42 days

I need to mention government plans to allow detention without charge for 42 days. This plan has been kicking around for months. It's always been controversial, but the bill is actually scheduled to be voted on in the Commons today. And it's really too close to call. The Lib Dems (for once not sitting on the bloody fence) and the Tories, are both planning to oppose the bill. There are also something like 50 Labour MPs intending to rebel. What makes it unpredictable is the fact that the DUP are refusing to say which way they will vote. They only have a handful of MPs, but they could swing the result in either direction.

In case you were wondering, I am against detention without charge for 42 days. It's open to abuse, and I can't see what the advantage would be. Supporters of the bill argue that 42 days are required to collect evidence against some terrorist suspects. But suspects can already be held for 28 days, and anti terror legislation is already being abused by local councils, who consistently use it to monitor emails and bug phones.

Prediction: I think the government will scrape a win here. I hope they don't, but I think they will, because I suspect Gordon has bribed the DUP. He is panicking however, because it will be close, and he really needs to win. He's in bad shape right now, and a loss here will injure him very badly indeed. The bill will go to the Lords if the government wins here today. The Lords will throw it out, but like the fox hunting bill, they can really only delay things.

My own MP, Anne Snelgrove, who gets letters from me quite often, is going to vote for extending the detention period to 42 days. You don't need to be psychic to make this prediction. She never votes against the government, because she aspires to be a cabinet minister, and she doesn't want to upset the people who can put her there. Also, she already voted to increase the detention period to 90 days, though that was defeated in 1995.

The key vote is going happen some time around 6pm. I don't know if I can get this posted before the result goes out, but the time now is about 13.15.

I just broke our purchasing system at work. There I was, minding my own business, trying to order some new software, when apparently my "handle is out of range". Wonder what that means. Can't order my software anyway. Lotus Notes truly represents all that is evil in this world. Well Lotus Notes and Tony Blair anyway.

I'm on kitchen duty tonight. I have to make pasta. I thought this was going to happen earlier in the week. I even bought a bottle of cheap red wine to throw in it. It's tonight though, definitely tonight. I've had it confirmed. I paid £2.58 for the bottle of wine. I thought that was great value. I imagine it would be too awful to drink, but no reason why it can't go in the pasta sauce. I'm quite into cooking at the moment.

My laptop is having its hard disk encrypted tonight. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, it's because it's all screwed up and I have nothing to type on. Not only that, they are dusting desks in the office tonight apparently. The word has gone round to clear desks before leaving this evening. My desk is not messy, but there are some really good examples of the volcano desk principal in here. These people need more notice before the desk fairy visits if you ask me. I bet this is all down to some weird EU directive.

I think I have a sore throat coming.

OK, it's now 11.02 pm and I didn't get this posted by 6pm. Told you I wouldn't. The vote result came out around 6.30. The government won, by 9 votes. The DUP voted with the government. They had a total of 9 votes. All are denying any deals (read "bribes") but meetings were attended and the DUP voted the way Gordon wanted. No one believes they weren't bought. The DUP are corrupt, and I hope the electorate remembers that next time they are required to vote.