This was perhaps characterised by Huddersfield MP Barry
Sheerman's bluntness when he recently called for a debate on the ramifications of Lloyds TSB's proposed takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland – in particular, the implications for HBOS staff based in West Yorkshire.

In language that was damning about the handling of a deal funded – and brokered – by the Government, Sheerman said: "We know that good things are happening, and we do not want HBOS to fail, but there is a feeling among parliamentarians in Yorkshire that we are not being kept in the loop.

"We need assurances that the many thousands of jobs in Yorkshire will be maintained under the new structure when it emerges."

To me, Sheerman was implying that Ministers appear reluctant to brief local MPs in case they are posed awkward questions that they cannot answer. Perhaps this criticism on my part is misplaced.

What is not misplaced, however, is my disdain for the feebleness of the reply offered by "Hapless" Harriet Harman, the so-called Commons leader, who, with typical pomposity, brushed aside calls for a debate on HBOS.

Pointing out that Yorkshire Minister Rosie Winterton had been meeting MPs, Harman said that she would raise the issue with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, one Peter Mandelson.

What she did not say, however, is that Mandelson cannot attend the Commons to answer the concerns of Yorkshire backbenchers – because he is now an unelected peer who is no longer accountable to democratically-elected MPs championing the interests of their constituents.

And, more to the point, do you have any confidence in the Government acting in the best interests of the banks, and the taxpayers, when the Prince of Darkness is wheeling and dealing in the shadows, as intimated by Harman's reply?



I DON'T blame Greg Mulholland for suggesting that MPs should be fined if their mobile phones go off in the House of Commons chamber.

Standards have be maintained, and the mobile is one of the infernal curses of modern times. However, I would have thought that the Leeds North-West MP would have known that Speaker Michael Martin would not consider copying a similar scheme which hits councillors, simply because he has already been complaining about his workload.

I assume this explains why Martin – known by his acquaintances as "Gorbals" in honour of his Glaswegian roots – was not looking a picture of sartorial elegance during the humbling Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph, or why the Union Flag was not flying from the Parliamentary estate to mark the Armistice.



BAD news folks. The Scots are bleating that they – like Yorkshire – will not benefit directly from the 2012 Olympics.

Scottish Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson claims that Scottish companies are so far winning only two per cent of the contracts for 2012, despite making up seven per cent of UK businesses.

I wonder if our Celtic friends will be similarly generous when it comes to the award of contracts for the 2014 Commonwealth Games that are being staged in Glasgow. Somehow I doubt it.



CONGRATULATIONS to headteacher Caroline Haynes who has presided over a 65 per cent rise in pass rates at her school – by adopting a zero-tolerance approach to discipline.

It includes sending home for five days any child who swears at a teacher. On average, two pupils are suspended each day. Yet, because
she gives children a second chance, she made only two permanent exclusions last year.

When is the head of Tendring Technology College in Clacton going to become Schools Secretary?



ON the education theme, hasn't Michael Gove anything better to do other than offer advice to Barack Obama on possible breeds of puppies that could join America's new President in the White House?

Such as spelling out the Conservative Party's education policy for which he has specific responsibility?



IN April, Treasury Minister Angela Eagle described Lib Dem economics guru Vince Cable's warning of a recession as a script which read "like the storyboard of Apocalypse Now, or perhaps even Bleak House".

When reminded of this by York-born Cable this week, the Minister replied lamely: "I'm not going to be gloomy about the British economy."

However, there is every reason to be gloomy while such dimwits occupy the Treasury. The fact that so many Ministers remained in denial for so long about the economic disaster is one of the main reasons why the country is in such a mess.



HERE are two stories, from Remembrance week that encapsulate the moral void in football, the so-called beautiful game.

One was of an idiot by the name of David Norris who, after scoring a goal, made a gesture of support to his selfish friend, Luke McCormick, jailed for killing two young brothers while he was drunk behind the wheel of his Range Rover.

The other was of Second Lieutenant Donald Bell, a full-back for Bradford Park Avenue and a First World War hero. He earned a posthumous Victoria Cross for filling his pockets with grenades and attacking an enemy machine-gun post during one of the many bloody battles fought on the Somme in 1916.

He was killed five days later when he sought to repeat this feat of bravery to ensure that future generations – like the disgraceful Norris and McCormick – could become overpaid, moronic footballers without a care in the world for their actions.

Enough said.