The modest poll bounce recorded in the Sunday Times has been replicated in by a Times poll which shows Labour up at 33%, and the Tories down slightly at 37%. The poll shows that the electorate see Brown as a better and stronger leader than Cameron. Early days I know but it is heartening to see a positivie reaction to Brown.

In the meantime Michael Meacher has dropped out of the leadership race leving John McDonnell as the sole opponent to Brown. It still remains to be seen wheter he will get the backing required to force a challenge

A buoyant Lewis Hamilton

With four podium finishes in his first four grand prix races and top spot in the driver standings Lewis Hamilton is a very happy young man.

"If I keep scoring points and the team remain competitive and consistent then anything is possible," he said "It is my first season so I have to expect some ups and downs but I believe I can stay in a strong position."

The 22-year-old is two points ahead of Fernando Alonso, the reigning world champion, and a further one clear of Felipe Massa, who won his second consecutive race in Spain. Hamilton extended the record he set at the last race in Bahrain for consecutive number of podiums at the start of a career. And he has taken over from Bruce McLaren, founder of the McLaren team, as the youngest driver ever to lead the world championship.

"I am living my dream after working so hard for this. To come out of my fourth Grand Prix, leading the championship, is just incredible for me."

Winning the championship in his rookie year is far from being a pipe dream. Whether he does it or not obviously remains to be seen. Wherever he finishes, he has made an astonishing start.

Oh dear....

Bristol university student Paddy Shuttleworth spotted an unassuming grey cotton T-shirt in his local Burton menswear shop, he was surprised by the Cyrillic writing surrounding the doubleheaded eagle motif which he was able to translate. Rather unfortunately, it read: "We will cleanse Russia of non-Russians!"

"I did mention to the girl as I bought one of the shirts, that it was politically probably quite dangerous," says Mr Shuttleworth. The shirt's overall design is an odd jumble of ersatz French logo and Russian iconography, but there is no mistaking the nature of the sentiment.

Initially Burton seemed surprised by the unsavoury sentiment lurking on its so-called Girlaun Print Crew shirt. But yesterday it emerged that the chain had been alerted to the gaffe by a member of staff. A spokeswoman told the Guardian the company had bought 6,000 of the T-shirts from one of their regular suppliers last week. At the time Burton was told the slogan translated loosely as "Be proud of Russia."
The t-shirt has now been withdrawn from sale.

Last year Ben and Jerry’s caused a minor stir over its Black and Tan flavour ice cream. Ben and Jerry’s did not follow up with a “No Surrender” range (orange flavour of course) and it is clear that Burton’s has no plan to introduce an “Arkan” line. I get the feeling, though, that that they will be proof-reading their T shirts in future....

Dandelion

The great escape

Not so long ago, West Ham was at the bottom of the table with every prospect of travelling to away fixtures at Colchester, QPR and Crystal Palace next season. They went into today’s final match just out of the relegation zone but with likely to get a mauling at the hands of Man Utd. The two other teams trying to avoid the drop (Wigan and Sheffield Utd) played each other today. There was a very good chance that Wigan would beat the Blades leaving West Ham to be relegated on the basis of a poorer goal difference.

Well Wigan did beat Sheffield Utd 2-1 but a single goal from the highly controversial signing Carlos Tevez meant West Ham gained a shock victory and ensured safety. Wigan is safe too but Sheffield Utd will be playing in the Championship next season.

Tevez started inauspiciously and his signing led to a £5.5m fine, but in the last few weeks he has been an inspiration. Personally though, I would like to thank Jesus, Allah, Jehovah, several saints in particular St Jude the patron saint of hopeless causes, Buddha, Zoroaster, Neptune, Poseidon (to avoid being sunk), the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Offler the Klatchian crocodile god, Blind Io, and Nuggan of Borogravia.....

More speculation

Home Secretary John Reid has been urged to take over the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party. The SNP victory at the Holyrood elections has led to speculation that Jack McConnell will face a leadership challenge.

Mr Reid has announced that he would leave the Cabinet after Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves office next month. Labour MP Brian Donohoe suggested that John Reid could come to Scotland to lead the party after he stands down. He added there should a by-election in one of the party's Holyrood seats, which Mr Reid could then contest. Once elected as an MSP, he could then become the party leader.

A spokeswoman for the Labour Party dismissed talk of a leadership challenge, saying there was no vacancy and the party was united behind Jack McConnell .

Sounds like McConnell is doomed then....

Brown government speculation 1?

A new leadership means lots of speculation over who is going to take which cabinet post. The People (not usual reading for me) wades in with the “news” that Jack Straw doesn’t want a return to the Home Office, a post he held in the first Blair government (1997-2001), or the Foreign Office for that matter. Apparently he wants to move to 11 Downing Street as Chancellor. This could see Trade Secretary Alistair Darling become Home Secretary with promotions for allies Harriet Harman and Yvette Cooper.

Meanwhile, Mr Brown intends to downgrade the role of deputy Prime Minister, with whoever gets it expected to spend most time liaising with the party – a good idea in my view.

All interesting stuff, I suppose – we will see a hell of a lot of this before Brown actually announces his cabinet next month.

The essence of Ted

A flying start?

Although it looks very much that Gordon Brown will not face a serious challenge for the labour leadership - he will easily brush aside a bid by either John McDonnell or Michael Meacher – it is good to see that he has come out fighting. It is essential he does this if he is to demonstrate to the electorate that his leadership represents a change of direction. The worst thing possible is that he is seen as the “new boss, same as the old boss” as it could well hand Cameron the keys to number 10.

Today’s Observer sets out Gordon Brown’sblueprint which includes:

• New eco-homes in specially designed 'green towns' so the public can buy affordable homes that have a low impact on the environment.

• Have doctors' surgeries open at the weekend and GPs on call in the evenings so that patients to not have to wait for appointments during working hours.

• Stripping Number 10 of some of the powers conferred on it by 'royal prerogative' - particularly the ability to declare war should only be done with the approval of
These of course are only a start but it seems that a change of leadership is already having an effect: A YouGov poll in the Sunday Times shows Brown closing the gap on Cameron (The Tories are now 3 points ahead of Labour, compared to seven in the last poll and a major drubbing just at the local elections).

Transferring elements of the royal prerogative (the powers exercised by the Prime Minister on behalf of the monarch) to Parliament is all well and good (yes it is good). However, to be on track to win the next election he will need to withdraw from Iraq (that should bring back some of that delivered protest votes last time or didn’t vote at all) and attend to the key issues that concern the voters, in particular the NHS. Brown does not have a magic wand but demonstrable progress will make a big difference.

Train wreck tv

It was Eurovision song contest time last night. Beers were drunk, tv was watched, cringeworthy songs were sung. the British entry came second from last - only Ireland did worse (and with good reason - the song was pretty dire)



I did say it was pretty dire...



The hot favourite to win was Ukraine's Vera Serdyuchka, the bastard hellspwan of Dame Edna and Elton John...(or the hellspawn of Sue Pollard and Timmy Mallet!) In the end the song came second



Possibly the most interesting song in the contest was Water by Elitsa and Stoyan, the Bulgarian entry. I think it came 6th or 7th. It did far better than the Swedish entry which I thought would be among the most successful



Okay so Ark had obviously been listening to Edison Lighthouse but I thought it had all the ingredients to go far.... In the end Eurovision 2007 was won by Serbia



So Marija Serifovic is now officially the greatest artist in Europe.... (how can I say that with a straight face???). If you are so inclined check out the official Eurovision website.