After hours of pontification I finally decided who I think the next Conservative Party leader should be, and then the Guardian goes and gets there first.

There is nothing to dislike about Boris Johnson: he's humourous, intelligent and self-deprecating; with the possible exception of intelligence, the exact opposite of Iain Duncan Smith. There aren't many politicians who can say they have their own fan club. Labour MP Tom Watson has his own ideas on who he thinks should become leader, but somehow I sense it's in the same vain as those Labour supporters who want Iain Duncan Smith to stay. All we need now is for the Conservative Party members to realise that the majority of voters aren't Conservative Party members and to be brave in their choice of leader.

Remember, you read it here second.

Here's a tip for the Conservative Party: before you elect a new leader, run the shortlist past an impartial focus group to save you electing another dud. Your record of choosing a charismatic leader that the public warm to has been exceedingly poor - no one really liked John Major, he was just a better choice than Neil Kinnock; William Hauge came across as a schoolboy and Iain Duncan Smith is just dull.

So how on earth is Michael Howard a favourite to win the inevitable leadership contest? THE PUBLIC DO NOT LIKE HIM. He comes across as being rude and very arrogant. All that will happen is that his interview with Jeremy Paxman where he evades the same question 14 times will be played over and over, he will be shown to be untrustworthy, and you will be no better off than you are now.

The new leader needs to be someone who can unite the party, make Labour look stupid, but above all appeal to the voters. When I've thought of someone, I'll post it here.

The Mirror is running a story revealing that Princess Diana wrote to her butler, Paul Burrell, 10 months before her death saying that she thought someone was planning a car accident for her. Why sit on a letter like this for seven years? How long does it really take to forge someone's handwriting? Six hours before her car crash she was on a private jet - if you were going to 'arrange' an accident, that was the time to do it.

I remembered today that Concorde's last passenger flight is on Friday October 24, and as I work only a mile from Heathrow Airport I'm ideally placed to walk down to watch the last three flights land. That is, I would have been ideally placed if I hadn't, through spectacularly bad planning, booked that day off to go to Edinburgh for the weekend. All is not lost though, as there is a Concorde flight taking off from Edinburgh at 1420 on Friday, so I'm going to try and be there in time to see it.

I still think it's scandalous that there are no plans to keep one flying for airshows and special events. It is the only plane of it's class, and is part of aviation history. I can't decide who is to blame for this - British Airways, who are giving the planes to museums, or Airbus, who say they won't maintain it beyond October 2003. It's probably a combination of the two - obviously neither Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard or Rod Eddington, CEO of British Airways can see past the bottom line. Whatever the reason, it is a great shame.

For those not aware, George Bush is coming to town. What better way to welcome him to England than by supporting Manic's Bare Your Bum at Bush campaign. The idea is to make sure that any press coverage is either unusable, or shows what many people think of him. We've already shown what we think of one unwelcome visitor, and all he's done is sat in a box. Thinking about it, why don't we just swap them: suspend George Bush above the Thames with no food (with or without a box), and send David Blaine back as president. There we go, problem solved.

First my original host, Bargain Host went tits up, now my ADSL supplier Virgin seems to be going the same way. For the last two months the connection has varied between average, slow, very slow and quicker to post it. There are also frequent disconnects. Despite the number of messages on the ADSL Guide forums, Virgin still insist there's no problem. That is, they will tell you 4 days later if you email them or if you stay on hold for over an hour if you call. If your exchange has just been enabled or you are looking to sign up, I'd advise avoiding Virgin ADSL.

You sometimes have to wonder how some people ever got promoted. Who on earth decided this would be a good idea and authorised it?!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3182118.stm

When I was setting this up I decided that I wouldn't just recycle links I'd read on similar sites. Then I saw this and changed my mind - brought to you via www.b3ta.com, one of the most disturbing pages around (even better with sound) - www.limpfish.com/theystolemyeyes/

...check back here for intelligent, well-written posts on the serious issues of the day. Until then you'll find general ramblings on nothing in particular, things that are good, things that are bad and links to places worth visiting.