So this is the second one this week, lucky me and lucky you! I'll keep this brief, here are some cool stories of the day...much better than the fare available on Tuesday!

Political Betting - The death of the labour party? Surely not!
Question That - Ian states the obvious with regards to the hypocrisy of the Labour party, and his suggestion for Tory campaign slogan is spot on.
Lieral Burblings - Paul is right, Cameron has certainly managed to be the first politician to talk any common sense with regards to alcohol.
Obsolete - On the subject of recent rulings on BAE, why should we be taking it as given that anything like this level of corruption is acceptable?
ePolitix - Even the rats seem to be jumping ship now...
Mars Hill - Cameron is in the middle of his PR holiday, bet he can't wait to get away from the riff raff. Remember, Cornish economy is only worthwhile when the sun is shining.
Lib Dem Voice - What do Lib Dem PPC's believe makes them special, huh?

A week ago, or there abouts, it was announced that Doctors would be tested to ensure they could keep practising medicine. For one reason or another very few picked up on this story which surprises me given a) how long it's been in coming and what a progressive step it is and b) the precedent it sets for other aspects of life. Chiefly I'm talking about driving of course but with the assumption rightfully being on ability to do the job now rather than when you were in your early 20's it's a big door to leave open.

But importantly it doesn't span the whole sector, with nurses/paramedics remaining able to degrade in standards of care, as will dentists. It seems that only half the job is done, in my eyes, if those providing the first response and surveillance to our health screw up then it doesn't matter how often doctors are assessed for their competence.

It has to be done, I'm a big Batman fan and to overlook the chance to review this film would be...well...I wouldn't feel right, so here it is, like it or not. If you don't want to read someone else's opinion I would recommend Millennium Elephant's account, though be warned, there are spoilers. But then, there will also be spoilers in my review, so if you haven't seen it then perhaps you should check out some Politalks stuff that will be coming back soon.

Hello! Welcome to the blog once more and I hope you're enjoying reading. Just below you're going to be able to click to continue reading and see the netcast as I've published over at Liberal Conspiracy, but first of all Ill be posting my alternative/extended list. I apologise for not putting up my Thursday one, but...well...the blogosphere was just a bit shit so there was nothing that stood out for me. Also, aside from another netcast on Thursday, you will see some articles in the next week (assuming I'm not too busy with work...phew!) about Max Mosley, our train system and annual checks for doctors.

So, on to the extended list!

Amnesty NI - Was King William III of Orange in the closet?
The bleeding heart show - Neil gives his thoughts on the future of Labour (again).
Obsolete - Yet another voice that explains why Brown's time is up.
donpaskini - A compelling look at absolutely rubbish excuses or arguments for the future of Labour.

We are being treated over at Liberal Conspiracy with extracts of speeched MPs are making to people like the Fabian society. Well, treated may be a little too much of an over-exaggeration given both of the speeches so far have been utter crap in their own ways.

Just as the government has a moral duty to tackle poverty and exclusion, so it also has a duty to address obesity. But this is not a licence to hector and lecture people on how they should spend their lives - not least because that approach simply won’t work.

As with David Lammy before him, and Camerons vacuous speech in Glasgow, Alan Johnson doesn't actually say anything. So, for his benefit should he or one of his aides be listening (fat chance...teehee), here is some advice for him.

I'm not as much of a critic of libel law as other bloggers, Unity in particular, however the one area that does annoy me is the necessity to lay down threats of legal action at the doors of people before they have been able to prove one way or another if what they've said is libelous.

In this case Dave Walker, of several sites, has had to take down content spanning what appears to be several years to comply with a legal threat by Mark Brewer's company, a company which now owns a book chain called SPCK. More over there seems to be a little bit of shadiness going on as Unity uncovers, with the company in particular seeking bankruptcy protection in the US.

I said I'd write about it, so I will. I generally don't like this perception (and argument) that is utilised by all spectrums of political blogs, the idea that because democracy costs money we should keep a reign on it. Recess Monkey is one of the latest to do this, predictably in response to his parties quite shameful voting over expenses.

This is part 2 of a series, part 1 can be found here.

Branching on from my last post in this series, I want to start discussing areas of governance and parliament that I feel that needs pressure applying to it to reform or change. In the future I will be bringing some more thoughts about things including electoral reform and consultation in a technological age. Right now, however, I want to talk about debate, legislation and the irrelevancy surrounding it.

Let's make one thing clear to start off with, a debate that leads to no conclusion is worthless. In the blogosphere it is easily argued that debates go to informing others and forming your own opinions, and doing so costs us very little outside of a hosting fee. In parliament it's a different situation though, with too many debates leading to nothing due to insane rules on scheduling and thus costing the taxpayer money in a fake exercise in "democracy".

As if we ever needed any more proof that mass database "secure" personal information systems are potentially ridiculous at stopping any willing criminal from avoiding it, and thus only being effective at controlling, guiding and recording perfectly law abiding people, news reaches us that flaws with the Oyster card will be published. The system has been cracked and it means that countries all over the world now need to re-evaluate how much stock they put in these systems. But is it right to publish how to work around the system?

Here is a round up of some of the more obvious news of the last few days. Right now I'm actually likely to be in a hot air balloon for a work social, so if they feel a bit old then sorry...it's likely I'm just a bit high (*groans*?)

First up... Testing students narrows learning. Ofsted has been saying for years that strict curriculum's lead to schools teaching to test. Anyone that's gone through our educational system in the last decade or so knows this is the case as teachers work through a curriculum book to get us to learn what is most likely to be in the exam with only the few going so far as to actually inspire and help us become learning individuals.