One by-election: 26 candidates in Haltemprice and Howden

Never in British political history have so many people contested a by-election. It is very difficult to spend more than five minutes in Haltemprice and Howden without being accosted by one or other of the 26 candidates, many of whom seem to be called David. David Pinder of the New Party, which believes "less government is good government", lamented he was having trouble getting his message across because "I'm not a beauty queen and I don't think the world is in thrall to lizards". But the beauty queen candidate, Gemma Garrett, who holds the title of Miss Great Britain, herself complained: "If I was a 40-year-old bald fat man, I would be taken more seriously." We are not sure this is the case: Westminster is full of bald, fat men who are taken nothing like as seriously as they would wish. Rather to our surprise, Ms Garrett... [read full story]