Dame Beckett tries to head off Milibandwagon at the pass.

Asked by the Daily Torygraph whether the public doesn't have a right to see the probable next Prime Minister tested by a young challenger such as Mr Miliband, Rt.Hon. Margaret Becket MP said: "But what about the poor bloody human sacrifice?

Mrs Beckett says: "I think 'poor David'. It is complete nonsense."

"He is very bright. He is a very good minister. I am sure he will be a major figure in the party for a long time to come and a major contender at some time in the future. But should he take this step to satisfy somebody else's prejudices? He would be daft."

Methinks the Pantomime Dame doth protest too much.

By the way ...

By the way Rt Hon David Miliband MP: gave the Dr S T Lee Lecture on Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, "The transition economy: a future beyond oil?" on the 5 March 2007 which has received litle comment. Should you wish to hear the great boy speak the 18MB MP3 audio file is available here.

He provided the first evidence that has come from his department (previously run by Dame Margaret) about the problems of energy security that have been looming for many years..and been seriously ignored.

"..many of our coal and nuclear power stations are coming to an end. For years, the UK has been self-sufficient in gas and oil, thanks to North Sea Oil production. In future, we will increasingly depend on oil and gas imports from Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. We could be importing as much as 90% of our gas by 2020 compared with around 10% now. So there are plainly dangers of energy insecurity."

He talked some bollocks about Climate change but he realises (as no doubt others are now belatedly realising in Whitehall)

"...energy security and climate change can lead to common solutions."

As the Pantomime Dame says, ... "he is very bright"

His speech is seriously recommended reading .... or listening.

It is of course pre-dated (again unremarked by commentators) by what Tony Blair told a meeting of magazine Editors at a meeting at No 10 on June 27th last year.

"........ there is a simple stark fact that I would just like to put in front of people, which is we are going to go over the next 15 or 20 years to a situation where: one, the 20% that we get of our electricity from nuclear is going to decline to virtually zero; and two, where we are going to go from being 80 or 90% self-sufficient in oil and gas, to 80 or 90% importing it. And I think what that means is if we want to safeguard our energy supply ..."

Perhaps, just perhaps, the message of FCUKED is getting through.