97% eclipse as seen from Scotland

Exclusive: leaked footage of George Osborne's budget speech rehearsal

Chancellor George Osborne made much of choices in his budget speech this afternoon.  In one short passge he used the phrase 'we choose' nine times.

But winging it's way to LOWA towers was this leaked footage of his private rehearsals.  As you can see some of his language was quite fruity then...

Kingston Council leader proves David Cameron's maxim about too much tweeting...

The Surrey Comet has more.

Interestingly, despite twice being Leader of the Council, Kevin Davis has never won a borough wide election in Kingston.

Electoral Commission oversteps remit

Mark Pack reports that the name Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party has been banned by the Electoral Commission.  This is a sadly inevitable consequence of bureaucratic creep that was always going to result in  the Commission overstepping its remit. 

The Commission is there to register parties, their donations and investigate any dodgy funding - not to decide matters of taste.  If voters think 'crumpet' is demeaning to women, then they will vote accordingly.  It's not for some unelected bureaucrat to take that decision out of their hands.