Parliament of Fowls

Another MP bites the dust. The Judgement card is in full effect, although Brown has maintained his support for Hazel Blears - for now.

Anthony Steen has said he will stand down at the next election. He is parroting the Tory cant that an election needs to be held ASAP (it does, but not under conditions that Cameron or others of his cronies want) and that his £87,000 bill for forestry services claimed from the taxpayer has rendered him unfit for continuing in office. Card?

The Hermit, reversed.

Another opportunity to go back to your former constituency and prepare for a little light gardening. Bye-bye.

Seeing as the discussion over Hazel Blears is not abating, even though Brown has at present given her his support, I thought I'd pull a card for her - one card, not a whole reading, partly because she is just another "corrupt little porker" ((c) If, Steve Bell, last week) and partly because I have to go to work at 2pm.

I pulled Queen of Pentacles reversed for our bleary, Blairy little friend.

Reversed, the Queen becomes greedy, spiteful, extravagant, suspicious, demanding and full of complaints about the ingratitude of the world. She is blind to others' good intentions. Beware of succumbing to her oddly persuasive views.

Blears may survive today but is looking precarious because of her own bad character under pressure. I saw her speak live at a Fabian conference in early 2004 - shortly before I crossed the floor to the Tories - and while her panel-mate Frank Field was a lucid, engaging and witty speaker, Blears and, elsewhere at the forum, Stephen Twigg, were as the card says - unable to see that the Tories under Howard represented a serious challenge to their authority and arrogant enough to believe there was only one opinion in the world - theirs, and by association, their master's. Blears is doomed because of her attitude to politics, not her snout in the collective trough. The good thing about this scandal is that it is weeding out all the people who can't run a piss-up in a brewery and bringing out their true colours where the back-and-forth of normal business has not. Good riddance, in other words.

With Hazel Blears now looking shaky, she probably doesn't want to know that the card I've drawn today is -

Judgement.

This card signifies the ending of one stage of life and beginning of another. It is a moment for reflection and self-judgement, measuring what you have achieved against the ideals that you were aiming for, because fresh opportunities to achieve them will arise. Armed with honest self-appraisal, you will be best poised to take advantage of them. Meanwhile, it pays to be generous in your judgement of others.

Not a good card for a bunch of sheep waiting to be slaughtered for their part in this gargantuan fiasco, but even now the Speaker has gone there is evidently more to follow. This was the card that was in the "seeds" position for the last reading - for the reform of parliament - so the situation is continuing to gain momentum rather than subside now many MPs no doubt feel they have found a scapegoat. With David Cameron effectively neutered as a credible opposition by his childish and rather hypocritical calls for an election, the actual opposition to this huge mess can only come from outside parliament.

If anyone has any sensible answers, please let me know via comments.