Much ambivalence about the departure of former immigration minister Beverley Hughes.

I’ve long disliked Ms Hughes (who’s my MP, incidentally) as the minister responsible for lying about emailed responses to the ID cards consultation and claiming that TV programmes should be banned without having watched them.

On the other hand, as a supporter of unfettered immigration, I’m sad that she’s gone been sacked for backing a sensible immigration policy.

Similarly mixed views on the sacking of Irish opposition justice spokesman John Deasy. He was sacked for breaking the country’s new smoking ban – by smoking in an outdoor area outside the parliament building’s cafe which had not yet been formally designated a smoking area.

Normally, I’d chalk this up as bureaucratic lunacy… but Mr Deasy voted for the smoking ban in the first place. As ye sow, and so on…