BLAIR'S TERRORISM PACKAGE GOES DOWN

Quite the spanking across the pond.

Tony Blair has suffered his first defeat after MPs rejected his plan to allow police to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days.

MPs rejected the plans by a bigger than expected margin of 322 votes to 291, before later backing a 28 day limit.

The defeat came despite Mr Blair saying MPs had a "duty" to support the police.

Tory leader Michael Howard said Mr Blair should resign after failing to "carry his party" but Downing Street says it was not a confidence issue.

Another part of that legislation, you may remember, was a highly problematic proposed law banning, among other things, the "glorification of terrorism". If passed, it would surely have precipitated a hilarious public debate about what constitutes both "glorification" and "terrorism". I was wondering if Downing Street would post a wiki-style webpage to that effect. Oh well.