By all means, criticise him on PELs if the new system doesn't meet with expectations, and criticise him if the new system doesn't make its way into this year's Queen's Speech. But criticising him on the basis of having an opinion is hardly valid. Would you rather he was a soul-less drone like most of the rest of Tony Blair's government

Graham, do you really want to bear his children?

I am not criticising his sense of humour or his right to have an opinion. I can take exeption to what he publicly chooses to laugh at, and I can disagree with his opinions. However, I did praise his bullshitting abilities here and stated he was our biggest asset.

I am critising him exactly because the new system is meeting my (lowered) expectations and because it is going to appear in the Queen's Speech.

As Kevin pointed out, if the Taliban's Minister of Culture had introduced a system where no public music making could take place without advanced official permission, I suspect our Government would have complained about it. Dr Howells may even have even expressed his famous sense of humour, at their Minister's expense?