.... One of things that's been able to reliably enrage me is the English press's obsession with U-turns, always headlined as if *spat*. I blame Maggie Hatchett's speechwriters for pulling the "You turn if you like" stunt, after which the least hint of anybody in public office changing their mind is an instant flogging offence in the eyes of certain newspapers.

I've quoted this before, but it's still valid:

Sometimes scientists change their minds. New developments cause a rethink. If this bothers you, consider how much damage is being done to the world by people for whom new developments do not cause a rethink.
    -- Pratchett, Stewart and Cohen: The Science of Discworld, 2nd edition

And so: This week, there was the unedifying sound of much Pavlovian synchronised chanting from the ranks of the Opposition benches. No brains were observed to be in gear during this sorry spectacle. Happily, the baying seems to have stopped after one of their own attempted to defect to a limited company masquerading as a party, and (in an act of supreme intelligence) happened to leave a copy of his resignation speech lying around.* He left, not so much with head held high, as with the print of a boot on the other end of his anatomy.

* Sam Coates, on on Sky News, was observed to be highly amused.