SO, the soothsayer cameth...

Lovable Lib Dem MP Vince Cable was in town at the weekend for the local party's annual dinner.

The shadow chancellor and deputy leader has been lauded for his supposed powers of foresight, having spotted years ago that ludicrously-high house prices and spiralling levels of personal debt might not make for a stable economy.

What a shame, then, that on Saturday afternoon the MP for Twickenham didn't manage to foresee the fact there was a massive rugby international taking place at, erm, Twickenham, a few hundred yards from his home.

Attempting to set off on the 140-mile road trip to Malvern, Mr Cable found police had blocked off his road.

The MP was forced to sit on his driveway for almost an hour, eventually arriving at his meeting with local businessmen some 45 minutes late.

I suppose even soothsayers can have an off day...


FIRST day at the despatch box for Mike Foster, since he was catapulted into the ministerial big-time.

Having not spoken a word in the House of Commons for about three years (whips don’t make speeches), it must have come as quite a shock to be suddenly answering questions about everything from flooding in Bangladesh to climate change negotiations with Barack Obama.

The Worcester MP was probably hoping to ease himself in, perhaps making a short speech to a half-empty House one quiet Thursday afternoon.

How unfortunate, then, that his first ministerial questions were scheduled for 11.55am on a Wednesday morning – five minutes before Prime Minister's Question Time.

The TV footage shows the House packed to the rafters and roaring with noise, with Gordon Brown himself wandering in half way through and plonking himself down next to our Mike.

No pressure then, eh?

Mr Foster just about holds it together - but the huge puffing out of cheeks as he finally sits down tells its own story...


HELPFUL note from city council supremo David Wareing, after this column’s somewhat flippant comment last week that councillors wouldn’t want their biscuit allowance cut.

“Obviously you have not noticed these were cut from the budget a couple of years ago!” he informs me, cheerfully.

“All the meetings I go to have just tea and coffee available - and as you know, full council meetings survive on carafes of Severn Trent’s finest.”

Truly, times are hard. We stand corrected.