So, how's the book diet coming along?

Not bad, comrades, not bad at all. I've bought 3 books in the last ten days, all for work: Motion's biography of Philip Larkin, a book on masculinity in contemporary literature, and Almanac 14, the annual of the Association for Welsh Writing in English, which came with my yearly membership. It's very good. You should all join.

Meanwhile, in Utterly Insane and A Disgrace To The Public Sphere News, the Tory Scum government has displayed its contempt for science and rationality once more. Who've they appointed to the important and influential Health Select Committee? Only David Tredinnick and Nadine Dorries.

This pair are among the more gruesome and dumber Tories. Highlights include claiming that 'unborn children can punch their way out of the womb' (Dorries - they can't - apart from anything else, there's no room to get a good swing); corrupt Tredinnick tried to charge the taxpayer for astrology kit, and thinks that blood doesn't clot when there's a full moon (it does).

" Surgeons will not operate because blood clotting is not effective."

Er… they do. Ever had an appointment cancelled because of the moon? Me neither. Though perhaps this explains why I've never had one scheduled for midnight either.

He also demands that homeopathy be funded by the NHS despite it being an evil and charlatan way to separate the rich and stupid from their money and despite a complete lack of understanding about the scientific method.

Dorries is also pretty lazy (and here) - at least she won't turn up to the committee meetings to spread the insanity. She relies on pseudo-science to support her views and appears not to believe in democracy. She also, as the article points out, has a history of distorting facts to make her sound better. Additionally, she's got a well-deserved reputation as an expenses leech and leading weirdo (famously claiming that the House of Commons was packed with potential suicides following the Telegraph's revelation that she and plenty of other hogs had their snouts deep in the trough - Dorries behaved dubiously over her housing and gave her daughters cushy jobs at the taxpayer's expense because they might struggle to find employment elsewhere. She also channels taxpayers' money to her friends.

Despite this, perhaps these two fully deserve their places on the committee. After all, they've been elected by the great British people. Tens of thousands of voters decided that they didn't want honest, hardworking, sane and rational representatives making law on their behalf. So perhaps they should be allowed to carry on - we'll get the kind of country we voted for. Idiots like me should stand aside or even welcome the kind of legislature and health service we'd get - after all, democracy should rule.