I Feel the Hand of History on my Collar

World history was made this week, as New New Labour showed hitherto undetected signs of a reverse gear. In the space of only a few days, no less than two of the Government's sillier ideas have been discarded, or at least shelved until a more expedient moment arrives for sneaking them onto the statute books. On Sunday Bomber Hoon announced that Britain's motorways would not be widened after all, which will free up an extra five thousand million pounds for the banks to play with, not to mention a considerable quantity of tarmac for that new runway at Heathrow. Today the Glorious Successor followed up with the announcement that MPs' expenses will not be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, thanks to the spoilsporty tactics of his coalition partner, Daveybloke the Cuddly Conservative, who this week is doing his openness-and-accountability thing, much to the disgust of Harriet Harman and her allies in the 1922 committee. "We didn't think it was right that there should be 1.2m receipts, every single receipt for every ream of paper that is bought should be necessary, and then published", said Harman, a member in good standing of the National Identity Database, Email Snoopery and Involuntary Informational Dissemination Party.