After Gordon Brown being embroiled by "bullygate", I thought it was time to try and shine a bit of light on David Cameron's character. So I asked his de-factor deputy William Hague today.

"He certaintly doesn't swear at me, but I have never seen him swear at anybody.

"He is not a short-tempered person, he is clear, he is decisive. Is he passionate? Yes, he is passionate about the NHS can be improved, that schools can be better, that the environment can be saved that the Government in this country can become better.

"But he is a very rational person. I regard him as the sanest person to have led the Conservative party for a long time, including me."

Loving a quote from Donatella Versace last week.

''For me, natural has something to do with vegetables'' she said.

This thinking certainly seems to underpin Versace's glitzy make-up range; nothing natural-looking or understated about the gold logo emblazoned packaging there.

While the Miss Versace school of beauty is not one I'd sign up to in a hurry (she looks like she sleeps in a sunbed, removing her lips to use as a pillow), I have to say I admire the vivacity of the brand and

I have been at the Tory spring conference in Brighton this weekend. The big finale was party leader David Cameron doing his old "look no notes" trick with his closing speech.

The event was made all the made critical given a slump in support in the opinion polls, putting the Tories just 2% ahead of Labour - potentially meaning Gordon Brown may stay as PM leading a minority Government.

But despite that added pressure, Mr Cameron failed to fizz - a bit like the whole weekend. It felt like a wet weekend by the seaside, rather than a rally to arms with a general election just around the corner.

We're making something of a habit of these grinding wins aren't we? Still, they all count so have to be happy with it in the end.

The inevitable finally came true on Friday as Portsmouth went into administration following months of speculation. One has to wonder if this will be isolated incident at the top level or if more will follow.

As we're still on our saving up mission, dearest hubby and I have not been out in ages.

Before we came to our senses (i.e. got boring) we'd go out for meals at the drop of a hat. "Nothing in the fridge darl? Let's go out!". Now it's more of a case of: "Nothing in the fridge darl? Let's have beans and a mouldy potato. Again."

Is the East Coast rail line cursed? Its passengers have suffered from more than their fair share of problems.

And now Labour promises of a new fleet of trains have been dumped. The project had been dragging on and on, and I recently wrote an article questioning the future of the project.

Ministers have been looking at alternative options, which cost less, and now Lord Adonis has announced that contracts have failed to be signed. Is this the first big project to be chucked overboard because of Britain's debt mountain?

I have been reading an excellent new book by Joyce Quin, a senior Labour figure from the North East. It's published by Northern Writers and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in politics.

It is well written exploring the changing British constitution, interlaced with episodes from Baroness Quin's long political career bringing the issues to life.

One such example is how Tony Blair's inaction helped scupper the elected regional assembly vote in 2004.

THOSE of you who read this blog regularly will know how nervous I've been about dancing live on TV this week - but after the last few days I now realise it's going to be even tougher than I thought.

On Saturday I'll be appearing live on BBC1's Let's Dance for Sport Relief at 7.15pm. I agreed to do it because it's for a great charity but the problem is, I can't dance!

A little addition to today's story about the mothballing of the Corus steel plant on Teesside following my interview with Business Secretary Lord Mandelson yesterday:

"We have already put together a £60m package to support a Teesside industrial programme.

"Now I hope there will be many demands on that cash, but including what we need to do to keep the skills base together at Teesside and to do what we can to make sure the plant reopens and starts production again."

Asked specifically if the fund could be used to help reopening, he said: "That's what it's there for."

Interesting.