Chris Eubank had never seemed so appealing...

Today South Shields, tomorrow Jerusalem.

Egregious George is doing an "event" at the Customs House in South Shields, South Tyneside, on June 23. Apparently its the beginning of the MP for Baathnel Green & Bow's "The Mother of All One-Man Shows" tour. Sounds great.

Tickets are priced at One Oil Barrel each and are available from all good jihadists. Tour merchandise - including car stickers proclaiming 'My other car runs on the oil-for-food programme', and 'Tariq Aziz went to Iraq and all he brought me back was this lousy Mercedes' - will also be sold at the event.

We all know how difficult GG finds it to get his point across, starved as he is of publicity, so it is good to see him given the opportunity to take his case to the people. Thank goodness we live in a democracy, huh?

The man himself says he's "looking forward to a lively Q&A session with theatregoers - who are free to ask me anything". "And I'll answer by calling them wolves, donkeys or drink-soaked popinjays" he didn't add.

Let's hope the "Hitch" can make it to South Shields - perhaps we should start a Mariam Appeal style-campaign to raise the air fare cash? - and make it a truly lively Q&A session. Of course, all this wouldn't have been possible if Chris Eubank hadn't cancelled his show planned for the same night. Its one of those rare occasions when the cancellation of a Chris Eubank gig should be met with mass disappointment.

Without wanting to be a one-trick pony (oh how I dream of attaining such sophistication), I include GG's latest brush with authority. Taken from the Guardian's "backbencher" bulletin:

George Galloway's brotherly charm failed to move one of Labour's more assertive members during the GLA's questioning of the Respect MP this morning. The London assembly member Jennette Arnold, who is black, was pressing George rather hard about his claims of electoral fraud in Bethnal Green and Bow: "Full respect, sister!" he said.
"I am not your sister," she replied.

George was unabashed. "I'm sorry if what I'm saying is making you uncomfortable," he added a few minutes later, after laying into New Labour. "You could never make me uncomfortable," said Jennette.