By Ed Howker

You know when you get that pit of your stomach foreboding? The kind you get when someone tells you that Liam Byrne is presenting the prizes at the Village Fete and you've got to organise the rider? I've got that. It just occurs to me that maybe the Government's strategy for working us out of recession is actually, ahem, total rubbish. Here's is my, admittedly bleary-eyed, non-LSE trained thinking.

By Ed Howker

Steve Richards has written an excellent piece about the political failures that led to the horrific death of Baby P in tomorrow's paper, but it's just worth pointing out that there are now at least four separate enquiries into the issue:

An internal review by Haringey Council.
An independent review commissioned by Haringey Council.
A review by the General Social Care Council.
A review by Lord Laming of his own recommendations post Climbie.

I only point this out because if nothing else it elegantly represents the kind of technocratic arse-covering that has come to characterise the very worst of the governmental behaviour. No amount of reviews will actually absolve the interested parties of blame, and one review would clearly be more effective.

By Ed Howker

I just got sent this extremely funny viral. Do pass it on to your US friends if you are that way inclined.

By Ed Howker

Here is the hilarious transcript of the conversation between Icelandic Minister of Finance Árni M. Mathiesen and Chancellor Alistair Darling:

Mathiesen: Hello.
Darling: Hello.
Mathiesen:  This is Árni Mathiesen, Minister of Finance.
Darling: Hello, we met a few months ago, weeks ago.
Mathiesen:  No, we have never met. You met the Minister of Trade.
Darling: Alright, sorry.
Mathiesen:  No problem...

By Ed Howker

I wrote recently about the chaos now engulfing the London Olympics. Last night we were told that the deadline to sort out the Olympic Village contracts - perhaps the key piece of infrastructure on the Stratford site - will now be extended to 2009. Lend Lease, the co-developers need private financing to the tune of £650m - even more than we originally thought. But they are sitting pretty - if Lend Lease fail to meet their contractual obligations they will still act on a fee basis as project manager. With no incentives to perform well I suspect they are not likely to - much to the detriment of the public purse.

By Ed Howker

Any presidential campaign takes decades - it's noted that by the time Bill Clinton graduated he was storing business cards on a vast rolodex which was cherished and grown with every year until his election. Obama's story is no different. Acquaintances from twenty years ago note his close guarding of personal reputation and steely ambition.

By Ed Howker

According to psychologist Lucy Beresford, Gordon Brown is 'deeply insecure' and bringing Peter Mandelson back was "Freudian" bordering on "self-mutilating behaviour". In an interview (hyperlink ) on the BBC show The Daily Politics she says:

"interestingly enough from my perspective, certainly bringing  Peter Mandelson back into play was a very Freudian compulsion to repeat.  It's where people sub-consciously repeat patterns from their past which are normally very painful patterns or scenarios or situations.  And I think if you have someone who has brought a maverick back into the cabinet, someone with whom he has extremely complicated personal history that’s almost bordering on self-mutilating behavior."

"He certainly needs self love. He is a deeply insecure person and he has quite a great inferiority complex which habitually he has compensated for by over spending.  Compulsive spending often with money he doesn’t have and we collude with a lot of his dysfunctional behavior.  So if he wants love, we could give it to him but that might not be what he needs."

By Ed Howker

Has Sarah Brown's outreach project on behalf of her husband stepped up a gear? Fresh from delivering a Michelle Obama-style spousal intro at the Labour conference, ugly rumours abound that Sarah has begun texting her friends urging them to post messages of support on news websites when negative stories about Gordon appear (which happens, ahem, from time to time). The exact wording is unknown, I guess something like: "Gordon v sd to see so mny ppl h8 him. Wd love u 2 post on web Gordon is gr8 2 add some balance. Ta x S".

If true, this all sounds rather desperate. However, that won't stop me doing my bit. So Sarah, I know you're reading this. Drop me a text.

By Ed Howker

No prizes for guessing the "senior Conservative" and "leading member of David Cameron's top team" who alleged that Mandy dripped "Pure Poison" (presumably not the type made by Dior) when describing Gordon Brown. It was, of course, George Osborne as today's papers report.