Of course you are – it’s been almost a week since he popped up on The Ultimate West Wing Challenge.

Fear not – your Oaten appetite can be sated via a podcast. Not his own, thankfully (although I confess some surprise that he and his wife aren’t running a Darbyshire style blogspot confessional) but a British Library panel discussion entitled – surprise, surprise – “Prurience or privilege: are politicians entitled to a private life?”

Now don’t all download it at once…

As of today, you can now discover the likelihood of being suddenly slain. The current threat level is SEVERE. The red capitalisation is mandatory. According to the Intelligence.gov.uk website guidance, this means:

Severe – an attack is highly likely

I’m disappointed that the “Intelligence Community” haven’t taken the lead from the LibDems and made us buttons so that we can all display the threat level automatically on our blogs, and thereby keep everyone up to speed of how scared prepared the Government intends us to be.

So, now you know that “an attack is highly likely”, you’re expected to take action. Sticky tape on the windows, that sort of thing.

From the BBC:

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced that he will contest elections for a fifth term in office.
[…]
Mr Howard’s announcement comes despite pressure from his deputy for over a decade, Treasurer Peter Costello, to step aside.
[…]
Mr Costello told reporters Mr Howard had 12 years previously said he would hand over the reins of the Liberal Party to Mr Costello during his second term.

But Mr Howard said no such agreement had been made.

Couldn’t they come up with something more original? This story’s been done to death…

Via Colin comes the welcome news that this month’s MORI Political Monitor opinion poll puts the Liberal Democrats on 24%, up three points on June. Here’s a low rent Excel graph showing MORI’s scores on the doors since January:

The same poll found Tony Blair with his lowest approval rating since becoming PM, but despite that and David Cameron’s supposed successess, the Tories are only four points ahead of Labour.

MORI are by no means the most reliable of pollsters (see James and Mike), but any increase is at least good for morale. An interesting aside is that Labour lead when likelihood to vote isn’t taken into account.

See also: ft.com.