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‘Hypocrisy of the stars who shielded cash from taxman’, cries a headline in today’s Daily Mail. But are we sure that it’s really hypocrisy? Among those ‘outed’ as hypocrites is the actor Michael Caine. But Mr Steerpike seems to recall that the cockney lad has been a vocal campaigner against our tax system, which seem to be one of his pet peeves. In fact, in the late 1970s Caine moved to the States to avoid them. A country that charges 82 per cent tax on its highest earners isn’t a democracy – rather ‘a communist country without a dictator’, he has been quoted as saying. Another tax ‘hypocrite’ is TV’s Anne

‘I’m like any parent,’ says Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister, privy councillor and universally derided leader of the Liberal Democrats). Speaking to the Radio Times, as any old parent might do, Average Dad Nick pleaded with his offspring: ‘The first, most visceral instinct you have as a parent is you want to protect your children, and politics is a very rough business you know. It’s absolutely not for the faint-hearted or the thin-skinned, so I wouldn’t likely recommend to my children to go into politics.’ Pity. Mr S was getting rather misty eyed at the prospect of young Miguel or Antonio seeking high office in order to restore the family name. Who will

Labour’s ‘media grid’ for this week had Miliband’s millionaire spinner Tom Baldwin pencilled in to brief Times journalist Rachel Sylvester and give her an exclusive story for Tuesday’s paper. When the paper landed it was actually lots of Labour figures slagging off the leader, and saying how Ed had lots of policies but not the character to be PM. That’s some class A spinning for you.

There are many reasons for this but let’s begin with the first and simplest: it is the British Broadcasting Corporation. Who could have imagined that an organisation that, rightly or not, sees itself as both creator and guardian of much of modern Britain’s identity and culture might think itself threatened by a movement hell-bent on destroying, or at least significantly changing, that identity and culture? I know, me neither. Now of course the BBC is not consciously or deliberately biased against the SNP and against Scottish independence. It is scrupulous about ensuring ‘No’ voices are balanced by ‘Yes’ voices just as, in other areas and debates it does its best to be

Journalists do, occasionally, say something nice about politicians. It does not happen very often; but, when it does, it’s usually heartfelt. Adam Boulton hosted a party at the Savoy last night to celebrate his 25 years at Sky News. Boulton heaped praise on those politicians with whom he has worked while covering the life and times of ‘5 Prime Ministers, 5 US Presidents, 5 Labour leaders, 6 Tory leaders and 4 Lib Dems – and counting’. He said: ‘As journalists, we need people who are prepared to engage our profession with their arguments and accountability. And you do. And often. And properly, which is vital to the democratic process. For

The Queen has visited the set of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland. Frankly, she did not look that enamoured with the Iron Throne. Much to the disappointment of the gathered media, she did not sit down. In fact, she seemed indifferent to the hype…

Applications to become Chairman of the BBC Trust close on Friday. Plenty of noise was made early on the race about the need for a totally committed successor, after Chris Patten stood accused of not giving the £110,000 a year job his full attention. The official job specification published by the Cabinet Office stated: ‘The time commitment for the Trust Chairman has been 3-4 days per week (or 12-16 days per month).’ Late in the day though, a source familiar with the selection process points out that an additional sentence has been added to the advert: ‘However, suitable candidates able to offer a lesser time commitment will also be considered.’

Former CIA director and US Army General David Petraeus is in town hosted by the Henry Jackson Society. But that’s classified. For some reason Petraeus is being very shy in front of journalists (well, most journalists). The event in the House of Commons this afternoon is being held under the Chatham House Rule. All media, your humble correspondent included, have been refused entry. What was it about the affair with his biographer that led to his resignation as America’s top spook which the shy general does not want to be asked about?

Farewell then, Jeremy Paxman. The veteran broadcaster bows out of Newsnight tonight. Mr S has compiled his favourite Paxo moments: The infamous Michael Howard interview is foremost in the extensive genre of politicians not answering the question: Chloe Smith, who was a high-flying Tory Minister at the time, never recovered from this encounter with Paxo in 2012: It’s no surprise that David Cameron has refused to do a head-to-head on Newsnight since becoming Prime Minister: look at what Paxman did to Blair: And John Bolton: And Russell Brand: And Conrad Black: And Sting: And George Galloway: And student protesters: And his old mucker Boris Johnson: As a final humiliation, Paxman will tonight ride off into the

In celebration of their special ’This Is Our England’ World Cup paper (which has 22 million free copies being distributed for free), The Sun has managed to persuade senior politicians to pose with today’s edition. Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Nick Clegg all managed to look normal. But Ed Miliband on the other hand… This Is Our England: Labour leader @Ed_Miliband backs today’s special edition. #DoUsProud pic.twitter.com/hk4ROIyLOH — The Sun (@TheSunNewspaper) June 12, 2014 Folks on Twitter have remarked how similar Ed’s pose is to a hostage photo. Unsurprisingly, parodies are beginning to circulate… Miliband hostage crisis worsens as photos of captive discovered. pic.twitter.com/HMiWiPETQz — James O’Malley (@Psythor) June 12,

Labour’s John Woodcock is being teased mercilessly by his colleagues. A recent fundraising event which he organised was secretly recorded – and embarrassing quotes from fellow Labour MPs and candidates, who thought they were speaking behind closed doors, leaked out. Woodcock should know about the sort of dirty-tricks that the parties play on each other. He was the young, wet-behind-the ears bag-carrier who Labour sent out to pretend to be a Tory in order to record events. He got lucky in March 2005 when he caught the Tories’ then Deputy Chairman Howard Flight claiming that the Conservatives would slash spending in power, contrary to their manifesto commitment in that election

The latest spurt of bile from the metro left about UKIP, and the people who voted for Ukip, comes from the extremely self-satisfied David Aaronovitch, a chap who grows more absurd each year as his waistline becomes ever more vast. Next to nobody voted for UKIP, he maintains. The 73 per cent of the population who didn’t vote for them (the majority of these, of course, did not vote at all) wish the party to simply “go away”. I thought you’d enjoy this extract – he is the first of his breed to compare UKIP supporters to the Russian rebels in Ukraine, who are of course another collective bete noir