SIR - The wastefulness and idiocy of the Welsh Assembly Government never ceases to amaze me.
The latest example is the Welsh Convention, which will no doubt cost a great deal of money and achieve the usual nothing. The money wasted could be spent on useful things such as cigarettes for pensioners.
G O'SULLIVAN
Pyle
Bridgend

Still, I was being serious when I mentioned I was saving John Prescott's memoirs for the beach. If you were in France recently and spotted a pasty-faced man clutching a copy of Prezza, you should have waved. But is it any good?

Well, the first section is. The section on his upbringing is fairly evocative of the times and presents what seems a rounded picture of family life even if it often borders on Monty Python - "you were lucky to have a cardboard box". And the tales of his life at sea, while being clearly romanticised in places, are genuinely entertaining and would be had he not gone onto a successful life in politics. Even the account of his union battles and his first tentative steps on the political ladder almost have you rooting for him. And who knew he had a pre-Madhouse Russ Abbott alongside him as he set out on his first campaigns?

But then he becomes a government minister. And the majority of the third half of the book is like listening to the middle child of the family moaning that the others get all the attention. Blair, Brown, Campbell and Mandelson - the "beautiful people", as he refers to them - don't listen to him, even later when he regularly brokers peace between the Prime Minister and Chancellor and single-handedly saved the Government from collapse. Prescott did a lot of things single-handedly. The Kyoto Agreement, that was him, as Al Gore told him. As was the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, despite the fact that neutral observers may have given some credit to Michael Heseltine. You wouldn't know this, of course, because the press - staffed by public-school educated fox-hunters to a man - chose to focus on the fripperies, the blatant abuse of office with his diary secretary, the love of the high-life, the boorishness (I've deliberately left out the rumble in Rhyl, because I had sympathy with him for that already).

Either the press or those people in his own party who hadn't pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps like himself. Like the female contigent of his party, routinely dismissed throughout the book as "the Sisters". And the majority of the last chapter is devoted to fairly churlish complaints about how he hasn't had the recognition he deserved. Tony and Cherie Blair only invited Prescott and his wife to dinner at Chequers once (why do we need to know this?). There is only one painting featuring Prescott on display in the Houses of Parliament, and that features him sat on the second row of benches rather than the front (this he compares to the Soviet Union).

This book has much to recomment it - as long as you put it down once it reaches 1997. After that it's like getting stuck next to the boor on the train harping on about his life for several hours. And you could get that quite easily without blowing 18 quid.

If you're interested, I also ploughed my way through: Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness by Richard Toye, which, even if you think you've read everything there's left to know about the pair, is a fantastic pyschological study and, if you don't, it's a rollicking tale of one-upmanship that makes Blair and Brown seem like bosom buddies. Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!) is entertaining enough, although the pitch-perfect satire of US right-wing shock-jockery which makes the Colbert Report such required viewing wanes a bit when stretched over 300 pages rather than 30 minutes. And away from politics, Jessica Hines' Searching for the Big B: Bachchan, Bollywood and Me is absorbing even if you don't like Bollywood - although having since Googled her, I can't help feel that her own personal contribution to the gossip that surrounds the Indian film industry may have deserved a little mention.

Lembit on his appearances on shows such as All Star Mr & Mrs: "The public like me for doing stuff like that. But does that make you take me less seriously when I talk about terrorism?"

Lembit on his intellectual discussions with his Cheeky Girl: "One evening, for instance, we discussed the concept of a perfect circle, as a geometric challenge. We play Scrabble and watch challenging films, such as This is England."

Lembit on the fact that Gabriela, 25, still shares a bed with her sister: "It doesn't bother me, it really doesn't. How does it affect me? They're twins, they were born together, grew up together and perform together, so why shouldn't they sleep together?"

Lembit on knowing politicians who have murdered people: "I know politicians who have murdered people."

Lembit on his Westminster nickname, Tripod: "That's an unanswerable question, because confirmation would mean arrogance and a denial would lead to disappointment."

Lembit on whether it is hypocritical to object to his previous partner writing a book about their relationship while selling his private life for money all the time: "It's a fair question."

Lembit on how he'd like to be remembered: "As the man who dissolved the motors of terrorism."

Mrs Williams, Lib Dem AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, says it is "far too soon" to be casting dispersions as to who will replace Mr German and has stated that she is enjoying representing her constituency.
Speaking to the Brecon and Radnor Express Mrs Williams said: "Mike German has only just announced that he is stepping down so it is far too soon to speculate.
"I've got a young family and at the moment I'm really just enjoying representing my Brecon and Radnorshire constituency."

One girl wanted to know if she would be professionally successful, another when and how she would die. One philosophical gentleman wondered what was truly original and had never been written before, while another wondered how long there would be until the planet succumbed to global warming. My favourite, though, was Seren Walmsley, a 17-year-old from Caerphilly, who, able to have any question imaginable answered:

"I would ask the computer a question like how many people are living in each country of the world."

One day, Seren. One day.

He himself, he said, was mocked on the campaign trail for being Scottish. "When I was fighting my own constituency campaign I had someone in a kilt playing a bagpipe", he said. “These things happen in a by-election.”

Given the only places he's ever stood for Parliament are Edinburgh South (Scotland), Dunfermline East (Scotland) and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Scotland), you have to say, that was a somewhat unorthodox move by his opponents.

But it looks like he was late getting there yesterday judging by this Early Day Motion he's put down in the House of Commons.

Unrelated fact: The average cost of tabling an EDM is £290.

"He seems to have already given up the ghost and rolled over. What a wuss."

What a wuss? When did this term enter the Conservative political lexicon? Perhaps it's the latest attempt to appeal to the yoof vote. After David Cameron hailed the Tories' recapture of the Vale of Glamorgan at the council election as "pretty tidy", Mr Jones might describe a win in Crewe tomorrow night as "well bare, blood".

David Cameron, today on his fourth visit to the [Crewe and Nantwich] constituency since campaigning began on May 6, spent about 40 minutes at Crewe's Asda store, where he and Mr Timpson spoke to staff and customers.
Taxi driver Kevin Scott, 26, told the politicians his fuel bill had gone up by £40-a-week since December.
The father-of-one, who declared himself undecided, said: “I told Mr Cameron that bus companies get discounts for their fuel so why can’t we taxi drivers?
“He said he would see what they can do when they are in power.”

Labour would do well to exploit this more, but they seem to have got distracted by llamas.