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The press, media commentators and other sources are reacting to reports that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is planning major cutbacks, and speculating on the future of 6 Music and the Asian Network.

The Times started the most recent discussion, and for the corporation:

"Proposals seen by The Times look like a welcome recognition that the empire has gone too far, and should focus back on quality programming. But they actually constitute an evasive and artful strategy designed to keep the next government from intervening, while in reality changing very little... If the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ were serious about reform it would consider selling Radio 1 and getting out of the pop music business, which is hardly ill served by others. It would give up ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three, which has no rationale at all. It would get tough on executive pay, and admit that it cannot continue to be regulated by a trust that is also its cheerleader."

The that the possible axing of 6 Music would be a travesty:

"6 Music does the same for a different kind of music. It's the most mainstream avenue for outliers. With the exception of the always excellent but comparatively unknown Resonance FM, it's the only place that small but inventive bands can get airtime. This is exactly what the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ exists for: to 'represent the many communities that exist in the UK'. To provide not just what the majority wants, but to appeal to all minority interests."

Music website the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is "turning its back on pop music":

"6Music is one of the few spots on the 'radio dial' to guarantee an idiot-free listen - it's also very much in tune with the musical tastes of some prolific tweeters, the majority of music journalists and other influential early-to-mid-to-late-30s media tastemakey people. So you'll be hearing a lot of people being upset that their favourite radio station might be taken off air but there'll probably be slightly less fuss about, for example, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Asian Network, which is arguably a better use of the licence fee but is looking at a fate similar to 6 Music's."

axing 6 Music would be a "massive mistake":

"So why would the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ axe 6 Music now? To do so would be evidence that the corporation cares more about listening figures than fulfilling its remit of providing a public service - 6 Music listeners would be poorly catered for elsewhere.
And it wasn't without good reason that Adam & Joe labelled 6 the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s 'secret station'. Its schedule seldom appeared in newspapers, it was under-promoted across the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ network and wasn't promoted at all outside of it. What chance did it ever have of drawing a big audience?"

about the amount of support 6 Music has gained:

"What is clear is that a lot more people have heard of 6Music since it emerged it was to be axed than had heard of it yesterday evening."

that the audiences of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s digital stations will find themselves catered for elsewhere, and wonders about the effect on digital radio:

"There is an interest in shifting radio from analogue signals to digital, but most of the digital commercial stations have struggled precisely because it's very hard to fund interesting new services from the money you make selling commercials around it. If the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ cuts back its digital-only radio offerings, and the commercial sector can't afford to offer much, why would anyone bother to buy a digital radio? Killing 6Music isn't just killing off a station enjoyed by half a million happy licence payers; it's effectively the end of the DAB dream."

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A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne was in front of the Public Administration Committee, answering questions on public spending.

that Mr Darling's right-hand minister was reluctant - to the point of appearing "queasy" - to mention the word "cuts":

"He sat there between two Treasury aides, small, very white, like a golf ball in a carpenter's vice. He was a maestro of mumbled waffle. Here was the Chief Secretary of the Treasury, the man we look to as the protector of our tax money, pooh-poohing the idea of cuts."

"He's got an attractive laugh, has Liam Byrne, but he used it too often, sounding like a desperate husband trying to make light of his infidelities."

on a Commons discussion in which Harriet Harman claimed that her Twitter account had been hacked into, suggests that Ms Harman does not come across as an avid tweeter:

"Harriet does not tweet so much as plod. It would be like communicating with treacle."

In the House of Lords, the ease with which peers' debates move from one subject to another which is totally unrelated to the Parliamentary business in hand:

"Whatever serious topic they are supposed to be discussing, they usually wander off down some side road. It's like chatting to a friend in a tearoom while waiting for the rain to stop: pleasant, agreeable, and you can chew over anything that pops into your head."

Similarly, the difference in the way that peers talk to each other compared to MPs down the corridor. He gives the example of Lord Mandelson's apology to former education secretary Lord Baker that he could not be present for a debate on university funding as he had "essential departmental business".

"Lord Mandelson knows peers know he is presenting them with a convenient fiction, which is why he makes the whole thing far more enjoyably preposterous by pretending that wild horses would not keep him away. Instead of getting cross with Lord Mandelson, we are grateful to him for amusing us."

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As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent, I cover the personalities, politics and ethics of the media, as well as creative, business, technology and legal issues. This is my summary of what's going on.

The Times has details of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s strategy review document. It says it proposes the closure of two digital radio stations - 6 Music and the Asian Network - and a 25% cut in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website budget. The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ says it will not comment on speculation. The report is expected to be published next month after discussion by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Trust.

• Yesterday's Media Brief.

Commentators debate new guidelines about assisted suicide which place closer scrutiny on a suspect's motivation.

The the possibility that clarifying the law will do more harm than good:

"Even campaigners who have backed Ms Purdy privately fear that the clarified law could backfire by making it more likely that prosecutions will be brought. Equally, there are dangers in reversing the presumption that aiding someone to end a life prematurely is a bad thing. The law is a blunt instrument for deciding such delicate issues. Whatever it says, the wise exercise of discretion will be critical."

Debby Purdy's lawyer she welcomes the new guidelines but sees some loopholes:

"Given the new guidelines on assisted suicide, we must ask if the law of murder is too inflexible and whether we should look now at making a distinction with mercy killing."

The bishop of Swindon Rt Rev Dr that English bishops are united against the legalisation of assisted suicide:

"I very much hope that Keir Starmer's guidelines will be recognised as providing the nuance and discretion needed for our social and moral wellbeing and steer us away from the road to legalising assisted suicide. If we want to build a society which majors on compassion and care, which supports those who are dying or fearful of growing infirm and a burden, there are far better roads for us to travel."

The terminally-ill author Terry Pratchett has been campaigning for a tribunal to be set up to help those with incurable diseases end their lives with help from doctors. In the DPP's guidelines are good:

"[I]t seems to me that the guidelines presented are about as good as we can expect without a change in the law. I hated the provisional guidelines released in September last year. They seemed to be about ticking boxes. They seemed to be about bureaucracy."

The the debate is not over but calls the amendments a "form of wisdom":

"Parliament should return to the issue because the only way to weigh this consideration against the rival moral imperative of the right to dignity in death is to continue the debate. But surely, for today, the verdict of Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, is the correct one. The new framework is not the end of the argument but it is a 'victory for common sense and compassion'."

The the changes were made through the judicial back door and should go through parliament:

"Assisting suicide remains against the law of the land; but it is Mr Starmer who has now decreed when and where it will apply. That should have been for MPs to decide - though there has always been discretion for prosecutors to discontinue court cases, either in the public interest or where there is no realistic prospect of conviction."

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An Italian court has convicted three Google executives in a trial over a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied. The Google employees were accused of "privacy violations" in allowing the video to be posted online.

But the real perpetrators had already been punished:

"We obviously condemn the dissemination of such a video but the guilty parties are those who did the bullying and those who filmed it and posted it online, and they have already been convicted."

what it describes as an "astonishing decision".

"In essence this ruling means that employees of hosting platforms like Google Video are criminally responsible for content that users upload. We will appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question."

"Common sense dictates that only the person who films and uploads a video to a hosting platform could take the steps necessary to protect the privacy and obtain the consent of the people they are filming."

with the search giant, saying the ruling could "kill the internet":

"By holding Google liable for the actions of a user, the Italian court is in essence requiring Google and every other web site to review and vet everything anyone puts online. The practical implication of that, of course, is that no one will let anyone put anything online because the risk is too great. I wouldn't let you post anything here. My ISP wouldn't let me post anything on its servers. Google wouldn't let me post anything on its services. And that kills the internet."

as to how many people would need to monitor YouTube if the firm were required to do so:

"Users are said to upload 20 hours of video every minute; reviewing all of them in real time would require 1,200 pairs of eyeballs."

the decision "throws a bucketful of sand into the machinery of YouTube" and its bid to turn a profit:

"Monitoring all that content, even for a single country, could prove enormously expensive. That in turn would put profitability for the site - which is thought to have lost between $100m and $500m in 2009 - further away than ever. YouTube has never made an operating profit in its five-year history, and Google has been trying to sell adverts on videos to make the site profitable."

The the decision must be seen in the context of the Italian media landscape, where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi "owns most private media and indirectly controls public media":

"Several measures are pending in Parliament here that seek to impose various controls on the Internet. Critics of Mr. Berlusconi say the measures go beyond routine copyright questions and are a way to stave off competition from the Web to public television stations and his own private channels - and to keep a tighter grip on public debate."

But that Google is a media company at heart and therefore should come under similar regulations to newspapers and other media organisations:

"Google can't continue to turn a blind eye to its social responsibilities. It has to face them or it will be forced to face them. If media companies such as newspapers have to shoulder social responsibilities then Google, and other Internet companies, need to do the same. 'Do no evil' is passive. 'Do some good' is what Google needs to do."

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Commentators dissect the reasons behind UKIP MEP Nigel Farage's tirade against the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, describing him as having the "charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk".

Mr Farage was rude but right about Herman Van Rompuy:

"Europe is becoming feebler, not stronger, by the day and Van Rompuy's appointment - like that of Lady Ashton as foreign minister - was another bag of nails in the coffin lid.
But rudeness in such a stuffy, consensual, gravitas-lite assembly is just boorish, juvenile, Hannan-esque solipsism, for which we should hang our collective head. Nige, how could you?
It is not as if he means it all, not deep down. He hasn't minded taking nearly £2m worth of EU taxpayers' filthy money since 1999 on top of his £64,000 annual salary."

Mr Farage the rudest man in Europe:

"Farage's attack on the modest and mild-mannered van Rompuy and his equally inoffensive country will only confirm what many in Europe think about the British: that we are a country of arrogant, bullying xenophobes."

In the Watching Europe blog, :

"I have respect for eurosceptics and europhobics who are willing to make an argumented point, willing to openly criticise what needs to be criticised from their point of view. But you don't even want to be respected, you are not even looking for an argument, which is so low politics that it's hard to get much lower."

the tirade was a transparent attempt to replicate Daniel Hannan's YouTube success but was also contradictory:

"I think we can all agree that Van Rompuy, to borrow Winston Churchill's description of Clement Attlee, is a modest man with much to be modest about. But here's what I don't understand: surely as an anti-federalist, Farage should be grateful that the EU is led by a political pygmy? Wouldn't the traffic-stopping Tony Blair have been far worse?"

the idea that it was solely a publicity stunt:

"This outburst would seem like an opportunistic move by Farage to raise his public profile and that of his party given the upcoming elections if it were not for the fact that he is right. His observations and condemnation of Van Rompuy are far from outlandish and probably reflect the mood of Europe."

Links in full

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

The week began with the prime minister accused of being a bully. Then the chancellor claimed that those in No 10 had released the "forces of hell" on him after an interview in which he made unfavourable comments about the economy. So when the two men entered the chamber of the House of Commons, all eyes were on the duo, with little attention paid to what was actually said by anyone else.

that the behaviour of the two men sitting so tightly side by side made her fear for a "'get a room' moment":

"Al was wiggling his singed brows at Gordon as they sat, legs touching, giggling. It seemed incredible but it seemed they were on the brink of having a cuddle on the front bench."

the pair on what he considers a very well-orchestrated appearance of a united front:

"Had the scenario been devised by media fixer Max Clifford, Mr Brown would have rubbed suncream into Mr Darling's shoulders and Mr Darling would have sucked on the straw sticking out of Gordon's pina colada."

that the PM had made a concerted effort to come to PMQs to shake off any of the recent alleged slurs on his character:

"It was clearly vital for the prime minister to depict himself as a mild-mannered, considerate fellow who would no more manhandle a secretary or unleash the inferno on a colleague than he would take his clothes off, cover himself with woad, and do a sword dance on the frontbench."

In contrast, the scene at No 10 before Gordon Brown headed up the road to the Commons:

"It's calm. I'm going to do, I can ****ing do calm, I'll go in with, I'll walk in with, I'll go straight **** in with **** Darling and we'll smile and ****ing chat. Get the ****ing ****cellor on the phone and tell the **** we'll walk in like together like we were, I don't know what's the word, I SAID WHAT'S THE ****ING WORD! Friends! Why do I have to know EVERY****ING round here? FRIENDS! We'll walk in like we were FRIENDS! Whatever his ****ing stupid Alistair name is we'll be FRIENDS in front of those dis****gusting Tory ****s and that toff-**** will say - I know very well what he'll say because thanks to you ****s it's ALL OVER THE MEDIA ****s!"

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As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent, I cover the personalities, politics and ethics of the media, as well as creative, business, technology and legal issues. This is my summary of what's going on.

The Times has details of the National Audit Office report criticising the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s £2 billion spending on Broadcasting House and other new buildings. It will be published later today.

• Yesterday's Media Brief.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne delivered what he called a "new economic model for Britain" at the annual Mais lecture on Wednesday. This included a commitment to make immediate spending cuts if the Tories were elected. Commentators consider the merits of his plans.

The Mr Osborne's proposals:

"A pledge of austerity is an unpromising theme for an election campaign. Yet in his Mais lecture yesterday, George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, made reducing the public debt the Conservative Party's defining economic message. It might be unusual politics but he was right to do so."

In contrast, that too many cuts could be fatal for the Tories:

"But the key criticism of Osborne's approach is that by clamping down hard on spending, the Tories risk driving the economy back into recession. Yet Osborne points out that despite Labour's promises not to take drastic action for fear [that] unsettling the economic recovery, it is already squeezing some budgets and has reversed the emergency reduction in VAT.
George Osborne may be showing more rigour in his approach to tackling the country's debt problems, but with their opinion poll lead constantly eroding, the Tories cannot risk being too brave."

The Mr Osborne was brave to stay away from the "scaremongering" immediate spending cuts would plunge us into a deeper recession:

"Mr Osborne is right to stick to his guns on the deficit. If only he could show similar boldness in making the moral case for lower taxes. The Tories have set out the right direction of travel on tax but need to display greater clarity of purpose. Their timidity could cost them dear."

what the significance of George Osborne speaking at the "pulpit-of-choice for British economic policy making" could be:

"Is this the birth of what we might call 'Osbornism'? Will future generations of economists trace back the renaissance of the UK economy from the fundamentals outlined in this lecture?
George Osborne won't want to be the only deliverer of a Mais lecture never to get to enact his economic philosophy."

that Osborne's policy could lead to class war:

"Osborne mentioned the Conservatives' plans to tackle inequality, but only as an afterthought. And that is precisely what the divide between rich and poor has been for decades: a worthy economic topic that is too big, nebulous and intractable to tackle. I suspect that this is about to change. We have known for some time that income disparities have climbed to the highest level since the Thirties. What is new, and worrying, is that whereas this gap narrowed as a consequence of the Great Depression - as the wealthiest lost money and the poorest benefited from the newly created social safety nets - this time the crisis has served to widen the chasm, not least because the plutocratic bankers were bailed out with taxpayers' cash."

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s economics editor Stephanie Flanders looks at how economists will take Mr Osborne's speech:

"You might still vigorously disagree with him - and many economists will. But you can't say he hasn't thought about it. Or considered the implications for growth."

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Stephanie Flanders | ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ | Mr Osborne's prescription

The European Commission's competition arm has begun investigating complaints that Google is abusing its dominant market position. The complaints have come from , and .

In a when it looked at the search market, Foundem set out its complaints.

"Google's overwhelming dominance of search and search advertising, coupled with its ability to arbitrarily penalise rivals and systematically favor its own services, makes the need for search neutrality particularly pressing."

On , Julia Holtz, senior competition counsel at the company, rebutted the complaints.

"Though each case raises slightly different issues, the question they ultimately pose is whether Google is doing anything to choke off competition or hurt our users and partners. This is not the case."

sees the hand of Google's rivals behind the complaints as Ciao is owned by Microsoft and Foundem is a member of ICOMP - a lobby group that is partly funded by the software giant.

"Regardless of whether or not Microsoft is involved in an indirect way, the EU has repeatedly expressed concerns about Google's market position and power and so is itself probably not unhappy to have an opportunity to examine these questions in the context of a formal investigation."

Mr Sterling also wondered about the outcome of the investigation.

"If there were to a finding against Google by the EU what would the remedy be: to 'freeze' Google's algorithm, to fully expose it to the market to make the algorithm more 'transparent'? As a practical matter neither of these outcomes is likely or plausible really."

For search veteran John Battelle, the in Google's history.

"In past writings I've intoned that Google was following the path of Microsoft in many ways, and suggested that at some point it may face the same kind of scrutiny - and potential enervation - as Gates&Co did back in the late 1990s with the DOJ."

He asks if the investigation is "Google's Microsoft Moment?"

The title of gives away his view. "IT BEGINS".

"Google will soon have nearly as much of a monopoly over the search business as Microsoft ever had in operating systems. Its move into display ads, meanwhile, will soon give it an even greater share of the overall online ad market."

He predicts the investigation will go beyond the preliminaries.

"This will start slow, but it could eventually get serious. It could also be a sign of things to come."

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A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

Appearing in front of the Treasury Select Committee, Mervyn King said that the UK economy has continued to "bump along the bottom".

that he gave spectators very little to feel cheerful about:

"The fact that he looks as if he should be jolly makes the gnomic reality all the more unnerving. Forget 'ho, ho, ho', for Merv it is all 'no, no, no'."

In describing Mr King's one bit of consolatory news that the UK's in a better position than the likes of Greece, to a character of AA Milne's:

"He announced all this in morose fashion, reminiscent of Eeyore on his birthday: 'Look at all the presents I've had,' waving his tail at nothing."

Elsewhere MPs were debating an investigation, brought about by Labour MP Andrew Dismore, into the matter of Trevor Phillips being accused of contacting members of a select committee that was reporting on the Equalities Commission. that this is taking up Parliamentary time:

"What shrinking, shivering, cringeing, flinching, intimidated nitwits we have in the House."

that Mr Dismore might almost have got away with his attack on Mr Phillips were it not for fellow committee member and Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart:

"She is as combustible as a Ford tractor engine, and no less noisy. She honked to terrific effect about what she saw as 'a show trial' of Mr Phillips."

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As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent, I cover the personalities, politics and ethics of the media, as well as creative, business, technology and legal issues. This is my summary of what's going on.

A committee of MPs says self-regulation of newspapers has not worked and the Press Complaints Commission should be given new powers to fine publications, or even suspend them from publishing. The select committee on Culture Media & Sport also proposed reform of the libel laws, saying investigative journalism was being deterred by the threat and high cost of defending cases.

• Yesterday's Media Brief.

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

if the alleged bullied workers in No 10 were in the wrong job:

"Working with highly stressed people comes with the territory. Haven't they seen In The Loop? It's like a professional rugby player calling [a helpline] to complain that people keep grabbing him round the legs."

The Peter Mandelson as "like Vesuvius"in a press conference about the bullying allegation:

"He was not going to chase every allegation made by a newspaper or author who wanted publicity. Nor could he chase after smears from 'every Tom, Dick and Harry'. I wondered if Tom, Dick and Harry knew Rag, Tag and Bobtail. And how was it that the evil Tories managed to make them all fit into a storm in a teacup?"

the chairman of Goldman Sachs, Gerald Corrigan who made an appearance at the treasury select committee:

"Yes, he is fantastically rich. You couldn't fit his personal wealth into the dome of St Paul's. He could hang Istanbul off his charm bracelet. He's probably got golden bones. And he seemed happy to agree he had helped Greece into semi-bankruptcy, hoping perhaps to buy it for his wife when the price was right."

Writing about the Commons reform debate, with Harriet Harman:

"She is one of the worst robots, a prime culprit in the language devaluation gang, spouting hyperbole to such leaden effect that the words wither and die.
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Harriet frequently drones on about how we need more wimmin in the Commons. Rot. We need more poets. We need more wordsmiths. We need people who can seize the public's imagination."

Links in full

As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent, I cover the personalities, politics and ethics of the media, as well as creative, business, technology and legal issues. This is my summary of what's going on.

Lord Carlile has accused the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ of promoting assisted suicide by giving Sir Terry Pratchett a lecture platform and its coverage of the Ray Gosling case.

• Yesterday's Media Brief.

The House of Commons select committee on science and technology has been examining the claims of homeopathy and has concluded that the NHS should stop funding the treatment. Commentators react to the decision.

The why the case matters:

"[I]t means funds are diverted from efficacious treatments to less efficacious ones, because people may risk their health by rejecting orthodox treatment in favour of homeopathic remedies for a serious illness, and because it undermines the principle that Government investment in health should be evidence-based."

Edzard Ernst trained as a professor in complementary medicine. However, in that using homeopathy as a placebo is unethical:

"This strategy would mean not telling the truth to patients and thus depriving them of fully informed consent. This paternalistic approach of years gone by is now considered unethical.
Also, placebo effects are unreliable and usually short-lived. Moreover, endorsing homeopathic placebos in this way would mean that people may use it for serious, treatable conditions. Furthermore, if we allow the homeopathic industry to sell placebos we should do the same for big pharmaceutical companies - and where would this take us?"

homeopathy to a mother kissing a grazed knee better:

"[N]o one has yet asked the Government for millions of pounds to set up 'Kiss It Better' hospitals, with kindly mothers well-paid and waiting for patients to present themselves with minor injuries for a hug and a kiss and a pat on the bottom. I don't say it wouldn't work. On the other hand, it is probably not something the Government would consider funding."

against homeopathy . He says the report has put homeopaths under more pressure than they perceived possible:

"It may not be that this government acts on this report - elections are looming - but that is not important. Within PCTs, the NHS will start rethinking and no doubt start unwinding provision for it. There will be a ratchet effect. Bit by bit, funding will stop, never to return. West Kent PCT has done so. The likes of Liverpool, Glasgow, Bristol and London will surely follow. The Medicines Regulator will be under strong pressure to review its stance as it is clearly complicit in misleading the public with how it allows homeopathic products to be labelled."

On she is disappointed as she believes homeopathy can save the NHS money:

"We see patients who are on a lot of medication that's not particularly helping them and often we can help them reduce their medication and have a better quality of life. I think we actually save the NHS money and that's why we should be on the NHS."

In the this exercise a sham and a set-up:

"What happens next is a media snow all week - the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ will have some 'discussions' where quietly spoken well-meaning homeopaths will be pitted against fast talking media trained SAS [Sense about Science] representatives. Mostly they'll be young conventionally attractive young women - GPs are favourite - and they'll trot out the well worn mantras and with the help of the presenter will force the last word."

Ben Goldacre has been campaigning against what he sees as treatments that don't have scientific backing. In his blog what this tells us about the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency:

"It looks like pretty sensible stuff to me, homeopaths can't expect special treatment among all forms of medicine, if the evidence actively shows it doesn't work, then that's that. I have to say what really frightens me about all this is the MHRA: if regulation is so political that they can fall into holes over sugar pills, it tells a frightening story about their wider activities."

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Commentators are considering the claims in a book by political journalist Andrew Rawnsley that Gordon Brown has bullied his staff. The what press columnists have to say; the reaction of politics bloggers is below.

the discussion could be a gift for David Cameron:

"[M]y betting position on Brown not leading his party at the election might just be a winner after all. Ladbrokes have 8/1 on Brown going before the general election."

"I think if it was a matter of him shouting at Peter Mandelson or some other Cabinet minister, it wouldn't be so serious. But it's the idea that the people who bear the brunt of his temper are relatively junior staff is very hurtful to his image."

three occasions when bullying in the PM's office has been brought up in Parliament over the last four years:

"So... that's 'three or four' calls, in the last 'three or four' years, which is rather handily less than 'five' which happens to be the number that Brown's own departments have confirmed have made complaints - might it be the same people that moved with him?"

Labour activist that the bullying claims may be unrepresentative:

"[B]eing Chancellor and Prime Minister are high pressure roles and that any driven believer should be hard on himself and on others where there are failures along the way. A hard task master. With a reputation for throwing the occasional paddy. But we're not talking knocking Gerry Adams to the floor here."

about confidentiality and the National Bullying Helpline:

"If I were one of the three or four Downing Street employees who had phoned the helpline in confidence, I'd be pretty cheesed off to find that my call had been made public by the Helpline's chief executive"

"It is a matter for profound sadness that Gordon Brown has debased the office of Prime Minister in this way. He's in denial, but that just makes it worse. He may try to deflect the news agenda onto Mrs Pratt and her bullying helpline (as recommended by Lord Mandelson), as well as encouraging his aids to smear her as a Tory stooge but he cannot escape blame in this sorry saga."

Among blogging MPs, Liberal Democrat :

"Firstly - if Rawnsley has written something untrue - why doesn't Brown sue?
"Probably too simplistic.
"Secondly and perhaps more interestingly is what constitutes bullying? If a 'boss' shouts at an employee because they've done something wrong - something serious that puts the firm or organisation in jeopardy - is that bullying or is that just the sign of someone who is passionate about their work, firm or reputation?"

In his Twitter account, the impartiality of the National Bullying Helpline, bringing up the possibility of links to members of the Conservative Party.

Conservative MP that many questions will be asked about Gordon Brown's character but, says that he would prefer to focus on the PM's decision-making:

"In the case of a Prime Minister the thing that matters most to most of us is what judgements he comes to, what decisions he takes that shape our country's destiny. The public can live with a PM who turns most normal Parliamentary questions into an invitation to try to put down political opponents, if all the main calls he is making are correct."

Links in full

As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent, I cover the personalities, politics and ethics of the media, as well as creative, business, technology and legal issues. This is my summary of what's going on.

Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan won the best acting awards at the Baftas, The Hurt Locker wins six of the rest.

Golf star Tiger Woods has broken his silence for the first time since revelations about his private life made headlines in November. He made a full and frank apology for cheating on his wife. Here is how a selection of US media reacted to his statement.

Rick Cerrone, senior director of media relations for the New York Yankees baseball team from 1996 to 2006, called the statement "a disaster" on .

"It was a PR disaster. It will be shown in colleges in the future as an example of how not to do it... He got angry. This was not the way to handle it... I really believe this was an embarrassing performance."

Journalist Karen Hunter speaking on thinks Tiger Woods acquitted himself well.

"Tiger is going to nail it, because that's what he does. He stood up there on his own. He did what he was supposed to do. Can we move on now?"

Woods' delivery to be "measured and perfectly controlled", which "belied his reckless behavior".

by Tiger Woods' mention of his religious beliefs:

"Wow. Buddhism! Playing the religion card... Has he EVER talked about Buddhism before? Don't recall it."

by that part of the statement:

"Tiger's talking about Buddhism now. Didn't see that coming."

Speaking on , Jim Gorant, who writes about golf for Sports Illustrated, said the statement was a "good first step".

"Tiger is all about control. When this was set up, there was a sense of that, and some people were angry about that. But parts of what he said were sincere. He said flat out here 'I had affairs, I cheated', so that's a step forward."

But Midwin Charles, a legal contributor to In Session (formerly Court TV), who was appearing on the same programme, disagreed with Mr Gorant. She thought it was a "misstep" by Tiger Woods to attack the media:

"He brought this attention on himself by going out there and having those affairs. Get over it!"

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As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent, I cover the personalities, politics and ethics of the media, as well as creative, business, technology and legal issues. This is my summary of what's going on.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Five Live has lost the commentary rights for 64 of its Premier League football matches. Under a three year deal, starting in August, two of its six rights packages have gone to the commercial station, TalkSport. They include matches on Saturday evenings, early Sunday afternoons and some mid-week games.

It's 25 years since EastEnders was first broadcast. To mark the occasion, tonight's episode will go out live - as millions of viewers tune in to find out who killed Archie Mitchell. But a key cast member is reportedly unwell.

The Newspaper Publishers Association has asked the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Trust to block plans for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News and Sport apps for the iPhone. They say it will undermine their own mobile businesses.

Tiger Woods is about to break his media silence.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit µþµþ°äÌý°Â±ð²ú·É¾±²õ±ð for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

The writer Alexander McCall Smith has said the UK edition of Reader's Digest must be saved.

The Observer is relaunched this weekend. Its editor John Mulholland discusses the plans and, on Radio 4's The Media Show, is asked why well-known contributors are leaving.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ | The Media Show

Why does Prince William's hair look so dark on the cover of Hello magazine? The pictures were taken by a former drug addict in aid of the Crisis charity.

The economy dominates the headlines.

Letters from 60 economists published in the Financial Times support Alistair Darling's decision to delay spending cuts until 2011. This follows a letter from 20 economists to the Sunday Times who urged a spending cut now and the first January on record where government spending was bigger than revenues. Commentators consider what this will mean for the election.

Economist Lord Skidelsky argues on the Today programme that while spending cuts may be good for the market, it was the market "that got us into the present pickle":

"We need to take into account that the well-being of our people is not necessarily the same as the well-being of bond traders."

Also on the Today programme, former trade Minister Lord Jones argues that to prevent a run on the pound and preserve the UK credit rating, we need clear policies:

"At the end of the day, markets want to see that elected leaders and their advisors such as economists have a plan and stick to it."

The cuts, saying that there is nothing to show for existing spending:

"It might have been tolerable to have spent all this money, dug the country into this position, if it had achieved greater social cohesion and stronger communities. Yet often the money produced the opposite - it sponsored the social breakdown that it was supposed to combat."

The banks also play a part in the story, as bank loans to businesses must increase:

"Our saving grace - for the moment - is that the markets believe that Britain will cut its deficit after the election.

But if an incoming Government does find the courage to cut public spending, then we will be even more reliant on private sector entrepreneurs to prevent the dreaded double dip recession."

the two sets of economists not agreeing with each other tells us more about economists than whether there should be spending cuts and politics:

"Economics is a pseudo-science based on inherent prejudicial bedrock assumptions, or more cynically, and accurately put, the leading economists of the world don't really know their arses from their elbows but they'll have a good fight with each other about which part of their body they should sit on."

Left-wing blogger that it's a bad day for Tory policy:

"The two letters now put Conservative economic policy at odds with the consensus that the economy should be allowed to recover before the deficit is reduced."

Conservative MP that 60 economists can still be wrong but thinks that voters might agree with the 20 economists in the Sunday Times who urged a cut in spending now:

"There are signs of hope in the reaction. The fact that January is usually a month when revenues exceed spending is just an excuse. I guess what is happening is that the British establishment is coming round to the view of the 20, not the 60 economists. Lots of 'serious' people now agree that the deficit is too large."

Links in full

On 18 February, Google steps into a New York court room to argue that it should be allowed to go on building a vast digital library made up of . The hearing is the end result of two years of negotiation over a settlement deal with the long list of people and organisations that object to its plans.

Google filed a its arguments in support of its plan, saying:

"The [Amended Settlement Agreement] reflects the results of two years of heavily debated, arms-length negotiation by the parties best suited to resolve the relevant issues, including further negotiations after the settlement was initially presented for approval."

It is in no doubt about the seriousness of the hearing:

"The benefits of approval are bounded only by the limits of human creativity and imagination. The costs of disapproval are equally large."

In total, 26 separate organisations are due to speak about the settlement. Among them is the (Epic) which will step in front of the judge :

"threatens well-established standards that safeguard intellectual freedom."

The row over Google Books has also divided authors. Many have let the Authors Guild speak for them but others are keen to make their voices heard.

Veteran fiction writer resigned from the Authors Guild after 37 years as a member in protest at its signing up with Google. She has rallied 367 authors will be read out in court. She wrote:

"But we cannot have free and open dissemination of information and literature unless the use of written material continues to be controlled by those who write it or own legitimate right in it."

the troubles surrounding Google Books in with some of the other mis-steps (Buzz) that the search giant has made.

"Google still has a launch-first-ask-questions-later culture of innovation, one that inevitably overlooks privacy and other concerns as engineers race their ideas to market."

A twist to the tale is added by that Google has been awarded a patent for a system that could be applied to any text viewable via the digital library.

"Google gives us a glimpse at the possible future of Google Books, which can censor books it serves based on the copyright laws of the location from which you access the Internet."

Links in full

As the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s media correspondent, I cover the personalities, politics and ethics of the media, as well as creative, business, technology and legal issues. This is my summary of what's going on.

The Press Complaints Commission has not upheld a complaint by the civil partner of the Boyzone singer Stephen Gately about an article by the Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir. 25,000 people, most mobilised by Twitter, said they were offended. The piece, headed A Strange, Lonely and Troubling Death, was published the day before the singer's funeral. The chairman of the PCC, Lady Buscombe, was interviewed on Today with Ben Summerskill of Stonewall.

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has invited the Pope to present Thought for the Day when he visits Britain, according to Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer. The National Secularist Society says it would be better if he were grilled by John Humphrys.

What the Papers Say is being revived on Radio 4 during the general election.

The National Trust says it may launch a campaign to buy the Abbey Road studios, if they are put up for sale by EMI.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News has been accused of "a sense of humour failure" for not allowing its journalists to present fake news clips for a new ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ entertainment show, The Bubble. Sky and ITV journalists are taking part.

The row between Disney and cinema chains over plans for an earlier-than-usual DVD release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is spreading to other European countries.

The row over fake British passports used by the suspected killers of a Palestinian militant still intrigues the papers.

Commentators discuss the fall-out from of the use of six British passports, possibly faked, by an alleged hit squad suspected of killing a member of Hamas in Dubai.

the Foreign Office of being "supine" and the government of being slow in response:

"By making public some of the - impressive - evidence it has collected, the UAE seems to be saying that it wants to end the Gulf's growing reputation as a soft touch for other people's assassins. By showing the sophistication of its record-keeping, the UAE may hope to discourage others. But if political murder is now unacceptable to Dubai, how much more unacceptable should it be to the British government? Those false passports call for a much more muscular response than has so far been forthcoming."

that all British passport-holders in the Arab world may now be at risk:

"British passports are the property of the British government. When that government says and does nothing for six days after it was given evidence that Mossad agents stole the identity of six British citizens to assassinate a Hamas commander in Dubai, it starts to seem as if Israel was right to think it could get away with it."

that a source has told him that the passports are geniune which, he writes, leaves only one possibility:

"Collusion. That's what it's all about. The United Arab Emirates suspect - only suspect, mark you - that Europe's 'security collaboration' with Israel has crossed a line into illegality, where British passports (and those of other EU nations) can now be used to send Israeli agents into the Gulf to kill Israel's enemies."

Israel needs to confirm or deny Mossad's involvement:

"Britain is an ally that enjoys a close, intelligence-sharing relationship with Mossad on a number of important global security issues, such as Iran's nuclear programme. It is for this reason that the Israeli authorities owe Britain an explanation, at the very least, as to how six of the assassins came to be using the identities of our citizens who are currently resident in Israel."

the possible international consequences if Mossad did use fake passports:

"In 1987, Mossad conducted an operation using fake British passports. Britain protested, and Israel gave an undertaking then that it would not embarrass its friends in this way again. But the Dubai operation has now cast a new froideur over relations just at a time when Israel needs Europe's support to find a way back into peace talks with the Palestinians."

is among the writers who have attempted levity:

"All nice people, quite rightly, are adopting the proper moral stance and expressing outrage and disgust at this affront to international law and justice. But the rest of us... well, we simply can't wait until the movie comes out. Largely thanks to the blurry CCTV pictures, there is an element to the assassination in Dubai that is appallingly irresistible...
Ìý
"Where were George Clooney and Brad Pitt? To see the images of tubby tennis players bimbling across the hotel lobby and into the lift with the Danny Devito-like figure of Mr al-Mabhouh, and then following him so that they could note down his room number, was to know that this was an incomparable heist; a case of life imitating art imitating life. That it was a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of international espionage makes it all the more seductive."

with the spy-story comparisons:

"[W]hile the Foreign Office finally summoned the Israeli ambassador to 'share information', rather than protest, Gordon Brown could yesterday only promise a 'full investigation'.
Ìý
"In parallel with this languid official response, most of the British media has treated the assassination more as a ripping spy yarn than a bloody scandal which has put British citizens at greater risk by association with Mossad death squads."

Links

The Taliban's top military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is reportedly captured in Pakistan. Commentators look at what this could mean for the American CIA and the Pakistani intelligence service.

The this capture could signify a shift in thinking within the Pakistan's military, which it says is key:

"The Pakistan army, the US and India are still far apart in their analysis of, never mind their solution to, the war in Afghanistan. The US, for one, is not clear whether it wants to split the Taliban or engage with them. If some form of convergence of views is taking place between the Pakistan army and the US - admittedly a big if - then this is progress."

successfully working with US intelligence could prove highly significant for Pakistan:

"With its contacts, geographic location, and new-found 'responsible' approach, it's Pakistan -- not Iran, India, or Russia -- that is positioned to play the role of stability guarantor in a post-American Afghanistan, especially as it pertains to U.S. interests. Pakistan has an opportunity to come in from the cold and project its regional influence through more conventional and 'legitimate' means."

The the significance of the arrest depends on how the Taliban respond:

"The organisation has shown itself to be a remarkably resilient so far, with the past detention or death of senior commanders leading swiftly to their replacement by someone new. Despite the psychological setback for the insurgents, it is unclear how much impact will be felt on the ground."

Former CIA officer the significance of the Mullar Baradar's capture:

"While the capture of Mullah Baradar is great news for a raft of reasons (eg, US - Pakistan counterterror cooperation, Pakistani commitment to fighting the Taliban, a blow to Taliban morale and a set-back to its momentum), we must remember that the Taliban movement is bigger than just one individual."

Mullah Baradar's capture won't necessarily lead to the Taliban's defeat:

"Baradar was highly effective, but the loss of other senior figures has had a limited impact inside Afghanistan. His dominance within the Quetta Shura, however, could create a power struggle to fill the vacuum."

this arrest could impact on the US torture debate:

"And Republican whining notwithstanding, these successes have come without torture, with civilian trials on US soil for suspected terrorists, and while attempting to close the detention facility at Gitmo.
When it comes to the domestic political divide, only one side inspires confidence on national security and foreign policy, and I'll give you a hint: it's not the Republican Party."

The the end of the beginning might be here but now comes the hard part:

"The past eight years have been characterised by the taking of Taliban territory, but not the holding of it: the insurgents have simply crept back in when Nato has retreated. That must not be allowed to happen this time. Nato's new emphasis on Afghan soldiers and police being at the spearhead of the operation is vital."

Links in full

Cross-party talks on elderly care have broken down, insults between parties have been flying in Parliament and . Commentators consider why elderly care should be such a contentious issue and if a cross-party policy would ever work.

the recent all-party approach is suspicious:

"When the three major political parties go into a huddle to reach a consensus on anything, you should smell a rat. In the case of what is optimistically called 'social care', you should small a very big rat indeed. Separately and together, the parties seem to have judged that this one issue risks being a deal-breaker with the voters. Far safer to take it off the electoral agenda by dint of agreeing to agree. Whoever is elected can then set about the unpopular job of actually doing it."

the failure to work out a unified policy:

"A failed deal is better than trying to cobble together some scheme in secret based on cosy consensus, splitting the difference, and then telling us that whoever we vote for it will be adopted as policy."

a cross-party policy could never work:

"Achieving a consensus is a nice idea in theory. In practice, it founders on profound ideological divisions. For Labour, the solution to the care problem - like everything else - consists of top-down, state-controlled funding.
Yet that pattern of taking money in taxes and disbursing it through the Treasury has been tested to destruction in the NHS."

politicians of playground antics when dealing with social care:

"No bigger social issue confronts the country, yet it has been reduced to a political football. And if Labour has been negligent, the Tories are unrealistic. Their plan for an £8,000 one-off insurance premium is unconvincing."

that shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley risks isolating himself by saying he won't turn up at this week's conference on elderly care unless the inheritance tax levy is removed:

"The positioning is damaging for the Conservatives and unfortunate for Mr Lansley. His claims that the gravestone billboard posters "was not a negative campaign" is plain wrong, and all know it.
His absence from the consensus conference will only underline this further, and enhance the impression for key stakeholders on care and the wider public that the party is now not prepared to enter sensible discussions on this most important of policy issues."

a death tax is hated because it runs up against the emotional mythology of a home-owning population:

"For millions, building up a home - saving for one, buying one, gradually paying off the mortgage, trading up and making improvements - is the central narrative of their lives, and all the more so when jobs, particularly working-class jobs, offer little satisfaction or personal development. Governments encourage home ownership because it buys off dissent and delivers a more docile workforce. Over the past decade particularly, the capacity to borrow against the security of a house has helped disguise stagnation in ordinary people's incomes. No wonder they wish to hand on this precious, hard-won asset to their children just as aristocratic families wished to hand down intact estates to their heirs. No wonder, even where an inheritance tax is unlikely to affect them personally, they empathise with those who have to pay it."

Joan Bakewell is the government-appointed voice of older people. the debates over social care and says that, among the political furore, one thing has been forgotten:

"One fact remains alongside all the arguments and fuss. The poor - those with no wealth to bequeath - are, not surprisingly, left outside this debate. The poor have no worries about threats to their estates or the legacy they leave their children. Yet the poor when they get old are the most needy of all."

Links in full

Commentators review Gordon Brown's interview with Piers Morgan.

Gordon Brown's intimate interview was out of character:

"The pain which the PM describes to Piers Morgan in the interview is agonisingly real, a livid scar on his soul. What is bogus is the implication that the famously private Brown has suddenly decided that nothing is off limits, that politics is about personality after all, and that all questions are legitimate. 'I think it's important that people know who you are,' he says, 'and... that people can ask any questions they like about you.' I don't believe the PM really thinks that for a moment. It is like Howard Hughes saying 'Come on in, guys!', or Greta Garbo deciding that 'actually, I don't want to be alone - let's play Twister!'"

the interview as a mistake:

"A private man, Mr Brown finds it hard to conjure the words to evoke our imaginative sympathy. There is always something not quite right - like a man who learnt to dance from a series of still pictures."

that the interview made him feel sorry for Gordon Brown "in the wrong way":

"In an ideal world, earnest prime ministers shouldn't have to grin and do this sort of thing. Yet for a man who has suffered near blindness, lost a child and fathered another child with cystic fibrosis, Brown should be easier to warm to. Voters may feel sorry for him, but in the wrong way - in the way they did for Susan Boyle, before that voice rang out."

about the authenticity of the exchanges:

"For years we have been told that Mr Brown was the rock, the clunking fist. Now, with the opinion polls bad, came different tactics. His spin doctors (no doubt led by that PR-professional wife) got him to blub on Sunday night telly. Shrewd? Possibly. But desperate, too."

the interview will make a difference at the ballot box:

"At this stage before the general election the only thing that matters is whether Brown's much-hyped TV programme with Piers Morgan is going to cause any more people to vote Labour in the seats where it matters... My view was that Brown came out of it well and a bit more human. But I can't see many people changing their minds about him."

the interview was the best publicity Gordon Brown is ever likely to get:

"It's often said that Brown is a charmer when he can be bothered to find the 'on' switch, and he found it tonight. Perhaps because Brown was being interviewed by a friend, he spoke and behaved utterly different to how he normally does. This was as good as it gets for him."

Political blogger Gordon Brown came across well but wondered if, in such an easy interview, anyone learned anything:

"As an interview it stank. And I say this with some regret because I actually think Piers Morgan can be a very talented interviewer. But there was no probing, no exploring, nothing. It was just an hour long party political broadcast on behalf of the Gordon Brown Party."

Links in full

Commentators react to EU leaders' announcement that they will help Greece tackle its debt crisis.

Germany's reluctance to help highlights the difference between the United States who share out the wealth to poorer states and the EU in terms of their attitudes to poorer states:

"We feel your pain. But not enough to put our hands in our pockets to help you. Behind the sham show of solidarity, the simple message for the troubled government of George Papandreou was that Greece is not Alabama and Brussels is not Washington."

Also comparing the US with Europe, the incident will help American understand the differenc. She recalls a difficult interview with a US news channel:

"What I should have asked the man from MSNBC, of course, was how he would feel if the US was proposing to abandon the dollar and embrace a new common currency (the Americano?) which would be shared with all the countries of Latin and Central America - including those with outrageously high debts (as Brazil had at the time)."

as "absurd" the notion that the euro is under threat from Greece's domestic strife:

"After all, in the United States individual cities and states go bankrupt and default on their debts on a fairly regular basis - California doing so quite recently - but no one says it will destroy the dollar. And California is a bigger economy than Greece."

whether strict conditions on help to Greece will work:

"On the one hand, there is a strong strain of puerile anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist feeling in Greek society. On the other, anti-German sentiments linger from Greece's horrific experiences under Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944. It would not be difficult for populist forces to draw on these prejudices and link them to the austerity plan that the EU is about to force on the Greek government."

and a "half-hearted effort" which will not be enough. The newspaper puts this down to German disinclination to bail out Greece:

"There was a strong whiff of politics in the air. German voters have been paying more than their fair share for European construction for years. Germany's big fear when it abandoned the deutschmark, just over a decade ago, was that it would end up rescuing more profligate countries in the euro zone. Now those fears are coming true."

the deal is not final and the UK could still end up indirectly bailing out Greece:

"As one of the leading members of the IMF, our shareholding at the Washington-based institution could be used as part of a broader crisis package for Southern Europe should the euroland countries refuse to come up with the bail-out support themselves."

Links in full

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

David Cameron tackled Gordon Brown on government plans for elderly care and Nick Clegg asked about compensation for injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan.

the scene in the Commons as "beyond Punch and Judy, more Punch and Punch and Punch again" as David Cameron asked the PM again and again about elderly-care plans:

"You'd think that the subject of social care for the elderly would make everyone sober up but it didn't. It was like watching a brawl in an old people's home -- unedifying, baffling and rather embarrassing."

that it was a rowdy occasion:

"Behind the Tory leader, his backbenchers were in a sort of Bacchic fury, shuddering with unpleasant rage at Brown's patent inability to answer the question. They pointed, they screamed, they rocked back and forth, clearly indignant."

that the PM fell back on the familiar approach of repeatedly telling the opposition leader that he had "no policy, no substance" even though David Cameron was asking about policy:

"Brown looked a bit silly, refusing to discuss the policy while demanding a policy discussion."

that Gordon Brown's tactics are those of a gambler who knows the odds are sky-high but reckons it's still worth a punt:

"Promise the world. There is little chance of having to see them through. On the off-chance that you DO win the election, heck, something will turn up."

Links in full

The High Court has ruled that US intelligence documents containing details of the alleged torture of former UK resident Binyam Mohamed can be released. Commentators consider what this means for future intelligence-sharing with the US.

Director of the Royal United Services Institute Professor that the fall-out will have to be managed:

"President Obama may have dropped the 'war on terror' label but there is still a big difference of mindset between a US approach that goes out to get the terrorists, and a British approach which treats terrorists as criminals and relies on the rule of law. The criminal justice approach is often hard to reconcile with the protection of intelligence. The Government's continuing tussle with the judiciary over the use of control orders is a symptom of the problem."

there are serious security implications:

"Our national security depends heavily on our intelligence-sharing cooperation with the U.S., and it is thanks to the intel provided by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies that we have managed to avoid a repeat of the July 7 bombings. But if the Americans, alarmed at the willingness of our judges to humiliate them in public, decide to scale down the level of cooperation, our national security will undoubtedly be placed in jeopardy."

The Chief Executive of Index on Censorship :

"A more devastating verdict would be hard to find. A more disreputable set of actions would be hard to identify, and this from a government which proclaims it is a leader in human rights around the world."

The about the reasons for keeping information secret:

"Were fears for the future of intelligence-sharing with the US really at the heart of it - especially after President Obama ordered the declassification of many documents relating to the mistreatment of terrorist suspects? Or was that argument a cover for something else - something, perhaps, like not wanting anyone to find out how much the British government really knew about the treatment of Mr Mohamed (and perhaps others, too)."

that this will damage the relationship with the US, especially given that a US court has already disclosed information on Binyam Mohamed's treatment:

"[T]this is the argument that is always trotted out to justify secrecy. Anything that might irritate the Cousins must be avoided at any cost, even if that means trampling on our own laws. Surely the Anglo-American partnership is robust enough to survive this sort of thing? If it isn't then a few judicial rulings are the least of its concerns."

US disappointment at the ruling:

"It's a charade... I used to be a foreign office minister handling this sort of stuff. You read the document carefully and it does not say they are going to say anything. Indeed, any self-respecting expert will tell you there will not be a change in one comma in the information-exchange relationship and there's three reasons for that."

Links in full

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

MPs were debating whether to hold a referendum on replacing the electoral first-past-the-post system with that of the alternative vote.

the subject matter "seemed to drive MPs to the brink of metaphor madness. The Tories, in particular, seemed almost high on hyperbole."

, calling certain members of the opposition, including those with memorable expense claims, "bonkers":

"The Tories began to out-bonkers each other. Mr Gummer (moles and jackdaws removed) said the bill was 'redolent of the smell at the heart of this government, and the stench of a prime minister who puts his own future before the country'. Patrick Cormack (nothing much, really) said the Labour party was 'like a rotting mackerel by moonlight - it stinks!'"

on how best to describe the Speaker's style, quoting some of Mr Bercow's comments at Justice Questions:

"'I'm glad to see the House in such a good mood!'
Ìý
"And, 'I'm sure the House is grateful for the courtesy of such full ministerial replies but in view of the number of members trying to catch my eye I think we would be better served by the abridged version rather than the full War and Peace.'
Ìý
"Charming? Amiable? Game-show compere? You decide."

Elsewhere, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth and Lieutenant General, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff Simon Mayall were giving evidence to the defence select committee. the former's choice of phrase in addressing the latter:

"Mr Ainsworth kept referring to him as 'General Simon'. The General-would have surely been within his rights to refer to the minister as 'Secretary Bob' but naturally did nothing of the sort. Smooth, posh manner. Buttery as a crumpet."

Links in full

Commentators look at what a European debt crisis could mean for the future of the euro.

the eurozone should never have been formed:

"For some of us writing at the time of the Eurozone's formation just over a decade ago, the current crisis has been all too predictable. Other currency unions, we pointed out, had been tried in history and always fallen apart... The problems were visible from the outset. For example, neither Greece nor Italy's national finances were in a good enough condition to merit joining. But the greater ideal of a Eurozone prevailed over financial common sense. Economics gave way to politics, as it so often does. Proof, also, that creative accounting is not confined to dodgy public companies."

The that Greece's inability to devalue its currency because it is in the euro highlights that it was a flawed venture:

"The fundamental objection to monetary union is that it leads to a common budgetary policy as well as a single interest rate. Greece's woes illustrate how this happens; the taxpayers of other eurozone countries pay the price. Britain has its own economic problems, but British voters at least have the power to punish the policymakers who created them. Joining the euro means giving up that democratic right."

countries such as Germany may bail out Greece as there is more than economic credibility at stake:

"There is the question of the symbology of the Great European Project. If the euro goes, what is left?
Ìý
How can the fantasy political union to which Eurocrats are committed, and for which we have paid so dearly with our sovereignty and our independence, be remotely sustained if the individual members cannot even maintain a successful currency union?
Ìý
Federation looks highly unlikely anyway, at least in name: but it is torpedoed altogether if the euro becomes a spavined currency."

The eurozone countries to save the euro by having a less laissez-faire approach:

"The continent must think more imaginatively about how to solve the predictable (and predicted) problems of a trans-national currency. At root, the issue is the mismatch between centralised monetary authority and devolved political power. The disciplines of the Maastricht criteria were supposed to ¬reconcile the two, but they were applied falteringly even in the good times, and are flatly incredible today... They could attempt alternatives, such as requiring the ECB [European Central Bank] to stand behind fundamentally sound bonds facing speculative attack. What they can afford to do no longer, however, is to wash their hands and throw the single currency's fate over to the market"

Greece will be rescued because a lot of the Greek government debt is in banks across Europe, however, he is bleak about the future of the Euro:

"Within Europe, the ability of governments to get deficits down will determine whether the euro has a long-term future. (My own view, for what it is worth, is that it will be through this crisis but not the next one, the one that comes along in another 10 years' time.)"

Links in full

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

Jack Straw returned to the Chilcot inquiry to answer questions about the legal advice he was given regarding UN Security Council resolution 1441.

the former foreign secretary's ability to say precisely the opposite to what he really means:

"The former Foreign Secretary said 'with great respect' when he was not being respectful, 'I'm sorry' when he was not being sorry, and 'I fully understand the point you're making' when his purpose was to confuse and confound whatever that point might be."

, there's no mistaking Mr Straw's earlier profession as a lawyer, watching him effortlessly evade unwanted enquiries:

"It was fascinating to watch. They should run it on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳4 and call it Sophistry Shoot-Out, or Strictly Come Wriggling. 'How's Jack going to get out of this? Oh, and a dazzling logical back-flip there - the judges love it, the crowd are going wild...'"

In by the committee's tendency to talk over Mr Straw:

"It was like watching nice girls fighting, in that slappy way they have. There was some hair-pulling."

Elsewhere, the public accounts committee was discussing ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ sports coverage with some of the corporation's chiefs including director general Mark Thompson. The that the session "descended into kick boxing. Highly watchable violence. A lot more fun than the snooker you get on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ TV so many nights."

At the University of East London, David Cameron was giving a speech on "rebuilding trust in politics", or, as many received it, an attack on Gordon Brown. , who was there, was confused by his constant references to him being of a "new generation" as he sat in front of an audience of students.

"No, I thought, [the students] are the new generation. Only at Westminster is the age of 43 (Dave's age) considered young."

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The sentencing of Metropolitan Police Commander and Black Police Association president Ali Dizaei for corruption has prompted commentators to consider the implications for race relations in the police.

Former Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard the Police Service can move on from an age of political correctness after the Stephen Lawrence inquiry:

"The police can afford to be less frightened about dealing with racially sensitive issues: it is no longer the case that the default position of a jury is to assume that the police are racist."

Ex-deputy assistant Commissioner his time working with Ali Dizaei in the Metropolitan Police and calls it a bad day for race relations:

"Many at Scotland Yard, and those who have since retired like Andy Hayman and Sir Ian Blair who oversaw the original Dizaei investigation, will be celebrating his demise. For me it's an ill-wind that blows no one any good, with both the Met and the Black Police Association having been damaged in the process.
The actions of Dizaei and his imprisonment will do little to improve race relations in the police service or improve public confidence in the police."

The chairman of the Metropolitan Black Police Association the police force is "without a doubt" still racist and so there is still a need for the BPA:

"Black people are still are still disproportionately disciplined, they are still disproportionately asked to resign and there is still a lack of progression for black people."

getting rid of Ali Dizaei will mean an improvement for race relations in the police:

"Some commentators are claiming that there will be 'big reverberations' from this conviction. There won't be. After Dizaei's arrest, the BPA [Black Police Association] called for black Londoners to boycott recruitment for the Met - a call that went almost entirely ignored. That showed how much clout Dizaei and the race-mongers really have."

The with the officers who had to work with Mr Dizaei:

"Whilst the abuse of businessman Waab al-Baghdadi is of course the clearest of the allegations against Ali Dizaei, the abuse of internal power is perhaps more pernicious and more damaging."

Another anonymous with the result:

"Maybe at last we can bin the ridiculous Diversity agenda which allowed him to survive for so long and get back to treating everyone as equal."

The police blogger known as the these concerns:

"I hope his conviction marks a turning point where there will be less use of the race card and spineless managers will grow a backbone and stand up to egotistical, bullying, incompetent thugs like Dizaei."

Finally, the this the most corrupt case for forty years:

"Forty years ago, when the most influential British police chief of the postwar era, Robert Mark, took over as the Metropolitan police commissioner, he made a celebrated and shocking remark. 'The basic test of a decent police force is that it catches more criminals than it employs,' Mark said. Then he added: 'And the Met is failing that test.'"

Links in full

Commentators discuss the possibility that Labour MPs Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine might avoid theft charges by claiming their expenses are covered by Parliamentary privilege, which traditionally protects members from being sued for what they say in the Commons.

The disgust:

"Parliament has long been in disrepute over the expenses scandal.
Yet still our politicians find new ways of dragging its reputation even further into the gutter."

Politics blogger the three MPs charged shouldn't get their pensions:

"Given that they are unlikely to have their day in Court before election day, the House of Commons should pass a resolution that any member facing criminal charges for financial impropriety should have payment of resettlement grants and pensions suspended until the result of the charges are known. If found guilty they should lose all their pension rights."

Labour MP no reasonable person can support immunity from prosecution:

"Whatever happens, parliament must look again at privilege to ensure that it cannot be abused."

Politics blogger legal costs:

"Why is the Labour Party's official solicitor, Gerald Shamash, providing the three disgraced Labour MPs (Messers Chaytor, Devine and Morley) with legal advice? Is the Labour Party paying for it?"

Labour David Cameron of "flipping" his policy on Parliamentary privilege. He reminds us of a time when the Tories wanted to protect privilege:

"Listening to the howls of outrage about the attack on Parliamentary privilege from Conservatives when an investigation into alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Act - an investigation that the Police had little choice about having to conduct - led to Damian Green MP, you would have thought that the Conservative Party wanted to adopt the Russian mode of Parliamentary privilege where members of the Russian mafia get themselves elected to the Russian Duma to avoid criminal charges."

criticism of the attempted avoidance of prosecution reflects how politics has become more transparent:

"Scrutiny of politics is being changed for ever by public anger over the expenses row, and before that by freedom of information law and websites as a way of scrutinising an MP's voting and speaking record."

The the effect of the expenses scandal on the election and beyond:

"Disgust at the corruptibility of politicians will colour an election that should be about which party is fit to lead Britain out of its economic and social mess. As a result, we may see maverick independents elected, and new MPs may be unusually frightened of their constituents."

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Commentators respond to Sir Thomas Legg's report on MPs expenses which recommended that 389 MPs should repay £1.3m.

what the point of Sir Legg's report is:

"For all its demands it makes of MPs, the Legg report published today is basically a cost-neutral exercise. By a strange coincidence , the cost of the investigation (£1.16 million) is almost exactly the same amount it is claiming MPs owe the state (£1.12 million)."

the effect of the expenses scandal on the election. He looks back at the Europe elections, which he says were a success for smaller parties and concludes this won't be the same because of the first-past-the-post-system in the general elections:

"So my guess is that in spite of the expenses scandal the overall shares going to UKIP/GRN/BNP will not be that much greater than 2005. The big difference is that the best known figure in each of these parties is in with a fighting chance in Buckingham, Brighton Pavillion and Barking respectively - so one or more could see an MP elected for the first time. I've got money on Farage and Lucas."

, who was voted in as an MP as part of a protest against "sleaze", expressed shock that over half of MPs are involved in the expenses scandal:

"Having been elected to Parliament on an issue of trust back in 1997, I am reminded by the Legg report how much worse things are now than they were then. I wish to admire MPs. I want them to be men and women of competence and integrity. The Parliament of 2005 showed shortages of both. As far as I am concerned it cannot pass into history soon enough. It will be unmourned by all but its inmates.
I have long argued that the corruptions of politics are not occasional and particular but widespread and endemic; but I had never believed them to be practised on quite this scale."

one glaring omission - the public:

"The trouble with public inquiries is they don't live up to the name: the public is elbowed aside, confined to the spectators' gallery (and told not to interrupt). That jars with a culture in which grand expertise is mistrusted, the layman invested with increasing credibility and we can grill ministers ourselves on Mumsnet rather than watching the great and good do it for us."

about the disagreement between two judges over what had to be paid back:

"Confused? You're supposed to be.
There are four separate bodies nominally responsible for sorting out this mess. Every time Parliament appoints someone to produce the definitive report, it appoints someone else to say the opposite."

Finally, the this image:

"It is a rare thing in this day in age to see two knights fighting it out. But that is, nonetheless, what happened yesterday. And, still more bizarrely, they were trading blows over the honour of lowly members of parliament."

Links in full

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

Defence spending cuts and electoral reform were the main themes at Prime Minister's Questions.

that David Cameron needed to win this Parliamentary tussle with Gordon Brown after a "slump" in recent weeks:

"His performance yesterday was like a good dump of snow in the Alps shortly before Christmas. Just in time."

Ann Treneman in the Times agrees, pronouncing David Cameron the winner in this round of PMQs, blaming the defeat she sees Mr Brown as having suffered on his continual reference to "AV":

"That's AV as in alternative vote, not as in absolutely venal, though it is easy to confuse the two in this case."
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"Perhaps AV stands for Absolutely Vapid. But, surely, it is Absolutely Vital that it is never heard again. Dave won but Gordon made it easy."

In the Guardian Michael White notes the highlights of the opposition leader's performance:

"Cameron displayed his usual heartless fluency, lots of good jokes about what Tony said to Paddy about electoral reform ('I can't get it past Gordon') and a Mrs Merton question: 'Thirteen years in power, 90 days before an election, what first attracted you to changing the voting system?' Dave seemed to be enjoying himself, though he should watch his back."

that, should the Tories win the forthcoming election, they will face a formidable enemy across the floor of the chamber:

"The fact is that no one has the weight, the intensity, the loathing, the insane certainty, the fat-tank, bomb-proof forward momentum that Gordon Brown has. Released from the cares of high office, Brown and Balls together are the Opposition combination Tories would be wise to fear."

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The Defence Green Paper proposing radical changes to the armed forces has sparked debate about the future of Britain's armed services.

An element of the Paper suggests a coalition with France on weapons procurement. France can't be trusted:

"Just look at France's track record since the September 11 attacks. At virtually every turn the French have spurned the international consensus to go their own way. President Jacques Chirac's attempts to sabotage the transatlantic alliance in the build-up to the Iraq war are well-documented."

past and present British governments of "skimping" investment at home, instead spending on foreign bases due to an "inflated sense of its world role":

"Exactly the same could be said now of the Government's order for two huge new aircraft carriers, plans to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent and preparations for expeditionary forces to be used by future governments to meddle in other countries' affairs all over the world.
A new high- speed rail network? You'll be lucky."

his recommendations for restructuring the armed forces:

"The younger generation of air, land and sea warriors that the past ten years have produced know that the wars they are fighting today will morph into the conflicts of tomorrow. Much as they love their cap badges, they know that subtle, fast and highly trained small, integrated units are the only way to fight the new form of war that is already upon us. There is now a very good case for copying the US Marine Corps and integrating the Army, Navy and Air Force into one."

The army commanders understand better than ministers that the traditional military won't win wars anymore:

"Budgetary cuts of the magnitude envisaged will demand clearer thinking about the changing character of future conflicts. A separate MoD paper published yesterday suggested that future conflicts are unlikely to be fought on a well-defined battlefield, such as was the case in the first Gulf war. It says a future conflict will be 'cluttered', on terrain where it will be difficult to discriminate between a mass of ambiguous targets - friendly forces, NGOs, journalists and the enemy."

The the paper for asking questions of a "fundamental nature" even if it is sceptical about the worth of publication so close to an election:

"At this stage, these are only ideas, very preliminary ideas, which need to be considered within the context of a much bigger question: what should be Britain's future place in the world? That the Green Paper has paved the way for just such a profound discussion means that it might not have been such a waste of time after all. The next government, whoever forms it, should resist the temptation to put it in the shredder."

While the Green Paper has created interest in the newspapers, that MPs did not show the same amount of interest, illustrated by the low turnout for the discussion:

"As we all know Her Majesty's Armed Forces have spent the last seven years fighting in far-flung parts of the world. Their deployments have hardly been uncontroversial. So you'd think that the release of a new Green Paper on the 'way forward' for the armed forces might be a moment of some interest and, indeed, even at this stage of the electoral cycle, some importance.
Not so. At least it doesn't interest our parliamentarians. As Think Defence points out only one in twenty MPs bothered turn up to listen to and debate the Green Paper."

Links in full

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

Clare Short, the former international development secretary who resigned in protest at the Iraq war two months after the invasion in 2003, appeared in front of the Chilcot inquiry.

that the ex-cabinet minister gave a very different performance to those who'd gone before her:

"Unlike so many of the other cautious Clives who have appeared before the Iraq Inquiry, biting on their clever tongues, playing the see-nothing-hear-nothing game, Clare Short exploded. Frequently. Like a French moped backfiring on some B road in the Dordogne as its owner weaves home after a night on the pastis."

Ms Short's tone throughout the day rather disconcerting:

"It was like watching a highly respected international statesperson whose brain was being taken over by Little Britain's Vicky Pollard. Answers tumbled out at endless length."

that were no surprises in what Ms Short told the committee.

Elsewhere in Westminster, Gordon Brown before the Commons liaison committee. She notices that he seems to be more cheerful than ever before:

"As I watched him - fluent, relaxed, in control - I wrote down: 'He loves being Prime Minister. And he looks like one.'"
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"It is unnerving how buoyant he seems."

Links in full

The Pope's criticism of the Equality Bill has started commentators discussing the merits of religious freedom versus protection against gay discrimination.

why, as a gay man, he agrees with the Pope:

"Quite simply, I believe that the Government's decision to force the Church to abide by its equality legislation could hurt some of the most vulnerable members of our society - those whom I thought ministers had a duty to protect.... First, it needs to be asked loud and clear: why would any gay people hoping to adopt children go to a Catholic agency? They don't need to."

the Pope's views on homosexuality "odious". Despite this, he is critical of the Equality Bill:

"The avowedly socialist drift of her bill is 'not only to build a new economic order but a new social order', a social order of her [Harriet Harman] own devising. People with such ambition are usually intolerant of others, and often dangerous. Harman's interest is not social equality - which her government has conspicuously ignored - but state control."

criticises the Equality Bill for being "un-British":

"This legislation is the progeny of faith in social engineering, not social mobility; it ignores that toleration and freedom in Britain were derived from the right to religious observance free from state proscriptions."

The Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth that the state is "trampling on individual freedoms":

"When Christians, Jews and others feel that the ideology of human rights is threatening their freedoms of association and religious practice, a tension is set in motion that is not healthy for society, freedom or Britain. Rather than regard the Pope's remarks as an inappropriate intervention, we should use them to launch an honest debate on where to draw the line between our freedom as individuals and our freedom as members of communities of faith"

Against the Pope's stance, gay rights campaigner that the Pope's statement is a "coded attack" on gay people and women:

"His ill-informed claim that our equality laws undermine religious freedom suggests that he supports the right of faith organisations to discriminate in accordance with their religious ethos. He seems to be defending discrimination by religious institutions and demanding that they should be above the law."

allowing religious groups exemption from the bill sets an intolerable precedent:

"The principle in this case must be that religions cannot be granted exemptions from the law merely on the basis that they are a religion. After all, no-one else is consistently offered exemption. Why should they? The mere fact religious groups have forsaken rationality should not grant them special favour."

And finally, the that if the Equality Bill is passed it will protect the Pope and his views on his planned visit to the UK:

"He is expected to make controversial statements. Some might like to see him cold-shouldered by the Queen and the government because of his outspoken statements. This won't happen. By then, after all, the Pope is likely to be protected from such religious discrimination by the very equalities legislation he now sees as a threat to justice and the natural order of things."

Links in full

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

At pensions questions in the House of Commons, one minister Angela Eagle's ability to play down what other people may consider vast sums of money when she said that the UK's national pensions' liability was "close to £600billion, off the top of my head":

"I loved that 'off the top of my head' bit in relation to billions of pounds. Doesn't it just sum up the attitude of today's politicians to public spending? Ooooh, a few hundred billion here and there - who's counting?"

by Lord Mandelson's choice of insults at his press conference designed to attack the Tories and their leader David Cameron whom he likened to "a cork in the water":

"It's hardly going to lead to a duel at dawn (chosen weapon: corkscrews). Imagine the playground scene. Mandy: 'Don't be such a cork!' while Dave shouts: 'Look who's talking, you screwtop!'"

watching Foreign Office questions, is relieved to hear David Miliband say that he is not directly involved in any hostage-release negotiations:

"He's too quick to be right, to win the trick, to smack his hand on the cards and cry, 'Snap!' and then beam round the table expecting everyone to be enjoying his cleverness as much as he is. 'But Foreign Secretary,' his secretary murmurs, 'the people on the other side are playing bridge.'"

by MPs' lack of interest in their colleagues' erroneous expenses claims, as time was set aside in the Commons for a debate on MP Harry Cohen's claim for £60,000 that the standards and privileges committee had ruled he had not been entitled to:

"When the matter was debated today there were three Labour MPs in attendance and two Tories. As I said, they don't yet get it."

Links in full

President Obama has announced plans to mothball America's mission to put another man on the moon. Commentators consider the pros and cons.

space travel is vital to the American spirit:

"The issue isn't money, because obviously the President doesn't mind spending all that we have, or ever will have. It goes much deeper, into a vital aspect of the American character that Obama will never understand. America started out as a frontier. Americans are drawn to the frontier. America needs a frontier... All we need is a goal. Personal, public, local, or national, the great achievements of Americans fuel our continued progress."

The space travel is important for the American image:

"His plans will grate in Congress with politicians who see Nasa's manned space programme as key to national pride. It is vital, too, for America's future. President Obama needs to show the world that America knows where it wants to be several decades hence, and has the vision and will to get there."

that Obama's horizons are too low:

"Whether it's tax cuts or defense spending; or whether it's the courage, ambition, and sense of wonder that combine to lead great souls to great feats of exploration and discovery; one can surely say this much about Barack Obama: Mr. President, you're no Jack Kennedy"

that moving Nasa over to private funding will mean it will need to be clearer about its aims:

"Is it there mainly as a symbol of permanent human presence in space, pointing to future manned missions to more exciting destinations such as Mars? Or is it a practical base for carrying out research in zero gravity above the Earth's atmosphere? No one seems really to know at the moment."

British space scientist what cancelling moon missions could mean for his fellow scientists:

"I hope cancelling the moon mission will in fact accelerate humans going to Mars, not mean that something even more ­inspirational will slip back."

The :

"The decision has been condemned as a failure of imagination, the antithesis of audacity and hope. It should more properly be seen as a long overdue triumph of realism. By scaling back manned spaceflight, America will in no way betray its pioneer spirit. It will remain a proud spacefaring nation. It is just that its spacefaring will increasingly be done not by people but by the true pioneers of our age - robots."

Andrew Coates from the UK's Mullard Space Science Lab tells the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service that stopping missions to the moon is a good idea:

"In terms of the real swashbuckling exploration of the solar system, that has to be done with unmanned probes anyway... In terms of forging ahead and doing the exploration, we are getting beyond the targets of the moon... The manned space flight, to me, is something of a waste."

Links in full

Andrew Coates | ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service

Commentators consider what England football captain John Terry's failed super-injunction will have on the privacy of other prominent people.

that John Terry did the legal establishment a favour:

"By brazenly attempting to gag the press on a story that was patently fair game he has stung the legal establishment into an overdue shift in the balance between privacy and free speech."

The what it hopes is the end of the super injunction:

"This is not about prurience or a desire to assuage a public appetite for tittle-tattle. There are bigger issues at stake. The courts have been increasingly using 'super-injunctions' - catch-all measures that make the reporting of their existence unlawful, as in the Trafigura pollution case, when even a parliamentary question referring to the injunction could not be reported. If we have now seen the end of the super-injunction and a reassertion of the public interest, then it has been a good week for a free press."

that John Terry's case will not see an end to super-injunctions:

"I won't go into the procedural details, but the judge was critical of the way Terry's evidence had been presented in court, and of other procedural shortcomings. He also came to the conclusion that Terry was more concerned about what the negative publicity would do to his sponsorship deals and business opportunities than to the privacy of his family."

the ruling astonished lawyers:

"Where does this case leave the press? Mr Justice Tugendhat sounds like an enlightened man. I was struck by his observation that 'freedom to live as one chooses is one of the most important freedoms. But so is the freedom to criticise the conduct of others as being socially harmful or wrong.' That was not the line Mr Justice Eady took during the Max Mosley case. It remains to be seen whether Mr Justice Tugendhat's ruling marks a sea change, or a momentary zigzag. Rest assured that Schillings and Carter Ruck will not give up, and remember that what one judge gives back another can take away again."

why the case is important:

"With some hush money here, a legal writ there, all will be well, and he can carry on until next time. This is what makes last week so significant: his attempt to buy silence through the court, apparently in order to protect his off-field activities, backfired horribly. What might have been no more than a storm in a D-cup had his affair been exposed by the News of the World alone, has become something of national consequence. And with his actions has gone much of the wider sympathy."

Politics blogger politicians need to look at whether this area of law needs reform:

"The rich and famous should not be able to use the law in ways which are not open to the rest of us. Super Injunctions appear to be used by celebrities to invoke a privacy law by the back door."

the judge for deciding that the case was in the public interest:

"He might complain that it wasn't in the public interest - but the judge rightly disagreed, pointing out that Terry was more concerned about losing his sponsorship deals than anything else.
By trying to manipulate the law, Terry reinforces the notion that wealthy footballers think they are a breed apart from the rest of us."

The judge found that the matters in this case had already been widely discussed, making an injunction pointless. A partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner who has been involved in a number of celebrity super-injunction cases, the internet could have an effect on privacy laws:

"If a matter comes into the public domain internationally or outside of the UK, it could have an effect on how these injunctions work."

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