If you can't stand the heat....

One of the many joys of multi-channel television is that you are never too far away from a showing of the cult food show, Come Dine With Me.

For those of you who may have missed it, the programme involves four or five amateur chefs competing against each other hosting a dinner party for the other contestants. Each competitor then rates the host's performance with the winner winning a £1,000 cash prize.

Having made several celebrity programmes, for charidee, the programme's makers have been trying to put together a political version.

Sadly, one of their potential cast has declined the invitation. CDWM viewers will be deprived of Peter Hain's culinary skills, not to mention a glimpse into what is already quite a well-known kitchen.

Aides decided the Welsh Secretary was too busy to clear his diary for the week, denying us a glimpse of Hain cuisine (101 ways with Ryvita?).

Older viewers will remember the Neath MP's interview with Aga Magazsine: "At first I was a bit sceptical about the Aga.

"I thought it was a great big lump. But now I actually think it's fantastic. We found food cooked on the electric cooker tasted very second class."

There's no news yet on whether other politicians are prepared to risk getting their fingers burnt.

Although the political version would have been for charidee, the e-mail to potential participants apparently mentioned a fee of £3,000 per amateur chef. Worth keeping an eye on the Commons Register of Members' Interests to see how takes up the invitation.

2007 review: you know, the sort of stuff that fills up papers at this time of the year

For some, there was an historic inevitability about it. Yet there were rumours of rows behind the scenes, of personality clashes, of long-running battles fuelled by naked ambitions.

But the Spice Girls put it all behind them to reform for the money, sorry their greatest hits tour.

Elsewhere, power changed hands as Tony Blair was succeeded by Gordon Brown.

The year began with an unpopular Prime Minister behind in the polls, his party facing a police investigation over the way it raised funded. The year ends.....well, you can fill in your own punchline.

Gordon Brown entered Number 10 promising to restore trust in politics. Fewer than six months later, he had to admit that donations to Labour had not been lawfully declared. As I write, one candidate in Labour's deputy leadership contest is still trying to find out how an "administrative error" left him unable to declare donations properly.

Mr Brown won praise for his handing of a terror threat, of floods and of foot and mouth disease. He tried hard to reverse his image as a control freak by appointing a "government of all the talents" (GOATS), but his honeymoon ran out when he dithered over the election that never was.

Things got worse. The personal details of almost all Britain's families with children went missing (they still are). It emerged that thousands of illegal immigrants had been cleared to work in security jobs - including one whose job involved guarding the Prime Minister's car.


As these tales of woe emerged, one Labour MP - one of those who tried to force the last leader out a year after he won a mandate for a full third term - accused me of cynicism. The stories of dodgy donations and other cock-ups would be enough to test the idealism of Ulrika Jonsson's latest fiance.

Tony Blair's farewell tour may have dragged on a bit, but he was always newsworthy. The day he announced his departure and the day he went were among the most memorable of my 19 years reporting Parliament.

Dramatic political events happened outside the Westminster village. I still find it hard to believe that Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness work together in government, as they do in Belfast. The SNP's Alex Salmond is First Minister of Scotland; Plaid Cymru share power in Wales.

Some of the trivial stories were, as ever, the most fun. Peter Hain's Aga saga gave me a favourite quote: "At first I was a bit sceptical about the Aga. I thought it was a great big lump. But now I actually think it's fantastic. We found food cooked on the electric cooker tasted very second class."

Mr Hain failed to win Labour's deputy leadership contest but found time to rule out a Labour-Plaid coalition and to complain loudly when the BBC later suggested a deal could happen. Having a posh cooker must help when you have so many words to eat.

The Aga "story" was good for trade. This blog's predecessor, the original-but-now-dormant BBC Wales politics blog, was quoted in The Times, the Evening Standard and the Western Mail. There's honour among bloggers as well as among thieves.

We must not forget Lord Glentoran's role in cheering us all up. The newly-appointed Conservative spokesman on Welsh affairs told us: "As far as the politics of Wales is concerned"as of 48 hours ago I knew absolutely nothing. I now know nothing, plus a bit.

"I know nothing about the politics but I know quite a lot about the geography, having climbed most of the mountains."

Sir Menzies Campbell may have had better years but the former Lib Dem leader was a good sport when a Welsh hack turned up in his party conference hotel to ask him incisive, penetrating questions about the contents of that week's Hello! magazine, featuring Lembit Opik.

Two particularly enjoyable reports featured the unveiling of Lloyd George's statue in Parliament Square and a visit to Gordon Brown's tailor. Yes, Timothy Everest really did say "suits you, sir" (with a little prompting).

The year is ending with a personal milestone: my first child benefit form. Apparently, all I need to do is to send off the form, with our daughter's birth certificate and my bank details, to HMRC in Tyne and Wear.

What could possibly go wrong? Happy New Year.

Agas 4 All

There was a time when all you needed to make it in Welsh politics was a CND badge, a slightly shambolic dress sense and a vague commitment to social justice.

No longer. As revealed earlier this year, a posh cooker is an essential ingredient in the hinterland of any ambitious politician.

Having alerted readers to the Agas 4 Socialism movement, I have now discovered that Peter Hain is not the only leading politician to swear by his Aga.

Step forward the slightly unlikely gourmet Rhodri Morgan, First Minister. Thanks to the South Wales Echo, a paper almost as good as the days when I delivered it five nights a week, Morgan's closet flirtation with New Labour tastes can be revealed.

Put on the spot to reveal the contents of his fridge, he says: "Corn on the cob from Riverside market is the best bargain - half a dozen for £3.

"You just put them in the Aga or microwave until the leaves turn brown - talk about instant food!"

Admittedly, this is a belated discovery for me - as readers of Wales on Sunday will have spotted months ago.

The Welsh Assembly Government Morgan leads has already introduced free breakfasts in schools. Can it be long before no state primary is complete without its own Aga?

(The photograph of the First Minister and the MP for Cardiff North produced gratuitously above comes from Paul Flynn's blog)