4pm CentreRight: Alex Deane on the BBC's slavish faith in the Gospel of Climate Change
Lunchtime PlayPolitical: Watch Mugabe deride Gordon Brown as a tiny, little dot on this world and David Davies MP getting fit in preparation for a boxing match against Britain's only openly-gay boxer
ToryDiary: Douglas Carswell MP calls for Speaker Martin to go
Seats and candidates: Ex-Tory candidate Nigel Hastilow accuses mainstream parties of driving voters into the hands of the BNP
Graeme Archer's Diary: Mind the Gap
CentreRight selections:
- The Republicans increasingly believe that Iraq could keep them in the White House, writes Tim Montgomerie
- Dr John Crippen exposes Gordon Brown's deep cleaning scam
- In describing Britain's 'judicial aristocracy', Matt Sinclair concludes that Lawyers don't think like 'normal' people.
Independent on Sunday leads speculation about Brown's leadership
Charles Clarke is planning a stalking horse candidacy against Brown's leadership if MayDay is bad - Independent on Sunday
Also in the IoS, John Rentoul calls for Miliband to be Labour leader: "Another friend of David Cameron told me that he thought Cameron would "run rings" round Miliband, but I do not agree. The Foreign Secretary would meet the Tory leader head on where he is strongest: youth, freshness and energy. When it comes to policy, Miliband can outflank him on the environment and knows his way around public service delivery."
Has Brown promised Ed Balls the Number 10 job? - Mail on Sunday
On this day in 1992 Neil Kinnock resigned - BBC
YouGov: Tories ahead by 16%
Gordon Brown's standing plunges by record amount and at record speed - Sunday Times | ToryDiary blog
"Last summer, according to YouGov, he had a positive approval rating of nearly 50%; now nearly 40% think he is doing badly - almost a complete reversal. If Mr Brown was quoted on the stock market, a plunge like that would tell you he was about to go bust. Perhaps he is... We should not forget the Conservatives are pursuing a shrewd course as the government implodes. They are not overplaying their hand, aware that they could be seen to be gloating as people suffer in an economic downturn. Quietly, however, the party is building a reputation. No longer, given the youth and inexperience of much of the cabinet, does the opposition look like such a risk." - Sunday Times leader
The battle for London
Boris Johnson has narrow 2% MORI lead - Observer | LondonMayor blog
Boris summarises his priorities within a profile for The Sunday Times written by A A Gill: "You wanted my first three things I’d do in office. Um, er, accountability – I’d put all expenditure on the net. Er, two, police on the buses. Three: scrap The Londoner newspaper and plant trees all over London. Er, stop paying anarchist and communist collectives and all that rot, and then wi-fi – wi-fi everywhere, I’ll wi-fi, wi-fi everything.”
Tory gains on 1st May will probably come at the LibDems' expense
"Most of the seats being contested on May 1 were last fought in 2004. That was a terrible year for Labour - for the first time the party even trailed the Liberal Democrats when the results were projected into a nationwide vote. With so much ground lost already it is difficult to see Labour's vote falling further. Still, there remains some opportunity for a Tory advance. The Liberal Democrats look as though they will struggle to repeat their 2004 success. Their national poll standing is three to four points down on four years ago, while their performance in last year's local elections was also some three points below 2004. Even if the Tories are no more than the principal beneficiaries of a Liberal Democrat decline, Mr Cameron will still be able to notch up some gains." - John Curtice in The Sunday Telegraph
Norman Lamont on the economy: The worst is yet to come
"Contrary to what the Government have been saying, the UK is not well positioned to withstand this crisis. Whether it be the rise in house prices, mortgage debt, the ratio of house prices to income or personal indebtedness, every weakness in the US economy exists in the UK, but to a greater degree." - The Sunday Telegraph
Gordon Brown writes for the News of the World about the credit crunch.
Frank Field accuses Ed Balls of "near criminal" attack on faith schools - The Sunday Telegraph
Tory report highlights truancy hotspots
"A study of 'persistent truancy' found that there were 12 local authorities, including Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Blackpool, Manchester, Hull and Islington, where more than one in 10 children skipped school at least once a week." - Observer
Cost of last year's Scottish elections doubled to £40m - BBC
The US sees Gordon Brown as lacking the stomach for a war on terror - Nile Gardiner in The Sunday Times
Ferdinand Mount describes the misfits that surrounded Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street - Sunday Times
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