Sssself deprecation, hissssed Kaa, will make them trusssst in me...

Full text of Lord Mandelson's speech to the Labour conference | Politics | guardian.co.uk: "I know that Tony said our project would only be complete when the Labour Party learned to love Peter Mandelson.

I think perhaps he set the bar a little too high.

Though I am trying my best.

But the fact is our project is far from complete."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaa

Couldn't make it up...

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Egypt anger over virginity faking: "A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty.

Abdul Mouti Bayoumi said supplying the item was akin to spreading vice in society, a crime punishable by death in Islamic Sharia law.

The device is said to release liquid imitating blood, allowing a female to feign virginity on her wedding night."

Left? foot forward

News summary: Tuesday, September 8th | Left Foot Forward says:

September 8, 2009 at 8:42 am

[...] Welcome to any first time visitors clicking through from Iain Dale’s Diary or Tom Watson’s blog. Left Foot Forward officially launches on Monday, 14th September. From that point on we will email the daily news summary to subscribers. Sign up here. [...]

Fight 'em on the beaches

"The polls are not actually all that good for the Conservatives, who continue to bob around 40 points when they should be achieving at least 45. It is because the polls are so baleful for Labour that David Cameron enjoys substantial double-digit leads."

Not often in the past have I agreed with Rawnsley, one of the most slavish newlabourites and blairistas of the grauniad slate of writers. But the prospect of the tories seems to frighten even him. Hail.