Diary

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/01/hugh-muir-diary-west-burton-mark-kennedy-police

Version 0 of 1.

• It is not enough for these eco campaigners to have the will to occupy gas and power stations. They've got to have the knowhow, which they have in spades; but, crucially, they have to have the gear. This week 11 activists from the group No Dash for Gas successfully scaled a 91m (300ft) metal chimney at a gas-fired power station in West Burton, Nottinghamshire. Another six occupied a second one that was not yet in use, securing themselves on ledges. How did that happen? Cast back to 2009 and the attempted invasion of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, also in Nottinghamshire. That was thwarted as the result of infiltration of a protest group by the libidinous undercover policeman Mark Kennedy. A pre-emptive raid uncovered the plan and loads of the protesters' equipment, including hard hats, climbing harnesses, ropes and sleeping bags. Well, as you know, the secret and carnal activities of Kennedy came to light, resulting in all convictions arising from the Ratcliffe-on-Soar prosecutions being quashed; and as a byproduct of that fiasco, the police were obliged to return the confiscated equipment. Much of which was used for this week's occupation in West Burton. But isn't that the great thing about our police. Always there to help.

• After the humiliating loss of that vote on the EU budget, meanwhile, the blame game begins in earnest. Big Dave has had three chief whips since ascending to leadership of the country. But, as political analyst Philip Cowley pointed out on talk radio station LBC 97.3, two of the three have manifestly failed him. In 2011 Patrick McLoughlin, since exiled to transport, lost a vote on the state of the economy – the government was defeated by 213 votes to 79. And the incumbent, Sir George Young, has his fingerprints on the latest debacle. The only chief whip Dave could trust was Andrew Mitchell, whose record for herding and bullying colleagues remained unblemished. But he started swearing at the wrong people. The stuff of tragedy.

• But then, the lot of a chief whip was never a particularly happy one. We see that at the National Theatre, where politicos are rushing to the Cottesloe to see This House, a play about the whips offices in the 1970s. As Labour and Tory whips scheme and plot, the audience watches from benches positioned to replicate government and opposition in the Commons. And on Tuesday, one of the visitors was the former MP John Horam. The question, where would he sit? For Horam was elected for Labour, defected to the SDP and then migrated to the Tories, for whom he represented Orpington in Kent until the last election. He opted for the Labour benches, where he sat in the 70s when the action was unfolding. Presumably for old times' sake.

• The squeeze is on and money's tight, but if the Met's really that hard up, wouldn't it make sense for it to sell the contents of the Crime Museum at New Scotland Yard, rather than the building itself? It's worth millions. There are now websites such as murderauction.com that sell such stuff – their slogan is "every man has to have a hobby", a quote from an old murderer and bodysnatcher called Ed Gein. What the Met has got – items from Dr Crippen, the Krays, death masks from people hanged at Newgate and so on – would bring in loads of cash on eBay and elsewhere. A roulette wheel from one of the Krays' old clubs has recently been valued at £5,000. Think what the cooker belonging to serial killer Dennis Nilsen, his partner in grisly crimes, would be worth.

• Yes, the squeeze is on and amid the perils of life in the economic downturn, more advice from Spear's, the magazine for the super wealthy. Last year's riots may have been just a precursor to nastier happenings. If the revolution starts, they'll take everything, says the magazine. "Although revolution seems unlikely, art collectors should be under no illusion that, were it ever to happen, their art would be a target, irrespective of their nationality or background; and revolutionaries have tended to find that the easiest way to deal with the owners of art they confiscate has been to execute them by axe (Charles I), guillotine (Louis XVI) or firing squad (Tsar Nicholas)." Nasty. That lithograph of dogs playing cards. We've locked it away.

<em> Twitter: </em><em>@hugh_muir</em>