Nick Clegg earned plaudits from the former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown for his masochistic decision to appear in a television debate with an audience of 20 students.

As Ed Miliband delivers his speech to the Labour Party conference today, he will need to keep in mind that a newly elected leader has only a few days in which to define who he is, or have his enemies do it for him. In his case, the most dangerous enemies are the people who supported his brother.

Jacqui Smith, the first woman to be home secretary, was one of the best -known sitting MPs to be voted out of Parliament but Glenda Jackson held on with a tiny majority.

From Brighton Pavilion to Ynys Mon, the key seats to look out for and what they signify

How differently things could have turned out. It might not, for instance, have fallen to Jamie Oliver to have renovated our school dinners. And – who knows? – perhaps David Cameron would be campaigning on the platform of free goji berries for all.

Mirren's purple patch comes to an end

There have been few more sickening sights in politics than the spectacle of Nick Griffin celebrating his election to the European Parliament.

At a time when both comedy sketch shows and Saturday night television have reached something of a nadir, it is always comforting to come back to the familiar joys of Morecambe and Wise.

Dame Helen Mirren is to return to the stage for the first time in six years. The Oscar-winning actress, 63, will star in a three-month run of Jean Racine's 17th-century drama, Phèdre, at the National Theatre.

Gordon Brown suffers a damaging new setback to his faltering authority today, with a poll showing that he is less trusted with the economy than any other leader of a major Western nation.

Beginning with a page-long list of what we didn't have ("no supermarkets, no motorways, no teabags...") and did have in 1945 ("heavy coins, heavy shoes, heavy suitcases"), Kynaston deftly combines social surveys with personal reminiscences in this absorbing account. We see modern Britain in embryo. Kynaston quotes Mass Observation reports ranging from Butlin's Filey, where the day began with a sung reveille ("There's a new day a-tumblin' in"), to a survey of views on institutional religion: "It's all right in a way as long as it's not overdone." Due to a mix-up in her exam results, the young Glenda Jackson experienced the "contemptible" attitudes to failure and success in the 11-plus. A select few could enjoy the first TV personalities, such as comedian Richard Hearne and telly chef Philip Harben. Even the BBC's head of audience research couldn't see their appeal: "Magazine programmes are amusing enough, but never of sufficient appeal to warrant turning the set on specially." The new NHS in 1948 made the Manc-hester Guardian worry that welfare would "eliminate selective elimination", leading to an increase in the congenitally deformed. The Mirror's response - "We are leading the world in Social Security" - would have a different implication if it ran today. ......... CH

James Hanning recalls boyhood with Daniel Day-Lewis

The Monday Interview: Chief of the General Staff

Sir: Having read Ken Livingstone's article "The truth about the Blair mayor project and how it is helping Frank Dobson" (15 December), I am deeply concerned about the apparent unfairness and breach of democratic rules over the choice of Labour's candidates.