Why, actually, would anyone want to throw purple powder at the Prime Minister?A. Because now that more and more papers have colour printing, a photograph of the PM in a purple haze is more likely to be printed in the Telegraph and other papers than if he had been bombarded with flour or pepper.Q No,...

Extraordinarily, Blair has chosen the Bush years to reposition the Labour Party as the advocate of uncritical Atlanticism. This is potentially a kamikaze electoral strategy given the mood about the current US President. It is also doubtful whether it represents a wise diplomatic strategy.There are times...

Alun Michael isn’t very good at weaselling because you can see him do it And no, it’s not a pretty sight. But we won’t dwell on that because in this new relationship between press and politicians we want to accentuate the positive. Those of us who are trying to rebuild respect for...

Giggs’ form was poor, he was booed off by United fans when substituted against Blackburn. Internazionale expressed an interest and nothing happened.”I was going through such a bad patch. It appeared a blow upon a bruise, an injustice which appeals first to Uefa, the governing body of European...

It was, for the first time in six years, judgement by Geoff Boycott. It meant that in order to guard against slipping the ball down the leg side, he had to aim it too far outside the off stump to be a serious danger to the batsman. With the protection of at least a third fielder on the leg side Harmison...

So Mr Prentice asked if the minister would “stop being so Delphic and give us a straight answer!” But no: if you go hunting with weasels a straight answer is the last thing you can expect.Peter Hain announced that security issues would be considered by various committees early next week...