Free Republic

A Liberal Democrat press officer took the unusual step last night of describing himself as "a complete idiot" in an attempt to defuse a potential row over BBC political bias. Andy McGuffie, a senior press and broadcasting officer, was forced to issue an embarrassing public apology after he sent an email to a long list of media organisations instead of party activists. The message suggested he had been asked by Daisy Sampson, a former aide to Charles Kennedy who helps present The Daily Politics, a new BBC2 programme, to supply details of Conservative gaffes. "Daisy S called from The Daily...

Many blacks were excluded from Kent County jury pools due to a computer glitch that selected a majority of potential candidates from the suburbs, a new report shows. For months, Kent County officials denied claims of racial imbalance in the selection of jurors. Bur officials Monday conceded that their own review of the system found nearly 75 percent of the county's 454,000 eligible residents were excluded from potential jury pools since spring 2001. "There has been a mistake -- a big mistake," Kent County Chief Circuit Judge George Buth complained Monday. Troubleshooters two weeks ago discovered the error, which went...