here it is folks

Readers will want to know what the Chief Whip had to say in her letter to me. I place the letter in context as follows: on 22nd December 2005 the Reading Chronicle published a "Westminster Diary" piece in the name of Martin Salter MP, which consisted mostly of a diatribe against me personally. I sent a copy of this to the Chief Whip, saying I thought that using a newspaper column for personal abuse against a private individual was conduct unbecoming an MP, and that while I am a private individual these days and I have had enough personal abuse over the years from Martin Salter (why, Martin?) not to be capable of being hurt by any of it any more, I did not think the cause of Labour in Reading, and the struggle the Labour candidate in Reading East will have, when selected, to win the seat back from the Tories, as will the new candidate in Reading West when selected now that Salter is standing own, would be well served by what was described to me as "immature jeering". So, here is the Chief Whip's reply to me in full:

"Dear Jane

Thank you for your recent letter, and I understand the points you make. It was obviously a real blow to you and to the Party to lose Reading East and we were all very disappointed.

The changing political landscape has obviously made politics very lively. I am sure you agree that the Party has some very challenging times ahead in the battle to win a fourth term and ensure we do not retreat from those many areas which you and others crucially won in 1997.

I hope things are working out for you, and I wish you all the best for the future.

Yours, Hilary"

I refrain from comment or analysis at this stage, simply thought readers would like to see it. There's more than one way to say f*** off I suppose.

nostaliga for the major years?

The British government lost two votes on the Religious Hatred Bill - that makes four defeats since 1997, all of them in this parliament, ie since May 2005. How many defeats do you think the Major government suffered on whipped votes between 1992 and 1997, with a majority one-third the size of this government's? that's right, four. the government whips' office are getting the blame, and it is their job to get the numbers for any vote. George Galloway voted with the government, were the whips counting on that, so they let the PM leave early? Still didn't work, did it? I see the BBC is blaming "Uncle" Bob Ainsworth, the deputy chief whip, whose job it would have been to calculate the numbers, but I don't think so. A fish rots from the head. doesn't it Hilary? I am told the government chief whip Hilary Armstrong has written to me, and I will see the letter later today I hope, can't wait. She it was who told me, after the deselection, that I should be more respectful of the officers of Reading Labour Party because of that party's great record as a campaigning party. Still I suppose people with moderate to severe learning difficulty should not be mocked.

The editor of France Soir has been sacked for publishing a cartoon purporting to feature the prophet Muhammad. The original cartoon which caused all the fuss appeared in a Danish newspaper, and no Danish editor has been sacked as far as I am aware. That's the French for you, born collaborators, every man Jack of them. Q: How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris? A: Don't know, it's never been tried. Personally I think free speech is overrated, but how exactly are race relations in France going to be helped by this?

Tory shadow home secretary and former leadership contender David Davis said in Parliament this week that he quite liked giving way to the dimmer Labour members. One M. Salter (Lab, Reading W) chose this moment to intervene on him, to the inevitable howls of "He is one of the dimmer ones!" That going in your daily phone call to the Reading Evening Post is it Martin?

have you heard

Your Latvian word for today is "vard", pronounced as it looks and with a long vowel sound. It means "word". Go on, say it out loud and you will see (or hear) what I mean. We really are speaking the language of the Vikings here, and Latvian is not a Scandinavian language.

I see there was a debate in parliament yesteday on post-earthquake relief in Pakistan, and very good it was too. It was instigated by my successor in Reading East, Rob Wilson, and he was right to raise the issue because he represents a very large Pakistani-origin community and the Pakistan Community Centre in Reading as well as the three main mosques in the Reading area. The minister's reply was rather encouraging in terms of more and better aid but particularly in terms of the Pakistan government being in the driving seat of the reconstruction effort. Quite right, governments should be accountable and play their part - and perish the thought that any aid money would go into the pockets of corrupt officials.

I was pleased too to see that Salter kept out of it - he is not an assiduous attender in Parliament, but while he certainly should have been there for the previous debate introduced by Mr Wilson, on transport in Reading, there was no need at all for this one, as he does not represent the Pakistani community of Reading. I hope Mr Wilson reminds that community quite forcefully of the work he is doing on their behalf.

pointy things on your hat and long yellow plaits

It has been suggested to me by a Riga reader that the Vikings are responsible for these correspondences between Latvian and ancient English. "Bairns" for children existing in use really only in Northumbria now, which is where the Viking influence was strongest in England, I am sure that reader is right. He points out to me that Latvian, along with Irish, is the oldest language spoken in Europe.

The Latvian for "but" is "bet", pronounced "but". If someone will come out of the woodwork and teach me to speak Latvian then I will stop talking a**e about it on this blog.

civilian life

Your Latvian word for today is "cilveks". It means "person" and we can think of "civil"or "civilian", though I suspect that is cheating a bit as those are Latin words and that was lingua franca all over Europe a few centuries ago, so it's bound to have got in to a lot of places, invited or not. Thank you Max.

Why are there so many pet shops in Riga? Every little local centre seems to have one. Delightfully, my local pet shop has four rats, what seems to be a mother and three sons, they are now separated from her and the shop knows what it is doing, they are being properly fed and treated. They are total sweeties and if I knew I were here for longer I would have to give a couple of them a home - but with rats you really have to commit to at least three years if you take babies and some live quite a bit longer than that.

It is warm again, well above freezing by how it feels and I am told snow is coming, I am looking forward to it.

identity not for sale

Your Latvian word for today is "berns". It means "child" and is pronounced "bairns". My challenge to readers is to send me an ancient English word and I will find them the Latvian for it. What fun. but I cannot find anyone to teach me Latvian conversation! I am trying hard with a book, but it doesn't get me talking. Is there no Riga reader who would like to teach me?

We are having a thaw and I have gone out today without a hat on for the first time since I got here. It's not exactly warm but the Daugava river is not frozen any more, though the canal still is, and all the birds are delighted because at last they can drink.

Thinking on the nonsense of the Labour Party office, with me as its pin-up, should they not be fighting to hold the seats they have and not dwelling in the past? Or is that too much to ask? Reading East is going to be an all-woman short-list it seems, the boys will be very upset about that so they will find a girl to do their bidding - they might get a nasty shock as they did with me, we're not all like Jo Lovelock and behave like Daddy's Little Nazi. Grow up all of you. And Creighton, your career might be down the toilet but you still have a job, so do it professionally if you can - for now.

they can't let go

In the unlikely event that you get to enter the Labour Party office responsible for the South-East Region, you will find over the desk of the Director, one Mike Creighton, a big poster of -yours truly, with the rubric that it is wished that I go permanently away. You really couldn't make this up. All any of the boys has to do is stop going on about me and they will get some peace, from me at least. But Creighton is a Labour Party salaried official, on a pretty good whack too, and he shares the boys' obsession with yours truly? He has a picture of me on his wall? I thought I knew people, but a 12-year-old would be embarrassed by that. Words really do fail me.