‘If you take a close look at the Government’s economic predictions, you have to wonder if the Weather Bureau hasn’t taken over the forecasts’.

We have a rising stock market, car production up nearly 30% on last year, humungous orders from the Farnborough Air Show (£28 billion), the economy has grown at the fastest rate in 4 years. We are also told that at this time the Government is showing a £5 billion profit on its bank shares. Does this mean divestment can’t be far away, and will the small but beautifully formed George Osborne stick to his idea of flogging the shares to small investors a la Maggie’s privatisations? The OECD is worried about inflation. The IMF is worried about deflation. Or the other way round. What a gwaan, man?

A week for gaffes by both the PM and Deputy, if we are to believe some sections of the meeja.

Cleggikins declared the Iraq war to be illegal which won’t endear him to his Tory comrades in the Government of all the Talents (hereinafter known as the ‘Brokeback Coalition’, thank you, David Davis). He reminds me of Beverley Baxter’s quip about Lord Beaverbrook – ‘He is so pleased to be in the Government that he is like the town tart who has finally married the Mayor’.

Dave said that the UK had been the junior partner in the ‘special relationship’ (not that again, purleeze!) since we fought the Nazis together in 1940. Not big on history, our Dave. Then young Milliband got in on the act by saying that in 1940 ‘Britain stood alone against the Nazis’. Apart from the Canadians, South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders, Rhodesians and all the rest of the far-flung Empire, I suppose. It really is time that politicians who were not even a twinkle in daddy’s eye at the time stopped harking back 70 years and started harking forward.

The Beeb reported that on Dave’s visit to the Big Apple he had a hot dog with Bloomberg. We really need to know that. He then had lunch –eh? – with a raft of big-shots, including the ‘former politician’ Newt Gingrich. Is the old rogue really ‘former’?

Lockerbiegate refuses to leave the front pages here. This is Richard Ingram’s piece in The Oldie:

'By failing to die as predicted by Britain's top cancer specialist, the "Lockerbie bomber" Abdel Basset al-Megrahi has embarrassed David Cameron, who is now worried that the controversy over his release on compassionate grounds could cast a shadow over his visit to Washington next week. Accordingly, our ambassador in Washington, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, has issued an apparently heartfelt statement claiming that Megrahi's release was a mistake and is regretting "the continuing anguish" that it has caused to families of the Lockerbie victims. In addition, it is now claimed that BP was in some way responsible for Megrahi's release, as it helped to further good relations with Libya's Colonel Gaddafi. While the media pursue these red herrings, the most likely reason for Megrahi's release will go unmentioned. It is generally forgotten that, at the time of his release, he was engaged in a lengthy appeal hearing against his original conviction. Evidence showing the flimsiness of the case against him would have been produced; well-founded allegations of the bribery of witnesses and the possible planting of evidence on the crash site by the CIA would have been aired. It could all have ended with the exposure of one of the most scandalous miscarriages of justice ever acknowledged in a British court. No wonder that in the circumstances the Justice Minister, Jack Straw, was so keen to see the back of Megrahi and the discontinuation of his appeal hearing'.

It was briefly reported that Senators had asked Her Britannic Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (retired) to attend upon them and explain his actions over the Lockerbie prison release, to which our Jack replied ‘Go forth and multiply’. Did the Senators really expect Jack, the Scottish Justice Secretary et al to come running? Or is this really a bit of grandstanding for November? Jack had probably briefed Condi yonks ago over fish ‘n chips ‘n mushy peas at the 'Star of Helmand' Halal chippy in Blackburn. A public enquiry is a non-starter and they all know it. Can you imagine the CIA, MI5, Special Branch and others with fingerprints all over the case turning up and spilling the beans? Should it happen, I would advise buying whitewash futures.

Scarcely had I posted my prediction that sooner or later someone would leak when the Sunday Times front-paged a leaked letter from the Deputy US Ambassador which said ‘The US position is that compassionate release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer’. We also learn that shortly after the release Occidental, Chevron and Exxon signed deals with Libya. Purest coincidence, of course. The Libyan sovereign wealth fund set up in London with a wedge totalling £80 billion shortly afterwards.

And you probably read Heffer’s Saturday piece about the myth of the SR. In case you missed his subsequent blog, here it is.

'I wish Dave – despite his shaky grasp of history – had reminded his critics on the Lockerbie bomber of some home truths: namely, that even after that outrage, and, in fact, until the seismic horror of September 11, many Americans thought the IRA were freedom-fighters, lavished money on them to finance their acts of murder, and cheered when their courts refused to extradite terrorists to face justice in British courts. America's record on terrorism before the events of 2001 was a real stinker. The hypocrisy of their whinging now needs to be seen in that context. The bomber should never have been released; but there was a time when they, conceivably, would have done the same as the Scots'.

The ST had an editorial in similar vein entitled ‘Hold tight, Uncle Sam, and look in the mirror’. I for one am heartily sick of the hysterical Yankee-bashing that is a daily feature of the meeja and the blogs, although to a certain extent O triggered this by his constant references to ‘British Petroleum’, which has not been the company’s name for years, as if to imply that the Brits as a race were responsible for Deepwater. This brought bitter references to Piper Alpha, the US-owned North Sea rig that exploded and killed 168 men. All the compensation was paid by the UK taxpayer.

Returning to a previous theme, a Government report into the collapse of the Icelandic bank KSF, reveals that it was solvent at the time, until HMG purloined its deposits to the tune of about £800 million. I have previously given my humble opinion that this action has no legs because (a) anti-terrorist laws were used to seize the funds and it was never the intention of Parliament that anti-terrorist measures should be perverted in this way; and (b) the customers’ deposits are liabilities, not assets. Ah well; as Kipling said ‘politics is a dog’s life without a dog’s decencies’.

And a word of advice to Hillary Clinton who seems to be literally growing into the job. With a butt your size, never wear trouser suits. And never travel economy class (as if you would). You will never get out of the seat again. (The ever-rude English would say ‘Barge-arse’).

To add to the gaiety of nations, Nick Griffin, the Obergruppenfuehrer of the BNP, got the red card for his cuppa with Her Maj. Protocol requires the Palace to invite all MEPs to the annual garden party just to show that it is not too fussy about the company it keeps (well, we used to go every year), so it had no alternative but to invite the egregious Nick. The courtiers must have done handstands when he sent out an e-mail to his supporters soliciting questions to put to the Queen. That gave them the excuse to withdraw the invitation because he had abused it for political purposes.

The EU continues to astound us with its planetary reach. It is now proposing to ban kangaroo products from Australia on the grounds that when the Ockers shoot a mummy roo they brain the poor little joey. That’ll teach the barbarians of Van Diemen’s Land. I was not aware that there was a vast trade in kangaroo filet mignon in Europe, but I remember when I was in the US years ago the big scandal was that mountains of burger steak were dumped when it was discovered to be roo not moo. If the Aussies were to ban hunting during the breeding season, as is the case in the civilised world, what would the joey-huggers say then?