The Sun points out that just two out of 21 Cabinet ministers have constituencies south of Watford - the most heavily populated part of Britain. Double that number of Cabinet Ministers represent Scottish constituencies, whose population is less than that of London. The excessive Northern bias of Labour's Cabinet is unacceptable.

To be fair, as Kerron Cross points out, there are only nine Shadow Cabinet members north of Watford. But since this far greater reflects the population distribution of Britain - and nine is significantly greater than two in anyone's money. There may be a Southern bias in the Shadow Cabinet - but there is also a Southern bias in the country demographically.

Of course there should probably be more of an equal distribution of all front-bench teams, but you can either have a fully equal representation or those who are [at least supposedly] the best/most talented of the MPs of that party. You can't have both.

But Labour does have an excessive Northern bias in it's Cabinet. No-one can deny that fact. That the Tories have a slight Southern bias - far more in line with the country - is hardly much of a problem, certainly in comparison.

Source: The Sun

The revelations are coming thick and fast today on cabinet ministers and their "youthful" drug use. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary started this off by admitting that, when asked whether or not she had ever smoked cannabis, saying:

"I have. I did when I was at university. I think it was wrong that I smoked it when I did. I have not done for 25 years."

This has now been followed by revelations from Alistair Darling that he had smoked cannabis "occasionally in my youth", Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Andy Burnham, who had smoked it "once or twice at university", Hazel Blears who tried cannabis "once or twice when very young," and, surprisingly, Ruth Kelly as well.

And my comment, as I said when David Cameron was accused of smoking cannabis, is: So what? Who cares? So you smoked cannabis when you were at university? Many people do. Politicians can have pasts too! It may have mattered in the past, but not any more.

It is all due to the government wanting to reclassify cannabis back to a Class B drug, and being able to point the finger at David Cameron for not having answered whether or not he has smoked cannabis in his past. This sort of mass "coming out" will protect them all from any negative repercussions from these "revelations", but also makes them wide open to the sort of joke I have used as the title of this post. By doing this, they don't necessarily win or lose anything, except for maybe a bit of disgruntlement from some especially anti-drug campaigners.

It is amusing that all the politicians who admit having tried cannabis also all say that they didn't enjoy it, or that it didn't do anything for them. What a load of bollocks they're talking! People wouldn't do it if it had no effect, and be refusing to admit that they liked it even the tiniest bit gains them no points back from the anti-drugs squad or wins them any from those who have or do smoke cannabis.

Reclassifying cannabis back up to Class B isn't going to work very well, and their justifications for it on the grounds of fears that its use is linked to psychotic illness, depression and suicide among young people are pretty slim. I've pretty much come round to thinking that cannabis should be legal, since it barely seems to have any worse effects than drinking alcohol or cigarette smoking, and being legal would cut down the extent to which it is a "gateway drug".

As we are waiting for Gordon Brown to announce his new Cabinet - he has apparently promised the BBC the name of the new Chancellor by 6pm - it would be nice to remind ourselves who is currently doing what:

Prime Minister: Tony Blair
Deputy Prime Minister: John Prescott
Chancellor: Gordon Brown
Foreign Secretary: Margaret Beckett
Home Secretary: John Reid
Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor: Lord Falconer
Chief Whip: Jacqui Smith
Party Chairman: Hazel Blears
Commons Leader: Jack Straw
Culture, Media and Sport: Tessa Jowell
Defence: Des Browne
International Development: Hilary Benn
Education: Alan Johnson
Environment: David Miliband
Health: Patricia Hewitt
Trade and Industry: Alistair Darling
Leader of the House of Lords: Baroness Amos
Transport [and Scotland]: Douglas Alexander
Work and Pensions: John Hutton
Communities and Local Government: Ruth Kelly
Northern Ireland [and Wales]: Peter Hain
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster/Cabinet Office: Hilary Armstrong
Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Stephen Timms

What will happen to them? Several we already know are leaving - obviously Blair and Prescott, but also Reid and Armstrong - but who else is to get the chop? The rumour mill has be active, and when Brown starts to announce his new Cabinet, we will see how accurate it was!