Daily catch-up: Labour diverts attention from a pro-Labour story

Labour rescued Cameron from himself at Prime Minister's Questions; plus French names, voters' faulty memories and another view of old London

Another lovely view of old London. View across the Thames from the original Richmond House, by the Houses of Parliament, by Canaletto, 1747. Thanks to Mr Memory.

My colleague Mark Leftly reported on Sunday that the modern Richmond House, home of the Department of Health, is top of the shortlist for temporary accommodation for the House of Commons when the Palace of Westminster is refurbished starting in 2020.

• Most popular French boys' names by province 1946-2011. Jean to Lucas via Kévin and Enzo. Lovely animated map from Le Monde via Brandon Sheffield.

• Another important piece of research helps to explain why the opinion polls got the 2015 election wrong. Paul Whiteley and Harold Clarke have looked at the British Election Studies, which have been checked against the marked electoral registers. The registers show who has actually voted, and can be compared with people's report of their vote in BES questionnaires. The proportion of non-voters who claim to have voted rose from 7.6 per cent in 2001 to 10.4 per cent in 2010.>

This might help to explain why mis-estimated turnout has become worse, if this trend continued in 2015. Although it still doesn't explain why the pollsters got the 2010 election pretty much right.

• One extra story about the 2006 reshuffle that Ed Balls told the "Blair Years" class at King's College, London, on Monday, that I didn't have time for in my previous report.

• Sean O'Grady liked the new Dad's Army.

• Prime Minister's Questions yesterday was interesting for some outstandingly duff lines from David Cameron. He said he wanted to "build a bridge to the future" for the North Sea oil and gas industry, which is sinking beneath the break-even oil price. (He is in Aberdeen today to offer some more silly metaphors.)

Jeremy Corbyn's questions about Google's tax affairs were not particularly pointed, but they didn't have to be. No one has the slightest idea how much tax Google should pay, but nearly everyone in the country agrees that it is not paying enough. Unfortunately for Labour, Yvette Cooper chose to make a fuss about the Prime Minister talking about Corbyn meeting "a bunch of migrants" in Calais. It wasn't statesmanlike language but as pejoratives go, "bunch" is neutral enough. As a result, the news bulletins yesterday led on refugees, on which Cameron is aligned with public opinion, rather than Google's tax, on which he isn't.

• And finally, thanks to Glenny Rodge ‏for this:

COMPUTER: Enter new password.

ME: [types "posh_people's_tea"]

COMPUTER: Your password is too weak.

ME: [high fives computer]