Peter Rhodes on hi-tech voting, dirty old coal and a joke that crossed the line

I bet if the Waspi Women were the Waspi Trans Women, they'd get their compensation pretty damn quick. That's my first harrumph of yuletide.

Sixty backbenchers are campaigning for the Commons to adopt electronic voting to replace the current process of MPs filing through the voting lobbies. They say this archaic practice wastes time and can occupy up to a fifth of their working day. The current system also encourages the sort of behaviour we saw in the assisted-dying debate when, it is alleged, some Labour MPs delayed casting their ballot until they saw how Keir Starmer was voting. If electronic voting can wipe out the lobby toadies, bring it on.