Take Louise Casey, the former head of Tony Blair's respect task force and now one of the Prime Minister's confidantes on law and order.

She has just overseen – at Mr Brown's behest – a major review of law and order policy which concluded that crime could be cut if youth clubs were set up every Friday night in the most deprived parts of the country.

Ms Casey declared that the move would help keep youths out of trouble by diverting them into constructive activities. Her imagination, and foresight, was then praised by the PM.

But what does it say about the Government's over-dependence on advisers that individuals like Ms Casey – who are accountable to no one other than themselves – can make a lucrative career out of stating the obvious?

And what does it say about Labour's poor track record in tackling youth crime when this issue was first being championed several years ago by none other than the England footballer, Rio Ferdinand, who saw, while growing up in Peckham, the social consequences when young people are denied leisure activities and facilities.

According to his autobiography, he even tried to put this to Mr Brown when the then Chancellor was staying in the same hotel as Manchester United prior to a match. But guess what? Our dear leader had performed one of his vanishing acts – presumably because he was too busy wasting even more money on overpaid advisers who only divert attention and resources away from the fundamental job – namely getting on with the task in hand and putting in place real policies that make a real difference to the lives of real people in real communities.

I'm sure Ferdinand would be only too willing, given his humble origins, to advise the Prime Minister – for half the money that is being wasted on the likes of Louise Casey and her ilk.



DAVID Cameron must guard against arrogance – even though the Tories relegated Labour to fifth place in the Henley by-election.

Having been born in the constituency, I can tell you that this has never been natural Labour territory – not even when Harold Wilson or Tony Blair were in their prime.

Yet what must perturb Cameron is the fact that UKIP and the
repugnant BNP mustered more than 2,000 votes in a Conservative stronghold where the turnout was just over 50 per cent.

If this trend was repeated nationwide, the Tories may yet be denied a swathe of marginal seats that they still need to gain if Cameron is to become PM.

Yet, if the Tories become more right-wing, then they are more likely to alienate people with more centrist political leanings.

Appealing to all sections of the electorate must be Cameron's priority – and one that will be foremost in his thoughts next Wednesday when he hits the by-election trail in Haltemprice and Howden in support of his former colleague, David Davis.

TOP marks to plain-speaking Shipley MP Philip Davies for exposing the sham nature of the Government's "topical debates" that are held weekly in the Commons.

Designed to show that MPs care about the public's concerns, the subjects for discussion are, however, at the gift of Commons leader Harriet Harman who has the final say-so. As Labour's deputy leader, she's hardly the most impartial of arbiters on what constitutes topicality.

But she was virtually rendered speechless when the Tory asked: "Can she tell us how many times the subject for the topical debate has happened to be the subject about which the Prime Minister has made a speech earlier in the week?"

Harman replied: "Well, I have not got the actual list...but I follow the Standing Orders, and the letter and spirit of the resolution."

She then added: "Sometimes they coincide with an issue on
which the Prime Minister has put forward a proposal, but they often do not."

And they call this democracy at work. Some democracy.



I SEE that Alan Johnson is now being touted as a possible successor to Alistair Darling as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Let me give the Hull MP some advice. If he's offered the job, don't take it. It's the toughest job in government – made even more difficult by the fact that Prime Minister Gordon Brown still thinks, and acts, as Chancellor.

If Brown intends to be so domineering, let him act as PM and Chancellor, and save the country a few bob in the process. And at least we'll know who to blame when taxes next go up.



ON the subject of the railways, I was pleased to see one guard has kept his sense of humour after various Government officials left classified security intelligence on rush-hour trains.

"Thank you for travelling with South West Trains," he told passengers on the Weymouth-to-Waterloo service. "Please make sure you take all your belongings when leaving the train. This is particularly important if you work for Her Majesty's Government."



HERE'S further evidence of sport being used as a political football. This month, the Government announced a £142m initiative to boost swimming.

Yet, despite this commitment, Keighley MP Ann Cryer has revealed that councillors are being forced to close four pools in the Bradford area. And now Culture Secretary Andy Burnham admits that the lottery may be raided to pay for his initiative.

Why did he not say this when he tried to take the credit for his swimming scheme?



DOES The Queen not get on with Gordon Brown?

We will never know for certain –
but Richard Hannon made an interesting aside after training Free Agent, The Queen's first winner at Royal Ascot for nine years and
now a leading prospect for next year's Derby.

"She's a very good owner, absolutely no trouble," he smiled. "And I probably get through to her on the phone quicker than Mr Brown."