3.30pm PlayPolitical: David Cameron in China - Featuring speech at the Chongqing University
Noon ToryDiary: Poll shows Conservative commitment to human rights abroad
10.30am Columnist Cameron Watt: Five for the future
Platform: Mortgage broker David Castle urges the re-introduction of the "rent a mortgage" scheme
PlayPolitical: Amusing staged video of Bill Clinton's lame-duck days at the White House
National ICM poll tightens as research shows progress in the north
"A blue tide of Conservative support is spreading into Labour's heartlands, according to new analysis carried out by ICM for the Guardian. The data suggests that David Cameron may be beginning to build an election-winning platform by making progress in the Midlands and the north of England. The research comes as the latest monthly Guardian/ICM poll shows Labour has managed to recover ground since the low of last month's lost discs controversy." - Guardian
Yesterday's ToryDiary on the poll.
Patrick Wintour surveys the Tories at the end of 2007 and predicts a 'welfare and responsibility offensive' in 2008 - Guardian
Why are the Guantanamo three in Britain?
"The Tories have demanded to know why three freed Guantanamo Bay detainees were allowed to return to Britain when Spain wanted to extradite two on suspected terror offences. Jamil el-Banna, 45, Omar Deghayes, 38, and Abdennour Samuer, 33, enjoyed their first day of freedom on Friday after arriving back from Cuba on Wednesday night. Hours after touching down, they were rearrested in connection with alleged terrorism offences." - Telegraph
Blair intervened to stop Saudi-BAe probe for commercial reasons - BBC
Labour break 97/01 manifesto promise on mixed-wards
"Labour has abandoned its key manifesto pledge to eliminate the controversial practice of mixed-sex wards, it has emerged... Figures obtained by the Conservatives under Freedom of Information laws showed that nearly a third of hospitals are still treating men and women in the same wards." - Telegraph
Brown controls very little
"Whenever things go wrong, the minister who was meant to be in charge protests that he can hardly be expected to be on top of everything going on in his department. And he has a point: the bureaucracy is simply too big and ramshackle to function properly. So here is a New Year resolution for our MPs. Put yourselves back in control. Seize power from the gentlemen in Whitehall and Brussels. Scrap the quangos. Abrogate the human rights codes. Make yourselves once again a sovereign Parliament. When you're in a position to deliver what you promise at elections, people will no longer see you as parasitical." - Telegraph leader
The cult of modernisation
"I hope that the modernisers who dominate our three main political parties will use the Christmas holiday to reflect on the continuity and stability that has made Britain the envy of the rest of the world. The gimmicks, contrivances and stunts which obsess David Cameron, Gordon Brown and now Nick Clegg are utterly irrelevant to our sense of nationhood." - Peter Oborne in the Mail
Andrew Grice thinks Nick Clegg may surprise us all in 2008 - Independent
Merry Whitehall
"Christmas cards, parties and decorations have cost the Government nearly half a million pounds over the past five years, the Conservatives revealed yesterday. Ministers spent £127,000 on items such as baubles and trees in the past year. The figures, revealed in a series of answers to written questions, show that the Northern Ireland Office was the biggest spender, with £97,000 spent on festivities since 2002, including £37,000 on Christmas parties last year." - Telegraph
A summary of the Christian fervour, or lack of, of Britain's past Prime Ministers - Matthew Parris in the Times
Ministers ordered to assess climate change cost of all decisions - Guardian
Number of first-time buyers lowest since 1980 - BBC
Glenys Kinnock has "huge concerns" with Wales' Plaid-Labour coalition - ePolitix
Worst junks stats of 2007 - Times
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...
