Are they related?

Just over 400 years a after the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions, someone who looks an awful lot like him is trying to get in by more orthodox means.

Old Holborn is standing as the Jury Team candidate for Cambridge – get the low down on his official profile here.

Hopefully he’ll do better than the man whose visage he shares.

Last chance honest…

Can I interest you in 50 days to save the world? No?
How about a nice last chance summit in Copenhagen then, lovely set of delegates? No?
Ok then how about a hardly used next parliament last chance then? You won’t see many of them around I can tell you. Urgent decisions, lots of chances to look concerned (and raise the odd tax or two – know what I mean) plus wall to wall celebrity endorsement.

Just sign here, don’t worry about the financing.

In other news…

Obviously the big story at the moment is four ministers taking cash for access the defence of which was that that they were variously lying or should not be given credibility (Guido has a petiton). So that’s reassuring then we don’t need to worry about ministers offering to take cash for access as they’re either mad or lying (or possibly both) – but still fit to govern whilst exceeding the government’s recommended weekly alcohol limit (which is much cheaper to do in the subsidised bars in the houses of Parliament).

Whilst that’s been going on Gordon has re-announced plans to give us all high speed broadband (presumably still paid for by the extra tax imposed on having a land line). Which will at least make sure we can all get to the single central government website, which will allow them to lose out data and screw things up even faster than they currently do. If you can’t afford a computer don’t worry the government will give you one. In time no doubt you’ll need your ID card to be able access your personal government website – for your own security of course.

Whilst that’s going on not content with having nationalised several banks due to evil investment bankers, Darling is planning to spend another billion pounds of money we don’t have to set up a “green investment bank” – presumably to fund projects that are so unlikely to work that normal banks won’t touch them. No that we’ll have any investment banks soon as Mr Cameron is pledging to go ahead with a “banks levy” (presumably the same as the previously proposed “tobin tax”) even if the rest of the world doesn’t – which will no doubt see all those banks toddling off to those countries which haven’t been that stupid.

And finally in case you missed it those whacky MPs have been accidentally breaking the rules, by accepting cash payments to agree to claim higher rents on their expenses. But at least four Lib Dems were jolly good sports and dobbed themselves in for taking the cash.