"Before the A list our discrimination in favour of women was because of a business case, not a moral case. There are many firms that would have a strong business case for recruiting extra women that would like to be able to advertise specifically for them but cannot, because of equalities legislation."
7pm CentreRight: Andrew Lilico has a new perspective on what modern equal opportunities policy could look like and Liam Fox MP on Gordon Brown and EU security and foreign policy
5.30pm CentreRight: Shadow Foreign Office Minister David Lidington MP reflects on the Tibet crackdown
5.15pm PlayPolitical: Is Boris a buffoon? Watch Ken Livingstone say "no" but...
1.45pm CentreRight:
- Samuel Coates finds that David Muir's favourite book is about decentralisation
- Jill Kirby highlights official statistics about people not believing official statistics
- Robert Halfon says schools are in the frontline against community breakdown
12.45pm ToryDiary: PMQs: Cameron asks Brown to denounce Tibet crackdown
11.15am ToryDiary: A very political tax policy
LondonMayor: Greg Hands MP says Livingstone has been systematically evading donations law for seven years and How can Boris close the deal?
Platform: Charles Hendry MP on the Government's botched Post Office closure process
ToryDiary: John Redwood's indispensable blog
CentreRight: Simon Chapman feels uneasy about Barack Obama's race speech
Labour support slides with the economy
"So the Tory master plan is working, it seems. That, at least, would seem to be the message of the two latest polls. Stay schtum and allow the economy to slide while a helpless and ill-prepared Gordon Brown looks on. Then hoover up the votes of disgruntled middle England before riding into Downing Street." - Telegraph
"So where does that leave Labour? Glum and muttering in many cases, defiantly upbeat in others... Yes, it's the economy stupid, they admit, though views differ as to whether Alistair Darling's budget was "useless", a "sensible holding operation" or the victim of concerns about the global economy." - Michael White in the Guardian
Political parties don't understand business needs
"It is good politics to remind companies that they will make savings if they use less energy, or that a culture of volunteering can make a better atmosphere at work. Fine. After that, it must be up to the employers. None of the UK’s main parties seems to have grasped what corporate Britain seeks politically. Companies and entrepreneurs would like government to be predictable. And then they would like to be left alone to get on with their jobs." - FT leader
"It is not just [Cameron's] refusal to cut taxes, or to admit we live far beyond our means, or his wish to maintain Labour's insane spending plans: it is that he should choose this time to talk about wanting to issue businesses with some sort of Asbo if they are insufficiently socially responsible. Does he think they have nothing else to worry about? Plainly, he does." - Simon Heffer in the Telegraph
The Boris & Ken show
"Mr Livingstone loftily derided the Tory candidate's
media profile as a "celebrity", as though he had been a shrinking
violet himself during his lengthy career. But
the mayoral elections are as much a clash of style and personality as
of ideology. Londoners are being invited to choose a figurehead for one
of the world's great cities. It promises to be quite a show between now
and May 1." - Telegraph leader
Ann Treneman's sketch of Red Ken's campaign launch - Times
Only the politicians want 'tax and spend'
"67% of all voters said that the government should tax less and spend less and 20% said the tax and spending mix was about right. Only 8% of Labour supporters want more tax and spend, but our political leaders are deaf to these new facts. They are still living in the 1990s, when voters thought Britain was underspending. I imagine Cameron, Brown and Clegg going home to watch This Life DVDs and to listen to Portishead." - Tim Montgomerie in the Guardian
Thatcher's PR man to spin for Belarus' communist dictator
"Mr Lukashenko has just joined the long list of high-profile clients
represented by Britain's first king of spin, the Tory peer Tim Bell.
Local election rigging
"[Conservative council candidate Eshaq Khan] already held senior posts in charitable and cultural groups and was a respected figure in the tight-knit Kashmiri community in Slough, Berkshire, where he ran a carpet and furniture business. But within days of his triumph, his victory began to unravel amid a welter of allegations of a crude campaign of vote-rigging and, ultimately, forgery and intimidation of a witness." - Times
These few rotten apples don't spoil the barrel - Peter Riddell in the Times
Silly squabbling over MPs' expenses - Danny Finkelstein in the Times
Millions seeking help over debt problems - Telegraph
Tory MEPs vote to cut funding of maternal health in developing countries - Guardian Diary
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...
