There have been suggestions that Gordon Brown might call the general election this week rather than April 6 as widely expected.

The argument is that it wouldn't look too good with the national rail strike underway. Indeed it will be interesting for your correspondent to get to Westminster on the day. That comes on top of the BA walkout.

But as close to getting it from the horse's mouth itself, the PM's right hand man Ed Balls has said the strike will make no difference.

Another mental night at SJP, another 3 points and another step closer to returning to the Sky League.

A feeling of despondency set upon me yesterday. We had the Ask the Chancellors debate on Channel 4.

Lib Dem Vince Cable was the only one to offer any details about spending cuts - perhaps the luxury of being part of the third party - but Tory George Osborne and Labour's Alistair Darling were silent.

But the mask has slipped a little in recent days. First Darling's number two Liam Byrne admitted "difficult decisions" lie ahead when asked about job cuts in the public sector to deal with Britain's £167bn deficit. So that's an acknowledgement of job cuts.

And yesterday Osborne's lieutenant Philip Hammond admitted as much as well - and thousands of jobs in the North East could go.

I'M just about to go and test drive one of the fastest cars in the world and I'm just hoping it goes better than my journey to Nottingham last week.

I'm sometimes tempted to do a separate blog on jokes told by anonymous MPs. Doubtless it'd be an easier sell than it sounds.For every dull political joke there are twice as many charming stories of life in politics.

And since the longer you serve the more you can tell; step forward Nick "Newcastle" Brown for the inaugural "Actually Quite Funny Things They Say At Speeches Which We Tend Not To Mention In The Press Coverage" award.

I met a great, quirky girl last night, with a rather unusual job. We were in the loos, talking the usual girly talk, and she started doing my make-up for me. She is, she told me, a trained mortician, plus she works on an Urban Decay cosmetic counter.

Making up the faces of the deceased is, she said, a hugely enjoyable process, and the in-depth anatomy she studied taught her a lot about human skin.

Last night we managed to get eight dancers to Tyne Bridge practice. Things have been a bit sparse recently with people away on holiday, ill or otherwise unavailable. In fact we've had to have a ghost in one of the positions when doing 8 person dances. The ghost is getting quite good, possibly because it's had the practice hall all to itself a couple of times. Little Miss Fiddle says she actually prefers to have the ghost as a partner as it's easier to keep up with than those of us with long legs. About the only thing we can't do with the ghost is the long reel in Newton-le-Willows ...

Does David Cameron need to simplify his message to voters? Or is that just too simplistic?

Politicians and us journalists bang on about "dividing lines", but are they really that clear. Lets have some real choices in this election rather than the confusion and muddying of waters. Voters aren't stupid.

Pardon the terrible pun in the title, but incase you missed my terrible attempt at humour (as my mates will confirm) it was aimed in the direction of Carroll wearing gloves in tonight's encounter with Donny. But what a well taken goal that was?