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

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.

Only Connect (BBC2) is the most fiendishly clever quiz show on telly and presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell is simply the best. So whatever possessed this intelligent woman to finish last week's show with an obscene joke about Michael Portillo that has caused a storm of revulsion? It was way, way over the line of common decency. More to the point, if a male presenter had told a similar joke, he would haver been instantly suspended. An apology tonight, perhaps?

After years of anti-carbon campaigning and the arrival of millions of wind turbines and solar panels, guess how much the world's use of dirty old coal has fallen?

It's a trick question. The International Energy Agency reports that the world is on track to use more coal than ever before this year, because of high demand in Asia. Global demand for coal is expected to hit a record 8.77 billion tonnes in 2024, and stay near that level for the next three years. So can we hope for 2025 that the road-blocking, art-slashing hordes of climate activists can stop annoying British people and take their campaigns to the streets of Delhi, Beijing and Washington?

Isn't it wonderful to see the liberated people of Damascus rejoicing in the street? They can meet and speak freely, chatting with whom they wish and expressing opinions and hopes without fear of a knock on the door. It used to be like that in England.