"Trick or treat can be enjoyable for those who are happy to take part and organise the occasion.
However, for others who find it inflicted upon them, it can easilyu become a nuisance or lead to intimidation. Parents should know that it can be quite frightening for vulnerable and elderly residents to have a series of callers coming to their door at night and asking for gifts, particularly if the youngsters are not known to them, and are persistent and become unpleasant if the householder has nothing to offer them."

That this House welcomes the call from the Northern Way initiative for the North East of England to be fully linked to the UK motorway system as a step in the right direction and a major contribution to the aims and objectives of the Go for Jobs campaign in the region; and recognises that, while it is true to argue that congestion cannot be resolved by simply building more roads, a fully integrated motorway system throughout the nation is nevertheless an essential part of promoting economic growth in the regions and reducing regional disparities and that the current isolation of the North East from the rest of the motorway network unfairly and unreasonably discriminates against the North East.

"I am still very worried that people are still visiting the site. I lost my home and financially I am worse off as a result of being sacked, but I don't regret it at all. I shouldn't really be speaking, but this is a point of principle. I will not be gagged about the chemicals at Trow Quarry.

I had an expert examine the site and he was convinced of the dangers. How can they say all the chemicals are underground when there is clear erosion which is exposing them? They clearly know something is wrong at the site, but have done nothing about it. They say they have put up signs warning people not to play in the soil, but people just don't pay attention to them."

Mr Osborne, David to Mr Brown's Goliath, came to the Dispatch Box and asked about the lamentable state of pensions: "I know the Chancellor doesn't do humility but does he accept any blame for what's gone wrong?"

The Chancellor responded by dwelling on some of the blunders which he says a Tory government would make about pensions. The Speaker rose and said: "He can't dwell on what is Conservative Party policy."

Mr Brown's lower lip chattered as he struggled to arrest the flood of words in which he was trying to drown Mr Osborne, who instead continued goading the Chancellor: "No one believes what he says about his own policies, let alone ours."

At this point Mr Brown lost his cool and threw his papers towards Mr Osborne. They landed beside the shadow chancellor's glass of water. This marked an amazing loss of self-control by Mr Brown. It was as if, like an adult who starts screaming at a naughty child, he had allowed himself to be dragged down to the level of his tormentor.

The interest in watching Mr Brown lies in wondering whether the red-hot passions that one can sense blazing within him will ever result in a volcanic eruption, or whether he can go on channelling all that fire into his relentless oratory.

Mr Osborne followed up by quoting an assessment which John Hutton, the pensions secretary, is supposed to have made of Mr Brown: "He'll make an effing awful Prime Minister."

The Speaker ordered Mr Osborne to withdraw, prompting the cheeky Tory to rise and say: "I of course unreservedly withdraw the quote from the Secretary of State for Pensions."

"It is the view of the SPU (Special Prosecutions Unit) that widespread use of postal votes has opened up a whole new area to be exploited by the fraudster and the opportunity has been taken. It is difficult to assess if abuse of postal voting has altered the outcome of local elections but it is possible. It is the view of the SPU that the postal voting system must be properly managed and scrutinised otherwise the integrity of the electoral system will be compromised. Anecdotally some community contacts have remarked on how some practices that are seen as acceptable outside the UK have been adopted in respect of UK elections. For example, the head of an extended family instructing family members to vote for a particular party or candidate."

Last week, The Sunday Telegraph made public an authoritative new research paper which showed that a seemingly innocuous tax change by Gordon Brown, a mere footnote to his 1997 budget, has cost UK pension funds more than 100 billion pounds.

Delivering his first budget, Mr Brown told the Commons that the abolition of "advance corporation tax relief" was a "long-needed reform". At the time, the move went almost unnoticed. Nobody, save for a handful of government and private-sector actuaries, understood the implications of what he had done. And given New Labour's awesome power at the time - fresh into office and with a huge parliamentary majority - few credible voices were raised in protest.

But, over the years, the impact of Mr Brown's "pension stealth tax" has become all too clear. By removing relief on share dividends, the Chancellor denied pension funds income to the tune of about 5 billion pounds a year. When you take into account the fact that those dividends are often re-invested, the true financial impact of this move soon escalates to eye-watering levels.
It is the power of such compounding that means that even our new estimate of the full impact - 100 billion pounds - may still be too low. Even so, it is more than twice as much as the combined pension deficits of this country's biggest 350 companies.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: Gordon Brown mortgaged the futures of millions of workers in Britain almost as soon as he came into office.

The hypocrisy of all this allegedly socialist government has done in power in the area of pensions is palpable.

Self-provision (or private) pension schemes have been ruined by Brown's annual tax raid.

Employer schemes have been utterly bankrupted in the same way - so that today they are now closing to new entrants, being redrawn on far less favourable terms for existing members (who are in shock at their bleak future - having always thought they would be OK) - or even becoming insolvent at an unprecedented rate.

Meanwhile the government has not the spine to tackle Civil Service pensions - still gold plated and available at 60 - underwritten by the poor taxpayer."

At the same time they have the gall to flag up that the already pitiful state pension will soon not be available to workers until 68 or even 70.

"What the fucking hell are you on about! It's half past fucking seven, how many fucking disabled fuckers are going to come out shopping at this time of bastard night?

"Sir", I replied
"If you aren't entitled to park there, would you mind moving forward into the next vacant bay?"

"You can go and fuck right off, you little fucking jobsworth, who the fuck do you think you are? Little twat, I'll take this to the top, the head man! You're not going to fucking well tell me where to fucking park!"

As he and the lady made their way into the shop he muttered "I'll rip his fucking head off, stupid little c**t"

Lord Wedderburn, a renowned legal expert, said he could no longer support the party's 'malodorous practices' and would sit in future as a crossbencher, meaning he has no party allegiance.

He told the Daily Mail: 'I have been concerned about what appears to have gone on for some years.'

Lord Wedderburn said he could not understand why Lord Drayson, a major Labour donor, had been given a peerage and then appointed to the Government front benches.

'I was surprised he was made a peer and amazed he was made a defence minister,' he said.

Police have so far have questioned at least 48 people - more than a dozen under caution. Three have been arrested and bailed: Lord Levy, Mr Blair's chief fundraiser; Sir Christopher Evans, a biotechnology tycoon who lent Labour £1 million; and Des Smith, a headteacher and Government adviser who helped recruit wealthy backers for specialist schools.

All those arrested and questioned deny acting illegally. But the investigation appears to be closing in on Downing Street.

Mr Blair is expected to become the first serving Prime Minister to be questioned by police investigating alleged corruption - a grave embarrassment in the dying days of his Premiership - within the next few weeks.

Downing Street said last night there had been 'no change' in terms of a request from Scotland Yard for the Prime Minister to be interviewed.

"Everyone can see this government is divided and paralysed.

We have got a Prime Minister who doesn't trust his Chancellor; a Chancellor who's been accused of blackmail; the latest Home Secretary wants the Prime Minister's job; the Deputy Prime Minister hasn't got a job, but he's still being paid - and all the while, hospital wards are closing and prisons are in chaos.

How many more months of this paralysis have we got to put up with?"