So what was it all about, Dave?

He doesn't want to make a big song and dance about it, apparently, but fellow blogger Iain Dale is today quietly celebrating his elevation to the Tories' "A-list" of Parliamentary candidates.

Whether or not you agree with him, Iain is clearly a highly effective advocate for the Conservative Party and I'm sure will go on to play a significant role in national politics in years to come.

But now that this glaring injustice has been righted, it is perhaps timely to ask what on earth was achieved by leaving Dale off the list in the first place, other than to make the debate over the introduction of the A-list much more rancourous than it otherwise would have been?

All it did was foster a doubtless wrong impression among grassroots Tories that supporters of David Davis, or outspoken bloggers, or middle-aged men - or possibly even all three - were being victimised.

Now Marina socks it to Lampard

Latest to feel the razor sharp pen of Guardian writer Marina "Snide" Hyde is England footballer Frank Lampard, who is publishing a new autobiography entitled "Totally Frank."

And though Chelsea and West Ham fans will doubtless disagree, I have to say that never was a target more deserving.

"Having failed to deliver in Germany, the honourable thing for any of these three fabulously rich gentlemen might have been to return their advance to the publishers, and to have been self-aware enough to realise that a period of silence from them would be most welcome" writes Marina, referring also to the recent autobiog from Wayne Rooney and a forthcoming one from Ashley Cole.

The full article can be read HERE.

Kennedy could still be a contender, says White

I am not sure whether this piece by Mike White is entirely helpful to Charles Kennedy, but it does show there are other, more respectable commentators than me who think he could plausibly lead the Lib Dems again one day.