what people say when they think no one is listening

The kettle broke in my office today so I had to pop along to my club to have a cup of tea. as luck would have it, I had some entertainment in the form of a press conference given by William Hague and David Cameron.

It was ostensibly about Iran and what the UK should do (which from what I gathered was mew pitifully at the feet of the US and the EU) but when it came to questions, it was very definitely back to the subject of grammar schools. I'm not surprised the press aren't giving up on this subject, because it's a good one. William Hague did not look all that happy about what Cameron was saying about grammar schools not promoting social mobility. Maybe he understands that for them to really do that you need more of them, especially in inner cities, to avoid the situation of the 'post code lottery'.

What amused me more was when I popped into the bar afterwards to finish my cup of tea and have a cigarette and Cameron and Hague were there with their team. As people drifted off, it was just Hague left with his press lady, who informed him that he had a live interview lined up where they wanted to talk about the Litvinenko case and road pricing. Old Bill didn't look too happy at that news. In fact, if I recall correctly, he placed his hands on the bar, leaned on them and say he 'didn't know anything about road pricing' and that he wasn't that confident on Litvinenko.

I had a look at the interview on the TV and he was right, he didn't know that much. I'm so happy that a policy being debated in the House of Commons today which is of considerable importance, especially if Galileo has anything to do with it, is off the radar of the Shadow Foreign Affairs Secretary. As someone whose portfolio includes the European Union, he really should know that road pricing using satellites is a nice way of the British taxpayer funding this black hole in the EU budget, which has already cost them £200 million. As UKIP have pointed out:

This government signed up to Directive 2004/52 which will ensure the entire road pricing schemes in EU countries are the same, and can be linked to Galileo.

And as I have written before:

Galileo satellite system: Multi billion pound 'grand project' that is driven by delays, costs and technical problems. Will be superseded by competition. The need to pay for this project is the main reason for the hated road pricing scheme.

So there we go. I'm glad that Mr Hague is so on the ball.