Unless Mr Green turns out to be spying for a foreign power (which seems incredibly unlikely), then either the government or the police (perhaps both) are in the frame for a massive and unprecedented abuse of power. Arresting opposition politicians for passing on leaked information that is manifestly in the public interest is the tactic of despots and control freaks, not a liberal democratic government.

Having said that, the police claim that they acted without ministerial knowledge, and the government line is that the police have acted with the proper "operational independence". But even that's if true, it would be a complete break with past practice (and common sense) for police to make an arrest having such political ramifications without at least consulting ministers. Perhaps the intention was to give ministers plausible deniability. Or maybe the whole thing is simply Ian Blair's parting gift to the Conservatives for sacking him.

I do hope we find out soon. Perhaps some noble public servant will leak it.

Not positng much at thr moment but am fervently following the US election. Come on Obama!!! COME ON AMERICA!!!!

This is madness. We can't stop terrorists by stopping every twentieth person and hoping they are carrying something that incriminates them. What happened to running investigations, identifying suspects and gathering evidence?

Policework is now just licensed harrassment of the law-abiding. In this instance, you either comply and submit to a humiliating public search of your person and possessions, or you get arrested and end up with your DNA on the national database.

Bah.

Seems the C.S. Lewis estate were right, and I was wrong. The guy was cyber-squatting, and rather despicably using his 11-year old son as a cover.

I'm sorry I ever took his side, and have removed the post criticising the C.S. Lewis estate.

It will surprise none of you to know that I was one of the (reported) thousands of people who emailed David Davis to offer their support after his shock resignation last week.

It's not that I feel it was the greatest tactical decision he could have made (only time will tell on that one) - it's more that I feel the teeniest tiniest fraction of responsibility. I wrote to him last November, urging him to take a firm stand against Labour's increasingly authoritarian policies. Now that he has (and oh my hasn't he), it would be somewhat churlish to abandon him.

And so I've sworn fealty to the cause and may well find myself pounding the streets of Haltemprice & Howden come the beginning of July. Although I suspect he'll settle for a donation.

His campaign has a web site at www.daviddavisforfreedom.com.

I'm tired.

I have been up in London for most of this week, interviewing various people for a report on the way civil liberties in the UK are being restricted.

So I watched the 42-day detention vote in Parliament yesterday with even more interest than usual. I followed the debate from PMQs all the way through to the final, despicable result and it was all I could do not to get blind drunk afterwards to drown my sorrows.

The debate was, though it might sound ridiculous, inspirational. It restored my faith in MPs, and it restored my faith in Parliament. They demolished the bill. Completely tore it to shreds. No-one watching it could have failed to see and be deeply worried by the fundamental flaws in the principle and the practice of the government's proposals.

That the government won was bad enough. The manner of their 'victory' was truly, gut-twistingly awful. Diane Abbott was spot on when she called it a 'grubby bazaar'. Gordon Brown has bent over backwards to trade fundamental civil liberties for his own personal ambition, and he didn't even manage to achieve an effective anti-terror measure along the way. I don't think there's any way he will ever escape that. It may take a while, but this is the end of him, and the end of New Labour.

It can't come too soon.

However, her absence has been made a little more bearable by the arrival of Daisy.

When they heard about Grace, the family from whom we originally got her (and Boyd) very kindly offered to let us take Daisy, their sister who had not yet been homed. So here she is, bless her cotton socks.

Grace has been missing for over a week now.

She disappeared in the early hours of 7th March, and since then every day has been spent searching for her, alerting anyone and everyone who might conceivably see her, and following up possible sightings.

We're almost certain that she isn't trapped in someone's house or garage, but apart from that it's difficult to say what might have happened to her. She could have hurt herself in a bad fall, but there's no sign of her nearby, and even if she's gone quiet I think we (or the other cats) would have found her. She could have fallen foul of a fox, but they rarely bother the cats; and walking through the area it's almost impossible to imagine that she wouldn't have been able to escape - there are too many trees and hiding holes for her to take advantage of. And according to the council and police, she's not been hit by a car.

So although we can't know for certain, we're hoping that she has come into season and gone off in search of a mate (which would be ironic as she left less than a week before she was due to be spayed). A number of the vets and shelters I've spoken to say this is a likely scenario, but it's by no means certain that she will return soon, if at all.

So we are hoping she is out there, and will eventually come back. Her brother Boyd isn't in the least distressed by her being gone, which I'm choosing to interpret as a sign that she is ok. But we're all missing her, and it's a sad house at the moment.

I was a fan of this song first time round, but this video more than justifies the re-release. At 2:07 it BLOWS MY TINY MIND.

I have other news, but it's too traumatic for the moment.