http://blogs.telegraph.co.ukhttp://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/emma_hartley/blog/2009/06/23/bnp_and_ehrc_in_acronymwrestling_competition<p>So, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suddenly become <a target="_blank" href="http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/letter_before_claim.pdf" title="EHRC's letter to the BNP">very active </a>on on the great picnic blanket that is the British constitution - and, yes, I do use the term advisedly - by rather hilariously <a target="_blank" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/5611876/BNP-ordered-to-accept-ethnic-minority-members-or-face-prosec...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:10:00 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2009/06/23/john_bercow_should_wear_the_speakers_wig<p>Poor John Bercow is taking a terrible battering. Commentators are remarkably intolerant of politicians who change their minds: it threatens their sense of order. I was pretty cross myself when John U-turned on his support for a referendum on the <s>European Constitution</s> Lisbon Treaty. But none of that should matter now. Mr Bercow is no more; he has been displaced by Mr Speaker, the embodiment of the House of Commons.</p> <p>The basis on which John says he wants to proceed - more power...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:45:49 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/christopher_hope/blog/2009/06/23/what_were_david_yelland_and_gordon_brown_talking_about_for_three_hours<P>Surveillance: spotted yesterday morning leaving 10 Downing Street after a three hour meeting, none other than David Yelland, former editor of the Sun and now a big wheel at Brunswick, the City PR firm run by Alan Parker.</P> <P>The news has inevitably sparked feverish rumours that our embattled prime minister wants to bring in another Brunswick staffer (alert readers will remember that Stephen Carter, <A title="The Guardian" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/08/uk.gordonbr...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:52:30 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ian_douglas/blog/2009/06/23/mps_expenses_data_data_and_more_data<p>This morning we published our <a target="_blank" href="http://parliament.telegraph.co.uk/mpsexpenses/home">database of MPs' expenses data</a>, along with the highlights of the unredacted PDFs, members' interests information, details of MPs employing family members and links to news articles.<br /> <br /> The bunker has been its usual busy self, with reporters glued to their screens compiling the figures and preparing the full claim documents for every MP for publication.<br /> <br /> The d...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:10:28 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/mick_cleary/blog/2009/06/23/why_are_we_in_cape_town__<P>Just about to leave for Newlands. As I write the wind is howling in from the Atlantic, the rain is peppering the windows, the mountain hasn't been seen for days and you wonder if you're in west Wales or South Africa.</P> <P>Meanwhile, up on the highveld the skies are clear, the temperature is gentle and the Boks are happily getting on with preparing for Saturday's second test. The Lions fly there ( or to Jo'burg ) on Friday night. Nothing wrong with that, sports science showing ...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:50:00 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/edwest/blog/2009/06/23/stop_trying_to_claim_andy_murray_for_britain<P>Poor Andy Murray - he's only trying to play tennis but it looks like the future of the United Kingdom rests on his shoulders. This morning on Radio 4 there was the old joke about Murray being either a "British" champion or a "Scottish" loser, which seems to be based on Einstein's observation that if he's wrong the French would call him a German and the Germans a Jew. And bookmakers Paddy Power <A href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/06/20/tennis-fans-decide-if-andy-mu...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:49:49 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/clairetaylor/blog/2009/06/23/double_world_champions_and_now_for_the_ashes<P>On Sunday, the <A href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/twenty20/5593867/World-Twenty20-England-women-crowned-champions-after-victory-over-New-Zealand.html">England Women's Cricket team were crowned World Champions after the ICC Women's Twenty20 final</A>.  We beat New Zealand by six wickets at Lord's to bring up our second trophy in three months.  <br><br></P> <P><img alt="Gallery Photo" src="http://fast1.onesite.com/blogs.telegraph.co.uk/user/clairetaylor/60022a9...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:56:05 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/philip_johnston/blog/2009/06/23/whats_wrong_with_men_in_tights<p>Mr Speaker Bercow is to take the chair for the first time in the Commons today wearing a suit, tie and a 'simple' gown. He will resemble the headmaster of a minor public school. In the past two decades we have seen the majesty of the Speaker's position stripped away by sartorial symbolism.</p> <p>Betty Boothroyd was the first not to wear the wig but she did not need one and as the first woman Speaker dispensing with it was less a nod to modernism that an attempt to maintain her hair-do. M...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:28:48 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/david_hughes/blog/2009/06/23/speaker_bercow__clean_break_or_business_as_usual<P> It's a mixed review for John Bercow on Day One of his "clean break" Speakership.  It was good to see him give an extended interview to the BBC before his first session in the Speaker's Chair.</P> <P> The remoteness - and indeed the inarticulacy - of his predecessor helped create the dangerous gulf that has opened between rulers and the ruled. If Speaker Bercow can become a fluent public champion for Parliament, all well and good.</P> <P>What was less impressive was what h...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:05:32 +0100http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/james_delingpole/blog/2009/06/23/memo_to_the_ft_neda_agha_soltan_did_not_die_in_order_to_foment_antiisraeli_propaganda<P>The killing of 27-year old philosophy student Neda Agha Soltan on the streets of Teheran - filmed and posted on YouTube - has rightly become a focal point for Iran's democratic protests against the tyrannical clerical regime. But what, pray, does it have to do with the fictionalised death of a Palestinian boy who wasn't murdered nine years ago by Israeli security forces?</P> <P>A great deal if you read this extraordinary report from the <A href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/97b57c34-5f54-11d...Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:01:47 +0100