Mandy, You Plonker!

Our representative in Brussels seems to have lost his touch when it comes to his much-vaunted media-handling skills:

"Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, has been accused of behaving like an "illegal street hawker" in his dealings with one of the world's largest press corps by leaders of the 1,000-plus journalists based in Brussels."

So it's possibly a good job he's come back to his native patch to try and get back in the saddle again:

"Tony Blair has drafted in Peter Mandelson to help finalise Labour's strategy ahead of the general election he is expected to call tomorrow."

Tomorrow?

"Tony Blair has decided to delay naming the date for the general election for 24 hours because of the Pope's death."

Oh well, will give those planning special blogging projects for the election a little extra time for those last-minute tweaks.