The cost of motoring is a massive issue at the moment, there's no question. The price of petrol goes up every time you go to the petrol station.

Events are moving so fast and what in one moment seems impossible, the next is happening. I'm sure historians will, in time, provide theories and analysis, but for now I think most of us simply want the tide stemmed.

Surely, the best and most effective measure is to get the economy moving and shorten the period of recession or slowdown. That's the rationale for Gordon Brown's "fiscal stimulus" and it sounds like a good one to me.

Funding for sports (and the arts) are often the first things facing the chop in difficult times.

The Tories seem unable to make any impact north of the border.

The cost of motoring is a massive issue at the moment, there's no question. The price of petrol goes up every time you go to the petrol station.

I will take a short time out from being in Parliament when the baby is born but I'll still be doing my constituency work - just with another baby in tow.