A star is born in Kevin Foster as PM dodges urgent questions

Why wasn’t Boris Johnson in the Commons himself, responding to urgent questions about his use of language in parliament? Because a little-known MP with a big dream was ready to step into the limelight. To go from understudy to matinee idol overnight.

‘Many people’ back Boris Johnson – so that settles the Brexit debate, right?

Many people are saying – I’m not saying this, but many people are – that we don’t need a General Election at all, because it’s clear the current Prime Minister knows best and cares passionately about Great Britain and all the people in it. By expelling some MPs, and driving others to resign, he has shown he is willing to put people before party, pride before pragmatism.

I went to say bye to Theresa May … or was it all just a dream?

If Wednesday afternoon’s scenes in Parliament Square sound like a thoroughly embarrassing spectacle – a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party but with cheaper hats, and with impotent gestures instead of hot beverages – I regret to inform you that it was no less edifying than what had just happened inside.

Might Theresa May be visited by some spirits this Christmas?

The PM might have won the no-confidence vote, but minutes after the result was announced some colleagues were still baying for blood. With friends like these, who needs a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future?

Who will be left once the Brexit blame game is played out?

A bleak greasy-spoon cafe with blacked-out windows in Westminster – mid-afternoon. Team Precious Union are seated round a table.

A corpse just got elected but let’s face it, he’s not the worst politician around

The ballot papers had been printed by the time Dennis Hof went out with a bang on his 72th birthday, and signs notifying voters that he was an ex-candidate apparently did little to dent his electoral success.

Sorry David Mundell, but Scots understand the small print only too well

WE’VE all been on the receiving end at some point. A sales pitch that isn’t going quite to plan, a salesman resorting to ever more desperate tactics to try and seal the deal. Perhaps a contract has been produced, and a wee bit of pressure is being applied. Don’t worry about all that small print,

It takes only one puff to bring down Brown’s straw man

The big problem with Brown’s persuasive case against total independence is that no-one is actually arguing for total independence. To call this a straw-man argument is to give it far too much weight – a straw structure does at least take a few huffs and puffs to dismantle. This dishonest construction is more like a delicate sculpture made out of dandelion clocks by the fairies who live at the bottom of the garden.

Channel 4’s Eden wasn’t a failure – here’s what we can learn from it

As a TV programme, Eden failed. But as an experiment it succeeded in showing how how right-wing ideology conflicts with the aim of building a cohesive community.

Payslips and Facebook posts alone won’t tell you who’s in poverty

A WARM winter coat. A damp-free home. Fresh fruit and veg. A week’s holiday every year. Are these the bare necessities of life in the UK? What about broadband, curtains, or household insurance? It’s hard to pin down exactly what we mean when we talk about living in poverty. One man or woman’s luxury –