Among rogues, fools and braggarts he shone out as a beacon of calm integrity and decency

Amnesia has many potential causes, and some are more obvious than others. In the 1945 noir classic The Lost Weekend, for example, alcoholism robs Ray Milland of recall, but with the 2010 remake shot at Dorneywood, the memory loss is harder to explain.

Levels of poverty and unemployment unseen since the 1930s pose a mortal threat to our political system

Could it be that tomorrow's historians will date our politics' final descent into its satirico-nihilist phase to the moment the member for Mid-Beds became a vaguely serious player? Nadine Dorries's musings are now respectfully treated by newspapers, and her latest revenge on David Cameron for that nasty sexual jibe about her being "frustrated" saw Nadine starring in the Mail on Sunday.

Dennis Skinner doesn't deserve the contempt of such cocky whippersnappers

The allegedly respected Thatcherite knows a thing or two about the media

We do not know which version of the mogul will turn up at Leveson. We do know that he will be more reprehensible than his son

Here's one to file under the header of Idiotic Predictions Not Worth a Second Thought, assuming it merits a first thought, but is Rupert Murdoch preparing to put The Sun's electoral weight behind Ukip?

The ritual disclaimer that Cameron is too clever to be underestimated begins to look outmoded

Could George Galloway's widely ridiculed mistweet about Respect's by-election being in Blackburn prove a self-fulfilling prophecy? I only ask because even Jack Straw would struggle to brazen it out and remain the MP for Blackburn if he is nicked on suspicion of colluding in the torture of Abdelhakim Belhaj.