Steerpike

After Max Hastings wrote a column for the Daily Mail arguing that civil liberties groups should not get in the way of government security, Alan Rusbridger took the former Daily Telegraph editor to task for his comments. Speaking at a Big Brother Watch event last month, the Guardian editor offered up four reasons why Hastings was wrong to say that he could not 'imagine what harm can result from MI5 accessing the phone calls, bank accounts, emails of you, me or any other law-abiding citizen'. Rusbridger couldn't resist taking another pop at Hastings this morning for a column in today's Mail on the police 'witch-hunt' which saw Field Marshal Lord Bramall's home searched. In it Hastings asks: 'What sort of Britain have we created that such things can happen?

This year's Crufts has been something of a doggy disaster with one canine competitor dead from an alleged poisoning and six more cases being investigated. Now, Mr S has got wind of a new scandal engulfing the dog competition. A petition has been launched calling for the winning Scottish Terrier Knopa to be stripped of her Best in Show award. However, rather than Knopa, who beat 21,000 dogs to the title, being at fault, it is the Scottie dog's handler Rebecca Cross who has provoked ire from the public. Viewers have complained after Cross, who is American, appeared to pick the dog up by the neck and tail. This is forbidden in Britain under show rules, and many see it as unnecessarily cruel to the animal.

Mr S was a guest at the press night of Ruby Wax's one woman show at the St James Theatre. The comedian gave the audience a break down of her best selling book Sane New World, which tells you how to train your brain to cope with the demands of the 21st century. The topic of ambition was raised, with Wax making the point that drive isn't always a healthy thing to have. She cited Bill Gates, who she once attempted to interview, as an example of an ambitious person who might not have it all: 'Social media, magazines and the internet can make you crazy to be the best or to be a winner like Richard Branson. We can’t have it all though. This is seen as ambition and a great thing to have until we burn out or go crazy.

Mr S's disclosure that the Electoral Commission have approved Al Murray's Freedom United Kingdom Party as an official party for the election has not gone down well with Nigel Farage. The leader of Ukip says the decision is a 'disgrace' as FUKP are a joke party. Speaking at the Ukip South West conference, Farage called for everyone in the commission to lose their jobs as a result of the decision: 'If you add to that the scandal of postal voting fraud, I want everyone in the Electoral Commission fired and the organisation closed down.' Farage will now have to compete against the comedian for the South Thanet seat.

The votes are in for the Guardian staff ballot. After Mr S reported a lacklustre display from all four internal candidates at the hustings, it is Katharine Viner who has come out on top. Viner, the current editor of Guardian US, is guaranteed a final round interview after winning with over 50 per cent of the vote. Of her rivals, Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, placed second, while Janine Gibson, editor-in-chief of the Guardian website, followed close behind in third. Well done Kath. RT @guardian: Katharine Viner wins staff ballot for Guardian editor http://t.

Mr S was a guest at last night's Grazia 'News at 10' panel discussion, where Christina Lamb, Jayne Secker, Sue Turton, Emily Maitlis and Mishal Husain discussed their experiences as female newsreaders. For Maitlis, however, talk turned away from journalism and onto her first choice of career: 'I never envisaged myself being a journalist - I was committed to being a hairdresser from the age of 14. My parents had a heart-attack.' While her dream is yet to be fulfilled, the Newsnight presenter did manage to find work at a young age as the 'world's worst radio reporter'. 'My first job was in radio - and I was the world's worst radio reporter. Every time I went out something went wrong.