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Hat tip to ConservativeHome who highlight an Ipsos MORI poll that shows Lib Dems, leaderless, up two points from our nadir at 13%. Which begs the question; perhaps we should fill the vacancy until and unless it starts to fall again...:)

Labour 1% ahead in MORI poll tomorrow:

Here's another bewildering use of an ASBO:

BBC NEWS | Wales | South West Wales | Asbo for Pc carrying baton in pub:

A policeman who took a baton into a pub has been given an Asbo banning him from the premises for two years.

David Burrows, 43, will resign from South Wales Police before he can be sacked, Swansea Crown Court was told.

Burrows, of Rhyd-y-fro, Pontardawe, who was found guilty last month of possessing a weapon in a public place, was also given a suspended jail term.

So, was he found guilty of a criminal offense and sentenced or of sub-criminal anti-social behaviour for which it was difficult to obtain a criminal conviction?

Why are people being given criminal punishments AND ASBOs? I mean in my day, if a pub landlord wanted to ban you, he banned you. If you then entered again you could be committing trespass, and presumably if with a weapon or intent, aggravated trespass for which a criminal penalty is available.

Are ASBOs just being used so that politicians can say "look ain't we being tough"?

I see from the Oxford Mail that Oxford City Council are considering saving some money by not contributing to crowd control at Magdalen Bridge on May Day morning next year. Not that it bothers me much either way - all I will want next May Day is to be sure that people who want to vote can safely get to their polling place! And I've never really understood why it ought to be a City Council function to deal with the crowds that congregate, ostensibly at least, to watch (if not hear) the choir of Magdalen College serenade the dawn. But it was this bit that intrigued me...

Magdalen College bursar Mark Blandford-Baker added: "The college is not involved with what happens out on the public highway, so I am not in a position to comment."

A narrow interpretation of their involvement or lack thereof I would have thought. Perhaps then they could play their part by keeping their choir inside that day and see whether it makes any difference to what happens outside?