Long straw not needed.

… that the legality of the drug mephedrone will be examined “very speedily, very carefully” following the deaths of two teenagers.

Whilst at it he may like to examine why it is that a report on the drug is delayed … Oh that’s right its because his colleague

Home Secretary Alan Johnson hard at work

the Minister for ‘Hookar Smoking’ sacked the chairman of the Drug Advisory Council and the working party committee resigned in protest.

So whilst the authorities are spending £25 million beefing up the security in Whitehall. They still can’t manage to keep the data they hold secure. It seem that even the office cleaners are being given personal data of every one in the country.

An occasional series charting the life and times of a London Mayor.

The Commons overwhelmingly passes the bill allowing for hybrid embryo research(336 to 176). Actually, despite opposition, it looks like it was game set and match for science these last two days, with MPs leaving alone the time limit on abortions (304 votes to 233), and allowing for ‘Saviour siblings’ (342 votes to 163).

A Q&A on the bill can be found on the BBC website which includes information on why scientist say that the research is needed to further understand complex diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Motor Neurone Disease.

With the Reverend Blair out of the way, the leaders of all major UK parties gave their backing to the bill. Predictably the main opposition came from the Catholic church, the main spokesperson in amongst the MPs saying:

“We do not believe that regulation is enough. We believe this is a step too far and therefore should be banned.

“In embryos, we do have the genetic make up of a complete human being and we could not and should not be spliced together with the animal kingdom.”

being a conservative lawyer Edward Leigh is in the perfect position to know.

Credits:
Rat head by ChinchillaVilla used under a BY-NC Creative Commons License

National Trust Properties and Mel Brooks