EnviroSpin Watch

New times for David Aaronovitch.....

Do not miss David Aaronovitch's splendid farewell G2 essay at The Gloomiad: 'So, some people think I'm rightwing ...' (The Guardian, May 10). This says it all about the 'Dave Spart' left that has so lost its arrogant way. Nose pegs all round:

"All of a sudden I began to experience the left from the outside. And the first thing that struck me was its capacity for smug certainty and uniformity of response."

From Iraq to the politics of 'global warming', we know precisely what David means.

I understand that David is now moving to The Times. This is good news, and I look forward to reading his penetrating commentaries from the saner left in my own DNOC.

Meanwhile, all one can say about the current form of The Groaniad is: "Mein Gott!"

Except, of course, for the quite excellent Martin Kettle: 'My God, Labour will miss him when he has gone' (The Guardian, May 10):

"So much for the voters, then. The electorate may have chosen in their reduced millions to return a Labour government with Tony Blair at its head, but that was last week. This week, it's back to business, almost as though the election counted for nothing. For too many journalists and Labour MPs, it is clear that the voters are now deemed to have come up with the wrong answer. If the democratic process chose not to get rid of Tony Blair, then they - we - will now have a go at remedying the voters' verdict. It was all absolutely predictable but none the less shocking and outrageous for that.

Call me old-fashioned, but the renewed obsession with Blair's departure is not merely disrespectful to the democratic process and to the voters. It is an outright defiance of it. Frank Field was right to call it a kind of treachery yesterday. I hear a lot of people complaining about the government's disregard for the liberty of dangerous people. But if we cannot live with our democracy then we really are in trouble. Get over it....." Bravo! It needed saying.

Philip, also pleased that Jeremy Vine has won the 'Speech Broadcaster of the Year' award. He has been much better balanced on a whole range of issues than many of his more chatterati equivalents. Brr! Boy, this is a chilly May! I can't even sit out in the garden for breakfast... 'Global warming! Global warming! Global warming!' Oh! I forgot - I should put on the patio heater!