Starkey

David Starkey is one of these fantastic characters who will moan furiously about a pet gripe in a manner which shows him to be emphatically guilty of the very flaw about which he is complaining. For a man who carries on, and on, about the petty nationalism of the Scots and Welsh he is incapable of talking on the issue without showing himself to be the most preposterous hypocrite and nationalist with his fervent waffling on the glories of England (which was put out of existence by the last monarch of the Scottish Stewarts in 1707) while belittling the 'Celtic' nations.

Now i'm not saying that Scotland and Wales couldn't do with a little belittling - in fact they could do with plenty - but to do so while acclaiming ones own nation when every glory achieved by it came under the rule of Welsh (Tudor) and Scottish (Stewart) monarchs (not to mention the Norman French previously) is, well, daft and evidence of an intellect incapable of maintaining some consistency of thought on a topic when evidence goes against ones preferred reality.

Anyway, moaning on one of my own pet gripes aside his appearance on This Week tonight was well worth seeing. He talked with great sense and passion on the need for reform in the Palace of Westminster and his deep knowledge of the political history of the UK was apparent. It would not surprise me if the changes he proposed - and which have been put forward by others on QT earlier - were implemented gradually over the coming decade.

A very important edition of Question Time

A great lineup on Question Time tonight and one worthy of such an important occasion. Usually there's at least one panelist on the show who can be relied upon during the course of the hour to talk such waffling, inanity ridden nonsense (think Hazel Blears *shudder*) that you are left wanting to put your fist through the television. While Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has made a career out of talking (often virulently racist) nonsense she cannot be accused of being a dull minded waffler. William Hague, Martin Bell and Vince Cable can be relied upon to talk with eloquence and intelligence while Marta Andreasan is a perfect addition for the times having experienced first hand the kind of corruption and thieving that is rife amongst career statists.

If the audience are anywhere near as furious and feisty as they were last week this should be memorable viewing indeed.