We're Shuffling.

Britain's cabinet re-shuffle is firmly underway. However rather then just announcing in one go it will be announced job by job person by person throughout the day. Fortunately though it seems that all the big jobs like Chancellor of the Exchequer (senior finance minister), Secretary of State (senior minister) for Home Affairs (interior), Foreign Affairs (exterior), Defence and Work and Pensions (DWP) will remain the same. Therefore I can leave discussions about the new junior minister for rural affairs etc to later in the day if not the week.

The only noticeable big change is that Andrew Lansley who presided over the disastrous NHS reforms (2011 Health and Social Care Act) has been sidelined to the Conservative leader of the house which is pretty meaningless. He will be replaced at health by Jeremy Hunt who was formally the minister for culture, media and sport which meant he was responsible for the Olympics

There is also evidence of an aggressive move to the right within the Conservative Party. This is evidenced by Baroness Warsi being stripped of her very important role as Conservative Party co-Chair to be replaced by Grant Shapps. As the first Muslim woman to hold a senior role within the Conservative Party Baroness Warsi has always represented the party's more tolerant side and is generally quite a likable person. Grant Shapps on the other hand is basically just a psychopath with a very punchable face. As Housing Minister he worked closely on the controversial 2011 Welfare Reform Act which drew all the protests against ATOS and personally introduced the cap on Housing Benefit that will see large numbers of poor people forced out of areas where rich people live overturning about 60 years of British social policy. Ken Clarke has also been moved from Secretary of State for Justice to be replaced by Chris Grayling. For pointing out that community sentences are both cheaper and more effective at cutting re-offending rates and therefore probably a better option then sending first time, low level offenders to prison for a long time Clarke was attacked for being far too liberal for the Conservative Party. His replacement Grayling was a junior minister at the DWP who played a central role in drawing up the 2011 Welfare Reform Act. He is also seen as being virulently anti-gay. Former Chancellor Clarke however will continue in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio which is a polite way of saying he'll be there to mark current Chancellor George Osborne's homework.

Also police have discovered the bodies of a 70 year old woman and a 30 year old man in a cottage in Crays Hill in Essex. Apparently the bodies had laid there undisturbed for around a week. As Crays Hill is the closest village to the Dale Farm gypsy/traveller site this seems very suspicious to me so I will be keeping an eye on it to see if there's more to it then a simple attempt to draw attention to the Dale Farm argument.

10:55 on 4/9/12.

Edited at around 17:55 to add:

Obviously news about the cabinet re-shuffle has continued throughout the day. The only really interesting part I've seen so far is that Baroness Warsi has been given a very fancy job title that means she's effectively the Deputy Foreign Minister under William Hague. So this means she's gone from a position where she's been able to shape and influence Conservative Party and therefore British government policy to a position where she gets sent around the world to convince Muslims and Women that British government policy really cares about their rights.

The most interesting news of the day though is that researchers at Britain's Greater Manchester University have developed a special floor covering/carpet that can help predict if elderly/physically impaired people are about to trip or fall. Of course this is technology that's already on the market in Japan but the story's brilliance comes from the fact that as most disability 3 para-Olympic athletes already know excessive shuffling can be a sign of neurological impairment. A point that I will no doubt prove later as I'm just about to head off to the pub.

18:00 on 4/9/12.