It seems a small spat has broken out, prompted by some muppet at the Met office deciding it was too hard to use March 20/21 as the start of spring because it doesn't fit his spreadsheet / computer programme / holiday dates or something.

By tradition, spring has started on the night of March 20/21, the vernal equinox, when day and night are of equal length.

However, the Met Office said that it is easier for its record keeping to deal with whole months, making March, April and May the spring months, but that it was not seeking to change anything official.

Sir Nicholas Winterton, a Conservative MP, tabled a Commons question to John Reid, the Defence Secretary, yesterday asking "for what reason and on whose authority" the date has been changed.

Sir Nicholas said: "They may say that March 1 is the first day of spring - which it is not - but it certainly doesn't feel like it."

He was joined in his fury by other MPs. Stuart Bell, a Labour member, said: "Spring starts on March 20/21 and if the Met Office are not aware of this simple fact, it reflects a casual approach to facts, which is all too inherent today."

Bob Marshall-Andrews, another Labour MP, said: "What right have the Met Office to advance the seasons? Only the Prime Minister can do that."

Wayne Elliott, a Met Office spokesman, said: "It's nonsense to say that we have changed anything.

"Astronomically the first day of spring is March 21 but meteorologists use March 1 because it's easier to deal in whole months.

"In the South and Midlands, at least, you usually start to notice that things are changing in early March. The natural world is waking up and buds are starting to appear.

"Of course the weather doesn't always play ball and sometimes you get very mild days in February and wintery weather in March.

What a lot of nonsense.   Everyone knows Spring starts on June 1st.   Summer on July 1st and Autumn on September 1st.   From October to May it's clearly winter.

While enjoying a brief lunchtime surf today I revisited the wonderful Devil's Advocate.   Always provocative, usually funny and definitely on the money, today Barry B takes another pop at the the public sector pondlife and what he affectionately calls the Turkey Army....

It's not a pretty read.   In urging you to check it out I'll offer a snippet:

According to the Pensions Policy Institute, 39 per cent of local government officers, 25 per cent of teachers and 22 per cent of civil servants have headed for their second homes in Tuscany long before their 60th birthdays.... but only 6 per cent of the armed forces personnel take early retirement due to ill health, so shuffling documents in the wheelie-bin equality unit appears somewhat more hazardous than having rocket propelled grenades fired at you by insurgent Iraqis. Those paper cuts can be nasty, you know.)

And here’s the rub. While they’re living longer, on into their 80s and beyond (and having bailed out of working life at an indecently early age), they’re doing it at the expense of private sector workers who now face having to work on until 67 and beyond if they’re to afford the cat food and tinsel that pensioners buy in industrial quantities.

This cannot go on.  The economics simply don’t add up.

I have a horrible feeling I vented my spleen on this very subject some time ago.   We do need a change and, listening to David Cameron deal very patiently and rather well with the apalling John Humphries on Radio 4 this morning, I thought I saw a bit of metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel.

Long tunnel though.

Early this year, magistrates started to issue sartorial edicts, all of which have since involved hooded tops ("hoodies") or other items that could be used as disguise. The first hoodie case (the term now applies to the wearer, as well as the item) was that of 16-year-old Dale Carroll of ...   more »