Hmm

Lord Inglewood: Parliament as a whole is excessively metropolitan. Inevitably it is going to be London-focused because of where it is, but I happen to live and work outside London, and that makes it a great deal more difficult organisationally to play a part. I am particularly on my guard when I hear reference to “family-friendly policies” in Parliament. That normally means that you are going to have to spend all evening by yourself, and the temptations of the stews of Soho will no doubt be ever more in one’s mind as the evening goes on. They are not family-friendly at all; they may be attractive to those who live in London, but for those of us who do not come from London they are diametrically the opposite.

So Lord Inglewood would rather that sittings went on way into the night, rather than that Members have to spend long lonely evenings trying to ignore the insistent voices of their demons. Also, it's somehow Parliament's fault if they end up in a clip joint.

(no subject)

Toronto police staged a display of weaponry to demonstrate “the extent of the criminal conspiracy” among hard-line G20 protesters, but several of the items had nothing to do with the summit.

Facing criticism for their tactics, police invited journalists on Tuesday to view a range of weapons, from a machete and baseball bat to bear spray and crowbars.

Chief Bill Blair, who told reporters the items were evidence of the protesters’ intent, singled out arrows covered in sports socks, which he said were designed to be dipped in a flammable liquid and set ablaze. However, the arrows belong to Brian Barrett, a 25-year-old landscaper who was heading to a role-playing fantasy game when he was stopped at Union Station on Saturday morning. Police took his jousting gear but let Mr. Barrett go, saying it was a case of bad timing.

In addition to the arrows – which Mr. Barrett made safe for live-action role playing by cutting off the pointy ends and attaching a bit of pool noodle covered in socks – police displayed his metal body armour, foam shields and several clubs made of plastic tubing covered with foam and fabric.

Mr. Barrett said he was “appalled” at the placement of his chain-mail beneath a machete. He regularly takes public transit from his Whitby, Ont., home to Centennial Park to play the game, called Amtgard, while wearing the 85-pound armour and is worried people will think: “Oh my God, that’s one of the terrorists from G20.”

Police also displayed a crossbow and chainsaw seized in an incident on Friday that they said had no ties to the summit. When asked, Chief Blair acknowledged they were unrelated, but said “everything else” had been confiscated from demonstrators.

Julian Falconer, a Toronto lawyer representing four independent journalists in summit-related police complaints, called the display of unrelated objects a “public-relations exercise [that] borders on the absurd.”

The items, which were laid out on tables in the lobby of police headquarters, also included gas masks, cans of spray paint, a replica gun, saws, pocket knives, a staple gun, a drill, a slingshot, chains and handcuffs. However, there were also objects not normally considered dangerous, including bandanas, skateboard and bicycle helmets, golf balls, tennis balls, bamboo poles, goggles, rope and walkie-talkies. [Globe and Mail]

(no subject)

Lord Grenfell: It is almost as difficult to get into an Oral Question these days as getting into Fort Knox used to be.

Fort Knox is still a bullion depository, so what does the noble Lord know that he's not letting on? Is Fort Knox's comparative weakness these days a general knowledge thing that we're all supposed to know, or is the noble Lord issuing an oblique threat?

(no subject)

A former oil futures broker who went on a weekend drinking binge before blacking out and trading more than 7m barrels of oil has been banned from working in the City for at least five years by the Financial Services Authority.

The FSA discovered illicit trading during a 19-hour period on 29 and 30 June and found that he had sent a text message to his boss saying he would not be able to come to work because a relative was unwell. He had begun trading on 29 July 2009 purportedly on behalf of a customer—dubbed Client A by the FSA—but only one of these trades was actually for the customer who ended up with a position of $8m (£5.3m).

In the early hours of 30 June he traded again, this time from home, and executed such a high volume of trades that he gave a "false and misleading impression as to the supply, demand and price" of Brent oil which was raised to an "abnormal and artificial level". At times he was responsible for 69 per cent of the volume traded.

Alexander Justham, director of markets at the FSA, said: "Perkins' drunkenness does not excuse his market abuse." [Guardian]

No it doesn't, but I think it's rather adorable that they felt they ought to spell this out.


EDIT: The ghost of Hilaire Belloc htfb has been inexplicably but delightfully inspired to contribute the following handy mnemonic:

Drunkenness does not excuse
This dreadful market-trade abuse.
If you are worse the wear for booze
Your drunkenness is no excuse;
If you've been lapping up the juice
The market you must not abuse:
For drunkenness does not excuse
This inexcusable abuse.