Good news for those snoozey MPs that currently clutter up Parliament. From here on in, they will be able to play with their BlackBerry devices whenever they are representing their constituents, as opposed to concentrating really, really, really hard to stay awake. 

Because MPs are expected to sit around patiently waiting for their chance to pipe up during Prime Ministers Question time  - this can take as long as six hours - there have been complaints that they are being stopped from doing other, more important things. Things like what? Well, checking, receiving and sending emails. Apparently. 

So, because they were denied access to their CrackBerry devices – and others presumably - during this "down time" there was something of a revolt. Now the Commons Modernisation Committee has agreed that the pocket devices can be used, so long as they are switched to silent or vibrate. This will, of course, revolutionise government, because now MPs will not have to wait to find out whether someone has 'poked' them on FaceBook, or commented on one of their MySpace photos. 

I, for one, am sure that they cannot wait to pull the thing out of their trousers and get it back in their hands. 

Meanwhile, over the pond in France the SGDN, which is responsible for national security, has banned their use because of the fear of data and information falling into the hands of the other nations. This is because BlackBerry servers live either in the >US or in the >UK

Of course, this won't be a problem in the  UK, since the US probably told those MPs what to email anyway.

Ooh. Politics.