Ellee Seymour

Now that Carphone Warehouse has withdrawn its sponsorship of the very troubled Celebrity Big Brother, “with immediate effect”, how much longer can the programme continue to run? Does the show have other substantial backers who want to distance themselves too?

A ridiculous domestic spat featuring one particularly unpleasant participant has dominated our media and been raised internationally at the highest government level both at home and abroad. Surely it’s time to put this behind us now and focus on the real issues of the day?

Why dwell any more on the less pleasant human nature of one of our citizens? Jade will most likely get her just deserts tomorrow and be evicted. How typical is she of British women? We all know she isn’t.

Delhi’s Today newspaper reported that the issue had become the top talking points in Indian blogs, with Shilpa Shetty getting a lot of support.

“You may be hard-pressed to recall any of Shilpa Shetty’s films, but today her name is on everybody’s lips… indeed we have to clean our own backyards before pointing fingers. That seemed to be the message from Indian bloggers,” the newspaper said.

A record 30,000 complains have now been made over alleged racist remarks towards the Bollywood star. I wonder if news of this controversy has filtered through to contestants in the BB house, or are they are still totally oblivious to the headlines they have created.

Carphone Warehouse has been sponsoring the show since 2004. It pays an estimated £3 million a year for Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother. I would describe it as a very poor investment.

Incidentally, the National Bullying helpline has reported a rise in phone calls since the alleged bullying on Celebrity Big Brother, I guess you could call that a positive if it is helping others.

Iain must be bursting with pride, after all, how many bloggers can boast that the Queen is one of their readers? It’s a fantastic tale, one he will dine on for life.

This is what happened while Iain was at Windsor Castle earlier today:

“I’ve just been wandering round the Castle grounds and who should I bump into but a certain regal presence. “And what do you do?” she ventured. “I write one of Britain’s most widely read blogs, Ma’am,” I replied. “You’re not Iain Dale are you?” she asked. “Indeed, Ma’am,” I greased. “Very good story about Mr Brown today. Goodnight.” And with that she and the corgis disappeared.”

How staggering is that? I wonder if her royal visits show on his stats counter - you could certainly call them “unique”. And goodness, that was the post about Gordon Brown being “psychologically flawed” too, what must she think of him?

Our Queen must be the most well read and informed monarchs we have ever had. I wonder if other royals read blogs too? Does she discuss their contents over dinner with her consort? Even more importantly, does she follow the links from his site, has she read my blog too?

Iain, I hope this isn’t a wind up, I know I am gullible at times. A pity you couldn’t have taken a pic of her. At least she didn’t put you down by saying: “I am not amused!” How long before we see the royal coat of arms on Iain’s site?

It’s money for old rope for rail operators, just take the commuters money, thousands of pounds a year, never mind if they don’t have a seat. It’s been standard practice for far too long.

Mike Mitchell, head of railways at the Department for Transport, believes commuters should expect to stand at peak periods, even if they have paid £5,000 for an annual season ticket. He believes it is acceptable to stand for up to half an hour. He suggests that if commuters don’t want to stand, then they should travel out of peak hours. That’s fine if you have flexible working hours, anyone would avoid standing on a train if they could.

This man is obviously not a regular peak commuter. I don’t believe it is acceptable for commuters to be treated like this. I always feel sorry for them, I can’t think of a worse way to start to the day. Often their journey is much longer than 30 mins, what do they do then, get someone to give up their seat so they have their fair share of standing?

If the government is trying to encourage people to use public transport to reduce carbon emissions, and they predict that rail passenger numbers will increase by 30% over the next decade, why haven’t measures been introduced by now to take that into account? Why are there no plans to increase significantly the number of trains on busy lines?

It’s miserable being a commuter, why don’t we have double decker trains like other parts of Europe? Why should our commuters expect a second-class service? Where else would you pay this amount of money for such a shoddy service?

I am also concerned about the health and safety aspect here, it is easy to fall or get pushed about, surely our commuters’s safety should be paramount.

Why can’t peak trains have more carriages? I suggest Mike Mitchell and his cronies try out these nightmare journeys every day for a month or so and see what it feels like to be a crushed, sweating commuter who has paid thousands of pounds for the pleasure.

Update: 25 January, passenger protests increase