Six of the Best 111

More good humoured are Laws’s accounts of Paddy Ashdown, who comes through in the book as having played a central role as an advisor to Nick Clegg and others and who hasn’t changed his habits: “I switched off my phone only to be woken half an hour later by Paddy who, having failed to get through on my mobile, had managed to track down my pager number instead. I cannot remember what he said to me at 3:15am, but I have the distinct recollection of thinking that it could have waited until a more civilised hour.” Mark Pack reviews 22 Days in May by David Laws.

Liberal Bureaucracy can handle the consorting. It's the travelling that gets him down.

"The staff of local councils often embody the values of public service more than the senior management do, especially where managers have been brought in from the private sector to run local authorities 'as a business'. Giving staff a greater stake could have the effect, therefore, of strengthening, rather than weakening the public sector ethos." Localopolis argues for the extension of staff mutual councils in local government.

Adventures in the Print Trade looks at George Grosz.

"Is English song like the (supposed) English psyche, reticent and unassuming?" asks Classical Iconoclast after attending an innovative performance of works by Britten, Finzi and Tippett.

geoffpages blog has some lovely photographs of the Stiperstones in the snow.