England Expects...

Get De Beers In screams this morning's Sun in a classic currant bun splash after England's stylish entry last night into the World Cup Finals in South Africa next summer.

I'm by no means an expert or a football fanatic. But I am a patriot - so was disappointed only to catch the last five minutes of the game on ITV.

Unfortunately, the Croatia clash at the fabulous new Wembley stadium overlapped with a meeting of the Trustees of United Charities of Deeping St James at the DSJ Institute which didn't finish until 9.30...

England's 5-1 victory which propelled England to the finals had the headline writers working overtime. The Mirror cleverly went for: Bok of the Net.

I rather like the Sun's simple online version: 3 Lions off on Safari...

Good Luck to England's Ladies team today who could top the lads' performance by becoming European Champions if they beat Germany in Helsinki.

The Ladies European final is on BBC 2 from 5pm, but there's an early evening meeting of the parish council's youth committee, so looks like I'll be catching up with the highlights later.

And of course, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's crop of post Ladies Final headlines...

Top Tory tells councils to block housing plans...

With breathtaking arrogance, David Cameron's team have urged Tory councils like our own at South Kesteven to block the building of new homes while Gordon Brown is in Downing Street.

I first saw this story in a local paper, the Enfield Independent a couple of days ago.

The story claimed to expose a letter apparently sent by Caroline Spelman advising councils to stall major home projects until they win power!

I could hardly believe that a party that aspires to govern could actually use political dogma to prevent councils getting people off housing waiting lists, so thought I'd check out the facts before posting.

Under the headline Tory Leaders told to delay property developments, the reputable Local Government Chronicle confirms that the letter was in fact sent by Ms Spelman:

It seems the Mirror has also been checking out the story before saying today that the arrogant letter shows the tories are not fit to govern.

Same old Tories, eh?

Nasty Jim...

Pleased to see Mirror columnist Brian Reade agreeing with me about that nasty piece of work Jim Davidson.

Could it get any worse for Cameron...? Er, it just did!

Bad news and worse for David Cameron: First, boxer Amir Khan refuses to back him as a photo-stunt backfires on CameronHERE.

Cameron's national service plan is then exposed as a sham HERE

But the best news of the day was still to come.

After two of Cameron's senior MPs revealed this week they were working for the Prime Minister, the Tory Leader probably thought it couldn't get any worse.

Then he discovers that the Conservative's Deputy Treasurer has not only quit the Conservatives over Cameron's lack of leadership, but he too has accepted an invitation to become personal adviser to Gordon Brown on environmental change.

Just another day in the life of the latest Tory Leader...