the sensible thing and pull out.

False hope?

By Adrian Pearson on Jan 29, 10 03:42 PM

To review or not to review?
Did Ken Clarke slip up? Some papers reported the Conservatives are looking again at RDAs and may not scrap them after all.
Not true it would seem. Sort of.

Chilcot

By Adrian Pearson on Jan 29, 10 03:11 PM

Blair's big day. The TV is on with constant feed, as it will be in newsrooms across the country, and in the homes of quite a few families as well.
I haven't had a chance to follow all the details, but our man Rob Pattinson is fully immersed in the issues, and speaking to the families who have paid the highest cost for Blair's decisions.
Here's his take .

What will we learn?

By William Green on Jan 29, 10 09:19 AM

So Tony Blair is before the Iraq War inquiry in 10 minutes. What will we learn?

Well unless the ex-PM has some sort of road to Damascus moment, it could boil down to the usual argument.

He thinks the war was just and legal, while others think the opposite. And whatever he says will not change that.

An apology for mistakes though would be nice though. How about a lack of planning post-conflict and equipment problems would be a start.

Will be tweeting through the day. Click here to go to my twitter feed.

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