Nick Hogan, the publican who let his drinkers smoke, is a free man tonight, back behind the bar rather than behind bars, thanks to blog readers and libertarians who raised the £8,664.50 to spring him from jail.

Anna Raccoon has the full story, Old Holborn organised the fund raising and Guido was more than happy to publicise it.  Within hours co-conspirators had raised thousands to spring him from jail.

Nick Hogan is once more in the bosom of his family, able to support his wife Denise and their children, instead of being locked up with violent criminals.

A happy ending thanks to the generosity of blog readers…

UPDATE : Guy News was there and has footage of the cash being delivered to the jail by Old Holborn.  (Contact Emily.Nomates@GuyNews.TV for syndication rights).

Ed Balls admitted to being wrong to Michael Gove…

“Following our exchange in the House yesterday I have now had an opportunity to look in detail at the figures you quote and I can confirm that they are, on this occasion, correct.”

Gordon told us at his first Labour Party conference as leader in 2007:

So this is my pledge to the British people:

I will not let you down.

And I will always stand up for you.

He also said

it is because of the strength of the British economy that we are able to steer a path of low inflation, low interest rates and stable growth… with the longest uninterrupted period of economic growth in the history of our country.

Then the economy collapsed…

Social mobility down.  Youth unemployment up.  One in five state-school leavers functionally illiterate. Prudence, abandoned. Deficit at disastrous levels.  Last major country out of recession. Credit rating downgraded.  The country is broke.  No ending of boom and bust.  The lies, the bullying, the dithering, the politics of destruction.

Too late…

Michael Wolff writes…

“In Conservative shorthand, Osborne, the brilliant tactician, will become the brains of the party; Boris Johnson, the party’s most charismatic figure, its soul; and Cameron, the most media-ready of the new blood, its face.”

Never say that Guido is not willing to correct mistakes:

SWINSON, Jo to guido.fawkes
10:03 PM

In answer to the question you posed yesterday on the Guido Fawkes blog at 3:25pm: No.

I only claimed for one item on that receipt, for which as you report the Fees Office declined to reimburse me, a decision which I fully accepted.

As is perfectly clear from the claim form which is available for public view online, I did not claim for any of the other items on that receipt.

To be clear, I did not claim for, indeed have never even considered claiming for, any make-up on my expenses.

In light of these facts, I hope you will agree it would be appropriate for you to correct this posting on your blog.

Regards,

Jo Swinson

Guy Fawkes to Jo
8:47 AM
What was the item for which you claimed?

Will clarify.

SWINSON, Jo to Guy
9:12 AM

The tooth-flosser.

Nice to know that Jo thinks the taxpayer should take care of her gnashers…

Given what a shining New Statesman’s James Macintyre took to top freelance totty Rowenna Davis, it was only going to be a matter of time before she ended up writing for the struggling magazine. Last month she wrote a piece slamming parliamentarian’s use of unpaid interns suggesting that “MPs’ dependence on unpaid interns gives those from richer backgrounds a headstart on breaking into politics.” A fair point perhaps, so what’s this Guido reads? “The New Statesman Brand and Project Department is looking for an intern…” Paid? Yeah right…