Party board's involvement likely to dismay No 10, which has spent weekend rubbishing reports in Times and Daily Telegraph

Lord Feldman, the Conservative co-chairman, is to be challenged at a meeting of the party board on Monday over allegations that he made disparaging remarks about Tory grassroots activists.

As the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, led a cabinet fightback on behalf of Feldman, who denies having described activists as "mad, swivel-eyed loons", a member of the Tory party board said he would be asking Feldman to explain himself.

Brian Binley, the Conservative MP for Northampton South who has been an officer of the party for 54 years, said: "This is a very disturbing matter and needs a full and proper review at the party board meeting. From that meeting I will decide how I will act thereafter."

The involvement of the board, which represents the views of Tory activists, will dismay Downing Street after it spent the weekend rubbishing reports in the Times and Daily Telegraph about Feldman's alleged comments. Feldman described the reports as "completely untrue".

No 10 was particularly sensitive because the alleged remarks revived criticism of the Tory leadership for being aloof and out of touch. Hunt spoke for Downing Street when he told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1: "The person who is alleged to have said that has denied it and I know the individual and I trust him. "

The unease across the party was highlighted yesterday when 35 current or former Conservative associations handed in a letter to Downing Street that accused the prime minister of showing "utter contempt" for the grassroots activists after pressing ahead with legislation for equal marriage. But Cameron came under fire from another wing when Lord Howe of Aberavon, the former chancellor, warned that he was losing control of the party on Europe.

Ben Harris-Quinney, the chairman of the Bow Group and director of Conservative Grassroots, which drummed up support for the letter, said of Feldman's alleged remarks: "It doesn't matter who made these comments, the problem is that it comes as no surprise and is representative of a wider malaise in the party – the disconnect between the leadership and the grassroots, between conservatism and the leadership of the Conservative party. The tail cannot continue to wag the dog."

The Bow Group, which was founded in 1951, intervened in the wake of Feldman's alleged remarks on Wednesday night, said to have been made shortly after 116 Tory MPs showed their unease with David Cameron over Europe and voted in favour of an amendment regretting the absence of a EU referendum in the Queen's speech.

Taunted by a journalist about the vote, an unnamed senior member of Cameron's inner circle was quoted by the Times and the Daily Telegraph as saying: "It's fine. There's really no problem. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons."

The alleged remarks were particularly damaging because they appeared to echo the prime minister's language. The FT reported in March that Cameron "tells colleagues that anyone who wants to talk to him about the EU is 'swivel-eyed'". The FT article was not challenged by No 10.

Downing Street said over the weekend that the Times and Telegraph, which reported the remarks, had no credibility because they had declined to name Feldman, who admitted talking briefly to journalists at the Intercontinental Hotel at Westminster.

The Tory co-chair recognised one of the journalists when he popped out of a private room, where he was attending a dinner hosted by the Conservative Friends of Pakistan.

The journalist and another colleague, who was attending a dinner in the hotel's Blue Boar Smokehouse restaurant with the prime minister's former civil service press secretary Steve Field, had a brief conversation with Feldman about the vote. Field and two other journalists did not hear the conversation.

Feldman has said that he is consulting his lawyers over the publication of the comments, which he said do not "represent my view of our activists".

The veteran MP Brian Binley said: "I am angry because this makes the job of the voluntary sector so much difficult. The voluntary sector is the Conservative party, the leadership is the caretaker of the party not its proprietor. If a small group of people think they know better to the point where they insult party members in this way – if that is what has happened and I need to know whether that is what has happened – then I will be very angry indeed.

"I would be hurt and surprised if Andrew Feldman said these things. But I am in a serious quandary here because I don't believe senior journalists would say these things if they didn't have the basis of truth. That is why it is no good simply saying Andrew Feldman is an honourable man, it is no good simply saying I'm going to talk to my lawyer about this. I personally – and the voluntary sector – need to know the truth of this matter."

Binley said he was shocked by the way in which the Tory leadership has accused the Times and Daily Telegraph of lying. "I have been around for a long time and I recognise that people might think I am a backwoodsman. I have been a party agent, a county councillor and an MP for eight years. I have always had a good relationship with journalists, local and national, and have only ever been misquoted and mistreated by one group of journalists – and that was over the expenses issue. I have never felt the need to feel unhappy with any other journalist.

David Mellor, a former member of John Major's cabinet, said the row highlighted the need to have a heavyweight figure as Tory chairman. Feldman is co-chairman along with the MP Grant Shapps. Mellor told the Murnaghan Programme on Sky News: "I am old enough to remember the days when the Tory party chairman was a serious political figure and chosen because they were a serious political figure. Feldman is a great friend of the prime minister.

"He strenuously denies [the remarks]. But, if so, I have to say as a former lawyer – sue them. Where is the writ? I think we will find the writ will not appear. If it was him – as newspapers suggest – then this has been a disaster waiting to happen because you cannot elevate tennis playing friends to be chairman of the Conservative party without there being a political price to pay."

The criticism of Cameron over Europe by Lord Howe prompted a withering intervention by Lord Mandelson. He told the Andrew Marr Show: "We all know what's going on inside the Conservative party. The UK isolation party and their fellow travellers in the Conservatives are sort of operating a Soprano-style protection racket inside the Conservative party. They are saying: 'Do what we want, give us what we are demanding, or we are going to burn your home down.'"

Mandelson added: "Just because one wing – the provisional wing – of the Conservative party want to bring down their leader and change their party's policy and are using this as an issue to do so is not a good reason to hold a referendum."

Conservative co-chairman Lord Feldman fights allegations that he made disparaging remarks about grassroots Tories

Party board's involvement likely to dismay No 10, which has spent weekend rubbishing reports in Times and Daily Telegraph

Lord Feldman, the Conservative co-chairman, is to be challenged at a meeting of the party board on Monday over allegations that he made disparaging remarks about Tory grassroots activists.

As the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, led a cabinet fightback on behalf of Feldman, who denies having described activists as "mad, swivel-eyed loons", a member of the Tory party board said he would be asking Feldman to explain himself.

Brian Binley, the Conservative MP for Northampton South who has been an officer of the party for 54 years, said: "This is a very disturbing matter and needs a full and proper review at the party board meeting. From that meeting I will decide how I will act thereafter."

The involvement of the board, which represents the views of Tory activists, will dismay Downing Street after it spent the weekend rubbishing reports in the Times and Daily Telegraph about Feldman's alleged comments. Feldman described the reports as "completely untrue".

No 10 was particularly sensitive because the alleged remarks revived criticism of the Tory leadership for being aloof and out of touch. Hunt spoke for Downing Street when he told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1: "The person who is alleged to have said that has denied it and I know the individual and I trust him. "

The unease across the party was highlighted yesterday when 35 current or former Conservative associations handed in a letter to Downing Street that accused the prime minister of showing "utter contempt" for the grassroots activists after pressing ahead with legislation for equal marriage. But Cameron came under fire from another wing when Lord Howe of Aberavon, the former chancellor, warned that he was losing control of the party on Europe.

Ben Harris-Quinney, the chairman of the Bow Group and director of Conservative Grassroots, which drummed up support for the letter, said of Feldman's alleged remarks: "It doesn't matter who made these comments, the problem is that it comes as no surprise and is representative of a wider malaise in the party – the disconnect between the leadership and the grassroots, between conservatism and the leadership of the Conservative party. The tail cannot continue to wag the dog."

The Bow Group, which was founded in 1951, intervened in the wake of Feldman's alleged remarks on Wednesday night, said to have been made shortly after 116 Tory MPs showed their unease with David Cameron over Europe and voted in favour of an amendment regretting the absence of a EU referendum in the Queen's speech.

Taunted by a journalist about the vote, an unnamed senior member of Cameron's inner circle was quoted by the Times and the Daily Telegraph as saying: "It's fine. There's really no problem. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons."

The alleged remarks were particularly damaging because they appeared to echo the prime minister's language. The FT reported in March that Cameron "tells colleagues that anyone who wants to talk to him about the EU is 'swivel-eyed'". The FT article was not challenged by No 10.

Downing Street said over the weekend that the Times and Telegraph, which reported the remarks, had no credibility because they had declined to name Feldman, who admitted talking briefly to journalists at the Intercontinental Hotel at Westminster.

The Tory co-chair recognised one of the journalists when he popped out of a private room, where he was attending a dinner hosted by the Conservative Friends of Pakistan.

The journalist and another colleague, who was attending a dinner in the hotel's Blue Boar Smokehouse restaurant with the prime minister's former civil service press secretary Steve Field, had a brief conversation with Feldman about the vote. Field and two other journalists did not hear the conversation.

Feldman has said that he is consulting his lawyers over the publication of the comments, which he said do not "represent my view of our activists".

The veteran MP Brian Binley said: "I am angry because this makes the job of the voluntary sector so much difficult. The voluntary sector is the Conservative party, the leadership is the caretaker of the party not its proprietor. If a small group of people think they know better to the point where they insult party members in this way – if that is what has happened and I need to know whether that is what has happened – then I will be very angry indeed.

"I would be hurt and surprised if Andrew Feldman said these things. But I am in a serious quandary here because I don't believe senior journalists would say these things if they didn't have the basis of truth. That is why it is no good simply saying Andrew Feldman is an honourable man, it is no good simply saying I'm going to talk to my lawyer about this. I personally – and the voluntary sector – need to know the truth of this matter."

Binley said he was shocked by the way in which the Tory leadership has accused the Times and Daily Telegraph of lying. "I have been around for a long time and I recognise that people might think I am a backwoodsman. I have been a party agent, a county councillor and an MP for eight years. I have always had a good relationship with journalists, local and national, and have only ever been misquoted and mistreated by one group of journalists – and that was over the expenses issue. I have never felt the need to feel unhappy with any other journalist.

David Mellor, a former member of John Major's cabinet, said the row highlighted the need to have a heavyweight figure as Tory chairman. Feldman is co-chairman along with the MP Grant Shapps. Mellor told the Murnaghan Programme on Sky News: "I am old enough to remember the days when the Tory party chairman was a serious political figure and chosen because they were a serious political figure. Feldman is a great friend of the prime minister.

"He strenuously denies [the remarks]. But, if so, I have to say as a former lawyer – sue them. Where is the writ? I think we will find the writ will not appear. If it was him – as newspapers suggest – then this has been a disaster waiting to happen because you cannot elevate tennis playing friends to be chairman of the Conservative party without there being a political price to pay."

The criticism of Cameron over Europe by Lord Howe prompted a withering intervention by Lord Mandelson. He told the Andrew Marr Show: "We all know what's going on inside the Conservative party. The UK isolation party and their fellow travellers in the Conservatives are sort of operating a Soprano-style protection racket inside the Conservative party. They are saying: 'Do what we want, give us what we are demanding, or we are going to burn your home down.'"

Mandelson added: "Just because one wing – the provisional wing – of the Conservative party want to bring down their leader and change their party's policy and are using this as an issue to do so is not a good reason to hold a referendum."

First hot coffee, now broken glass. A Brooklyn gospel singer is suing McDonalds after she allegedly bit into a shard of glass "bigger than a penny" in her chicken sandwich, which she claims ruined her singing voice.

Read more...

BRUSSELS: The European Union criticized Russia’s human rights record yesterday, saying it was increasingly concerned at a wave of restrictive legislation and...

MALMO, Sweden: Denmark won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in the Swedish city of Malmoe early yesterday with the song “Only Teardrops” by Emmelie de Forest.
Denmark, widely tipped to win...

CANNES: Indian movie actors and a new wave of directors are on a mission at the Cannes film festival — to show that their industry, which turns 100 this year, is more than just Bollywood.
The...

Saudi Arabia currently ranks second among the world’s fastest growing countries on Twitter, with a 42-percent increase in the number of account holders after Indonesia, which rose to 44 percent,...

I laugh at a lot of things. My friends. My job. My bosses, past and future. My bank manager (I hope he doesn’t read this) advertising people, this topsy turvy world of ours and life as it happens...

Two years short of 70, Zhang Guosheng spends his days caring for an 81-year-old fellow villager — washing his clothes, bringing meals to his bed, and keeping him company — a routine he’ll keep up...

Google staged four discussions expounding on the finer points of its “Glass” wearable computer during this week’s developer conference. Missing from the agenda, however, was a session on etiquette...

Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS tomorrow, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease.
Scientists will pay...

The latest tit-for-tat EU-China trade disputes could signal worse to come but both sides have a lot to lose if things get out of hand and harm the much-needed economic growth they seek, analysts...

Unlike the hesitant West, Russia has been providing Assad’s regime with advanced and lethal weapons that are poised to change the balance of power among the warring parties in Syria. While the...

Saudi woman Raha Moharrak reached the summit of Nepal’s Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, in a first for the conservative Muslim kingdom where women’s sports are severely restricted, tourism officials said on Sunday.

The 25-year-old reached the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) summit early Saturday morning with a party of foreign mountaineers and Nepalese guides.

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Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Leonardo has confirmed rumours that head coach Carlo Ancelotti wants to move to Real Madrid, although he has said that the Ligue 1 champions wish him to stay.

read more

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 11 cents over the past two weeks.

The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday says the price of a gallon of regular is $3.66. Midgrade costs an average of $3.84 a gallon, and premium is $3.98.

Diesel held steady at $3.93 gallon.

Of the cities surveyed in the lower 48 states, Tucson, Ariz., has the nation's lowest average price for gas at $3.18. Minneapolis has the highest at $4.27.

Two men have been arrested in the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad in Las Vegas, police said Sunday.

Jacob Dismont, 18, and Michael Solid, 21, were booked Saturday into the Clark County jail on charges of open murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.

According to investigators, Marcos Arenas, 15, was walking down a street with the iPad on Thursday when a passenger got out of a vehicle and tried to steal the device from him.

LYON: French police yesterday were questioning a 48-year-old divorced Briton arrested on suspicion of slitting the throats of his two young children, judicial officials...

NEW DELHI: Just weeks after a tense border standoff, China’s new premier visited India yesterday on his first foreign trip as the neighboring giants look to speed...

NEW DELHI: India’s Congress party is debating holding a general election in November, six months ahead of schedule, senior party leaders said, reflecting an...

KARACHI: Under tight security, Pakistani officials yesterday held a repeat election in a district of violence-plagued Karachi, despite the killing of a senior...

TIMIKA, Indonesia: Twelve workers have been confirmed dead after a mine tunnel collapse in eastern Indonesia, but 16 others are still unaccounted for five days after...

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai will seek increased military aid from India during a three-day visit starting today and will discuss recent cross-border clashes...

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised the character shown by his players to qualify for the Champions League after a 1-0 away win at Newcastle secured fourth place ahead of Tottenham on the final day of the Premier League season

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New research on the health of immigrants has found that they live longer than their children, mostly because the American way of life is a horribly unhealthy one.

Read more...

BOSTON — With a bullet still in his body, the police officer who survived a showdown with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects says he's determined to return to duty.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Officer Richard Donahue says he's getting stronger day by day after surviving a gunshot that severed his femoral artery.

If it turns out his injury is from friendly police fire, Donahue says he's just glad police "got the job done" after the chaotic showdown with the suspects in Watertown, Mass.

NEWPORT, R.I. — A Rhode Island woman who was injured in the Boston Marathon bombings is being welcomed home.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee is one of several guests expected to attend a homecoming party Sunday for Heather Abbott.

The Newport woman had gone to Boston on April 15 to watch the Red Sox play on Patriots' Day and was waiting in line to get into a crowded restaurant when the bombs went off. Doctors amputated her left leg below the knee.

A fundraiser has helped raise more than $50,000 to help Abbott pay medical bills.

Showing now at Rave University 6 Movie Theater in University City, Philadelphia, as well as many surrounding venues both in and circa Philadelphia, J.J. Abrams’ second installment in his re-booted envisioning of Gene Roddenberry’s... Read more on Examiner.com

Trellising tomatoes is important for fruit production and gathering. Without proper trellising, tomato plants sprawl along the ground in a jumble of chaos. This leads to rotting and inaccessible tomatoes. To avoid this scenerio, construct... Read more on Examiner.com

The Philadelphia Phillies are currently playing through one of the great eras in franchise history . Some might question whether the team has already ended its winning ways.

... Read more on Examiner.com

The sweet summer air is a reminder that once again it is time to plan a summer vacation. With the economy still drifting somewhere between recovery and the unknown, people should consider one of the newest trends in travel—the staycation... Read more on Examiner.com

Invasive species have become a problem on nearly every continent, where native species that may have had millions of years to adapt to their environment are somehow trivially displaced by a species that originated somewhere else. How is it that the invaders can be so phenomenally successful against what should be a well-entrenched competition?

A new study shows that in at least one case, some insect invaders engage in a bit of biological warfare, carrying a fungus that kills their competitors (the host can tolerate the fungus). The fungus spreads because of a nasty habit the insects have—namely that they tend to eat each others' eggs. Somewhat ironically, all of this goes on in a species that tends to have a friendly reputation: the ladybug (or ladybird, for the anglophiles among us).

The invasive species in question is an Asian ladybug, the harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis. Because of its fondness for agricultural pests (fondness in the same sense that I have a fondness for lobster) Harmonia has been introduced to some countries where it wasn't native. When the invaders were introduced, the native ladybug species dropped like flies (pun intended), being easily displaced by the new arrivals.

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A website that accepts payment in exchange for knocking other sites offline is perfectly legal, the proprietor of the DDoS-for-hire service says. Oh, it also contains a backdoor that's actively monitored by the FBI.

Ragebooter.net is one of several sites that openly accepts requests to flood sites with huge amounts of junk traffic, KrebsonSecurity reporter Brian Krebs said in a recent profile of the service. The site, which accepts payment by PayPal, uses so-called DNS reflection attacks to amplify the torrents of junk traffic. The technique requires the attacker to spoof the IP address of lookup requests and bounce them off open domain name system servers. This can generate data floods directed at a target that are 50 times bigger than the original request.

Krebs did some sleuthing and discovered the site was operated by Justin Poland of Memphis, Tennessee. The reporter eventually got an interview and found Poland was unapologetic.

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LONDON: Stuart Broad bowled England to victory in the first Test as New Zealand suffered a dramatic fourth-day collapse at Lord’s yesterday.
New Zealand,...

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PARIS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice while David Beckham produced an emotional Parc des Princes farewell as Ligue 1 champions Paris St. Germain beat bottom club Stade...

ROME: After all these years, Rafael Nadal still knows how to dominate Roger Federer.
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Who has the smallest penis in Brooklyn? A local bar aims to find out with their first annual Smallest Penis in Brooklyn pageant this June.

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BARCELONA, Spain — Newly crowned Spanish champion Barcelona celebrated the league title in front of its home fans by easing to a 2-1 win over Valladolid on Sunday.

While rain and dropping temperatures dampened the party, Barcelona had little trouble keeping alive its bid to equal Real Madrid's 2012 record haul of 100 points even without the injured Lionel Messi.

With Messi out after aggravating a hamstring injury, Xavi Hernandez took charge and passed for Pedro Rodriguez to score in the 21st minute.

You know, the part where you say "Shhh shhh shut up - this is my favourite part" and makes you turn it up. Please include links if possible!

A video appeared online on Sunday purporting to show seven Egyptian security officers kidnapped last week in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and listing their captors' demands.In the video, the seven men – wearing blindfolds – identify themselves by name, age and military rank.

"Mr. President, please release political prisoners detained in Sinai, especially Salafist-jihadist Sheikh Hamada Abu Sheita as soon as possible... we cannot tolerate more torture," says a man claiming to be kidnapped officer Mataouh Sobhi.

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MINNEAPOLIS – With severe thunderstorms approaching the Twin Cities, the Red Sox took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning.

The Red Sox built their lead to 3-0 in the fifth, as Mike Napoli singled in a run. The Red Sox strung together four singles in a row but managed just the one run.

Twins starter Pedro Hernandez left the game after the fourth single.

MINNEAPOLIS --  A mid-western US sub-tropical rainstorm has halted play just before the start of the bottom half of the seventh inning. John Lackey, who has allowed just one hit, was about to throw the first pitch when the deluge began.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Proof

I attended People Can Change's Journey Into Manhood program 3-4 years ago (AKA "cuddle the gay away"). Since then, I have come out as bisexual and couldn't be happier! Feel free to ask me almost anything, with a few exceptions:

Otherwise, AMA! Aho!

EDIT: Wow, major Freudian slip there. I most definitely meant "gay-to-straight camp." Sorry for any confusion!

EDIT 2: Back now! Wow, this thread kinda blew up with questions! I'll try to answer as quickly (and thoroughly) as possible. :)

Rising private rents, lack of affordable housing, benefit cuts and low levels of home-building force costly short-term solution, investigation finds

The UK has spent almost £2bn housing vulnerable homeless families in short-term temporary accommodation, according to figures that demonstrate the scale of Britain's housing crisis.

Rising private rents, a shortage of affordable housing and benefit cuts have forced local authorities, particularly in London, to place increasing numbers of households in bed and breakfast accommodation, hostels and shelters.

With the number of houses built in Britain falling to new lows, according to figures released last week, a four-month study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, has revealed that £1.88bn has been spent on renting temporary accommodation in 12 of Britain's biggest cities over the past four years.

Campaigners have said welfare changes will exacerbate the problem. Official figures show that in London alone 7,000 families dependent on benefits stand to lose more than £100 a week under the benefit cap, and many are expected to become homeless as a result.

Leslie Morphy, chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, said: "For the sake of cutting just a few pounds a week from their benefits, families and individuals are being forced out of their homes, to be put up in B&Bs or temporary accommodation that costs us all far more."

A separate investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that London councils are rapidly accelerating the rehousing of homeless households outside their home boroughs. Some 32,643 homeless households have been rehoused out of their borough since 2009.

In the year to April, 10,832 households were rehoused in this way – a 16% rise on the previous 12 months. Most left the more affluent districts of inner London for the cheaper outer suburbs, although an increasing number of London's homeless are being moved to towns outside the capital, such as Dartford in Kent, Slough in Berkshire and Spelthorne in Surrey.

The "destination" boroughs have said the influx of households has put a significant strain on local services. Councillors in Enfield in outer London, where more properties and B&B rooms are secured by London authorities than anywhere else, have said the demand from inner London authorities is pushing up private rents and placing untenable pressure on school places.

"The pressure will not abate," said Edward Smith, a Conservative councillor in Enfield. "Before long we will have to build more secondary schools."

The Labour leader of Slough council, Robert Anderson, said: "If authorities put people in our area with complex needs, or even just families; they need to inform us. If we know where they have come from we can make sure the borough does not shirk responsibilities and just pass on their more difficult clients. You can't just pitch up halfway through a year and expect to get a school place. It's not McDonald's."

The housing minister, Mark Prisk, insisted on Sunday night that councils should be careful about placing families in B&Bs far from their home borough. "There is absolutely no excuse for families to be sent miles away without proper regard for their circumstances, or to be placed in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation for long periods of time," he said. "The law is clear: councils have a responsibility to take into account people's jobs and schools when securing homes for those in need."

But Prisk also defended the policy of removing families on benefit from central London. "Nor is it right that those living on benefits should be able to live in parts of the capital that those who aren't reliant on this support couldn't afford to," he said.

Households accepted as homeless by their local council will often be placed in temporary accommodation until a more permanent home can be found for them.

As latest government figures show there were 53,130 households living in temporary accommodation at the end of 2012 – 9% higher than the previous year – a leading law firm is preparing a class action against councils that keep families in B&B for longer than the statutory maximum of six weeks. It is believed a third of British local authorities are in breach of the limit, largely because of a shortage of suitable temporary accommodation.

Official guidance says B&B accommodation should be avoided wherever possible. Lack of privacy and amenities for cooking and laundry means it is "not suitable" for families with children or pregnant women "unless there is no alternative accommodation available and then only for a maximum of six weeks".

Bureau data shows the amount spent on temporary accommodation across 12 of Britain's biggest cities was up 5.7% to £464m last year. And London councils have budgeted for further significant overall rises this financial year.

Since 2009, London councils have secured 5,827 properties and B&B rooms in the three London boroughs of Enfield, Waltham Forest and Haringey alone.

The borough suffering the worst homelessness crisis in the country appears to be Newham, in east London which has spent £185.2m placing people in temporary accommodation since 2009.

However, each of these approaches has its disadvantages. There's a number of members in swingy districts who, by virtue of a moderate profile or lack of a strong opposing bench in that area, routinely have little trouble winning re-election (the little-known but highly durable Frank LoBiondo is the example I've often cited). And there is also a number of members who have a knack for finding themselves in competitive races but who are in such solidly blue or red districts that they have enough of a cushion to always survive (Michele Bachmann is the archetype). So, what we need is a way of quantifying only the most vulnerable members: the ones who fall into both of those categories.

That all-in-one metric is the House Vulnerability Index, which is something I developed back in the Swing State Project days. It proved to be quite accurate in predicting who was most vulnerable in the 2010 election (Okay, maybe that wasn't that hard ... everybody was vulnerable in that election ... but it did hint at some losses that no prognosticators expected, like Solomon Ortiz and Melissa Bean), and, by way of testing it out, it also was very good at retroactively predicting the losses in the 1994 election. (I didn't compile an index for the 2012 cycle, because the etch-a-sketch got so thoroughly shaken by redistricting that year; many incumbents were facing many new constituents, so the measuring stick of the previous cycle's electoral results wasn't instructive anymore.)

How the Index works is by combining the two elements that I discussed in the two prevoius weeks' diaries: The House districts occupied by Republicans that have the most Democratic-friendly presidential results (and vice versa), and the districts where the incumbent members won the narrowest victories the year before. That way, it downplays members who had a close call (probably because they were running in open seats, without the benefit of incumbency) but who are likely to be protected by the blueness or redness of their districts, and it downplays members who are in "crossover" districts but have gotten entrenched and rarely attract top-tier competition. Instead, it casts the spotlight on those House members who fall into "perfect storm" territory of future vulnerability, of being in both difficult districts and having had a difficult election themselves.

Here's an example of how it works: Take, for instance, the Democratic House member that the Index deems most vulnerable, Jim Matheson of Utah's 4th congressional district. If you refer back to the earlier diaries, you'll see that he had the second-closest race of any House Democrat in 2012, winning against Mia Love by only 0.3 percent. And he has the reddest district of any House Democrat in 2012, as measured by the Cook Partisan Voting Index, clocking in at R+16 (thanks to Barack Obama getting only 30.2 percent of the vote there in 2012). Add together 2 (for the 2nd closest race) and 1 (for the 1st most red district), and you've got a total score of only 3 (a lower number means greater vulnerability). No other Democrat tops that, although Mike McIntyre, who had the closest race and is in the 3rd reddest district, NC-07, comes very close.

Nevertheless, there are reasons to think that the model's emphasis on near-certain doom for Matheson may be wrong, even if as expected, Dem turnout falls off in the 2014 midterm after a strong presidential year. For one, Matheson has shown unique staying power, perhaps in a way the model can't account for: he survived both the 2010 wave, and a huge target painted on his back by the Utah legislature's gerrymandering efforts in 2012. (He's the son of a former governor, and the Matheson name still seems to hold a lot of cachet in Utah.)

And for another thing, 2012 in Utah was no Dem high-water-mark; instead, GOP performance was juiced by having a favorite son at the top of the ticket. (Of Mitt Romney's five home states, Utah was the only one where he significantly overperformed John McCain.) Matheson seems likely to face off against Love again in 2014, and the question may be, if she couldn't get over the top amidst a banner year for Utah Republicans, what can she do differently this time?

We'll look at the remaining Democrats (and the most vulnerable Republicans as well) over the fold ...

A lot of sump pump systems have a backup pump and an alarm that goes off in the case of failure, but that alarm is only good if you're home to hear it. With a little ingenuity though, you can hack your to send you a text if the water level starts getting too high.

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Robert Gould Shaw, the Union Army colonel maligned for burning the coastal town of Darien during the Civil War, was following orders and doesn’t deserve the reputation he has borne for a century and a half.

That’s one wrong McIntosh County historian Buddy Sullivan wants to right as the 150th anniversary of the town’s burning approaches.

“It’s a great misconception,” he said. “Everyone assumed Shaw was the one that burned Darien, especially since the movie ‘Glory’ came out.”

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Lots of changes are coming to St. Johns Town Center, including particularly good news for those who need a cocktail while getting their nails done:

MShack, the burger place owned by the Medure brothers, will open in October where Ritz Camera used to be. The only other location is in Atlantic Beach.

Cosmo Nail Bar, a hybrid bar and salon complete with cocktails, opens in July where Lotus Massage was.

Pandora jewelry will have its grand opening Thursday.

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NEW YORK — Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of the country's biggest bank, faces a key test this week: His shareholders are voting on whether to let him keep both jobs.

HARRISON, N.J. — Tim Cahill scored on a header off a crossing pass in second half stoppage time, lifting the New York Red Bulls to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.

It was the fifth win in the last six games for the Red Bulls (7-4-3).

With the game in stoppage time, Juninho made a free kick pass in front, where Cahill rose above the defenders to head home the game winner.

The game appeared headed to a scoreless tie, until Cahill broke the deadlock with his goal, his fourth of the season — all coming within the last five games.