Media

So Brown has said more about the al-Megrahi case, although he hasn’t said anything particularly new.  Speaking at an event to mark the government’s new “Backing Young Britain” project, the PM claimed that, “There was no conspiracy, no cover up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances to Colonel Gaddafi”.  Which is exactly the message we’ve heard from a string of ministers, and which has been thrown into doubt by all those published letters.  No word yet on whether Brown agreed or disagreed with Megrahi’s release, when it finally came. All this exemplifies the problem that Labour have had for months now,

The Sun comes out heavily against the Government’s handling of the Afghanistan conflict in their leader column today.  Do read the whole thing

It’s a fairly quiet day in Westminster, so Chris Grayling’s comparison between Britain and the gangland ghettos portrayed in The Wire is probably getting more attention than it would normally – after all, it’s not like the Tories haven’t majored on the “Broken Britain” theme before now.  But, even so, I think he may have erred in mentioning the acclaimed US TV series.  While superb, it is, don’t forget, the show that the chattering classes love to chatter about.  So, now, much of the coverage is about the TV programme rather than the problems Grayling is highlighting.  As Paul Waugh points out over at his indispensable blog, Grayling’s appearance on

It’s worth following Andrew Sparrow’s typically excellent live blog of the Commons culture committee’s first public hearing into the recent NotW “phone-hacking” claims.  So far, the biggest revelation has come courtesy of Nick Davies – the Guardian journalist behind the story last week – and it’s one which will please the Tories: “Davies says he has the names of 27 journalists from the NoW and four from the Sun who used a private investigator to get information. Some of the requests were legal, like electoral register searches. But many were not. Davies says he does not want to name the names. “I’m a reporter, not a police officer.” But there

For those of you who missed it, Radio Four has just broadcast a piece about what the women who worked with think Gordon Brown think of him. Not a lot, it seems. Here are some of the quotes: Jane Kennedy “Well I think that the Labour Party is expecting us to do better. The Parliamentary Labour Party were told in the first meeting after the election in June we were promised that there was going to be a change.  We haven’t seen that change yet, we haven’t even really seen the kind of clarity and willingness to listen to what the voters are telling us about policy.  I’ve had lots

The Daily Telegraph’s Christopher Hope wanted to know who Gordon Brown has been inviting to dine at Chequers since he became Prime Minister. Not an unreasonable Freedom of Information request you might think – especially to a Prime Minister who pledged a new era of openness and accountability. Well, how’s that working out? Not so well it seems… Here’s the reply Mr Hope received from Downing Street: Sir Humphrey would be proud.