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Can secret justice be justice? asks Manchester councillor Jackie Pearcey: "Occasionally, there is a very good reason for short period of secrecy ... but indefinite injunctions can only do harm."

Meanwhile Nick Thornsby revisits an earlier controversy to report that one of Phil Woolas's leading supporters in Littleborough and Saddleworth is being investigated by the organisation for which he works for apparently homophobic comments made about the Lib Dem candidate

Cicero's Songs argues that today's borrowing figures show that Britain is still the spendthrift of Europe.

David Boyle, writing for the New Economics Foundation, says the banks won't be able to lend to small businesses unless we force them to shake up their infrastructure.

On the RSA Projects blog, Thomas Neumark asks if government attempts to regenerate impoverished neighbourhoods are bound to end in gentrification and be self-defeating.

Crack Two writes about a series of monuments commissioned by Tito to mark the sites of WWII battles in Yugoslavia - the picture above shows the one at Kadinjača. "In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their 'patriotic education'. After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost."

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Writing on Liberal Democrat Voice, Simon McGrath suggests that the Guardian story about the Coalition's cap on housing benefit driving the poor out of Southern England is nonsense.

Virtually Naked finds Phil Woolas "continuing his tantrum like a petulant toddler".

Thanks to Tom Watson MP, we now know which artworks Coalition ministers have chosen for their offices. The coolest turns out to be George Osborne, who has a 7ft long engraved map (seen above) by Grayson Perry depicting "a divided country, at war with itself". I also envy Vince Cable his Eric Ravilious lithograph.

Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness finds that the savage beating of a journalists lays bare the problems of Russia's system of government.

"TV shows and films remind you more of the time they were made than the time they were set. Bonnie and Clyde is very 1970s, High Noon is very 1950s and so on. Downton Abbey is very 2010. It's Daily Mail 2010," argues The Ex-Communicator.

Wartime Houswife thinks The Jeremy Kyle Show is "absolutely brilliant". Hear her.

The Woolas Affair: Where is Ed Miliband?

Harriet Harman is coming under attack from Labour backbenchers because Phil Woolas was suspended from the party following the election court's finding that he had knowingly lied about his Liberal Democrat opponent.

So beleagured has she become today that her husband, the newly elected Labour MP and former trade union leader Jack Dromey, has felt obliged to tour the nation's television studios as a slightly improbable spokesman for truth and decency.

But where is the Labour leader in all this?

Is Ed Miliband silent because he too lacks authority over Labour MPs? After all, he was not their choice as leader.

Perhaps they share the widespread view of him as a bright sixth former? Though to be accurate, he is more like that sixth former's ink-stained younger brother.

Meanwhile, the theory that Ed Miliband exists for only 30 minutes a week - at prime minister's questions on Wednesday lunchtimes - will be finding new adherents.

Later. As discussed in the comments, Ed Miliband is on paternity leave. We shall see if he makes a decisive return to the scene when the two weeks are over.

Even later. Michael Crick has offered a different analysis on Newsnight. There is considerable anger amongst older Labour MPs at the strong line Harman and Gordon Brown took with them over expernses in the last parliament. The Woolas affair and Ed Miliband's absence has given them an opportunity to vent that anger.

Much later than that. I conceded too much to my critics. Ed Miliband broke off from his paternity leave to criticise Lord Young's comments on the recession. If he had time to do that then he had time to issue a clear condemnation of Woolas's campaign tactics.

So I was right after all. Miliband chose to hide behind Harriet Harman so that he did not have to condemn Woolas and risk upsetting Labour MPs.

Donate to the Phil Woolas Appeal Fund

I am not tempted, but Liberal Conspiracy has the text of an extraordinary letter from a Labour councillor inviting you to do just that.

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The hyperlocal Saddleworth News has been at the centre of the blogging world today for its coverage of the Phil Woolas court case. Meanwhile, BBC journalists have been on strike. So up yours, Andrew Marr.

Also on that case, Norfolk Blogger argues: "Many ordinary Labour voters have found the campaigning from Labour in Oldaham to be distasteful and counter productive. There is a line which many people in politics push against, but few so blatantly step over it (although I feel the Dr Death leaflets distributed in Oxford West and Abingdon - not by Labour - in May 210 against Lib Dem Dr Evan Harris were equally as shameful)."

Sandy Walkington ponders the importance of being Chris Huhne.

David Blunkett's guide dog Sadie is finding it hard to come to terms with life in opposition, reports The Questing Vole.

Elected mayors are the latest gimmick to afflict local government. David MacLean has the latest gossip on who might be the Labour candidate in Leicester.

Talking of Leicester, the Guardian has a guide to the city's best budget restaurants. Of those listed, and others are available, I happily endorse Kayal in Granby Street.

Lib Dem councillors cleared of misconduct after complaint by Phil Woolas

From the Manchester Evening News:

Town hall bosses have been cleared of misconduct following a row over a new mosque.

Council leader Howard Sykes was among seven Lib Dem councillors accused of ‘fast-tracking’ the planning application for a mosque on Waterloo Street, Glodwick.

But an investigation has now ruled they did not bring the council or their office into disrepute.

Councillors Jackie Stanton, Mark Alcock, Roger Hindle, Lynne Thompson, Mohammed Masud and former councillor Mohammed Mohib Uddin have also been cleared.

Labour MPs Phil Woolas and Michael Meacher sparked the investigation after accusing the Lib Dems of rushing the plans through ahead of May’s elections in order to win votes.

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Nick Thornsby's Blog reports exciting news: Oldham Council has given him media access to the special election court that is sitting in the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency this week. Nick writes: "This is the first time for nearly 100 years that a case of this sort has been brought about with relation to a Parliamentary election. It is set to be fantastically interesting, and the outcome will almost certainly have consequences for the conduct of future general elections. My reporting will obviously be subject to the usual restrictions and rules placed on any reporting of court cases, but I hope to blog as much as I can, particularly with the details that might not make it into the reports of the mainstream media."

Fancy being the next President of the Liberal Democrats? Liberal Bureauracy has a job description.

Toque records that Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West, has raised the English Question in the House of Commons.

This morning's Mail on Sunday alleged that Derek Slade, the former headmaster gaoled last week for beating and sexually abusing boys, was helped to finance his schools by a former Labour leader of Islington Borough Council. Derek Sawyer, the man in question, denies any wrongdoing.

Like me, My Life on the Cut went to the Arts Fresco event in Market Harborough today. That is my photograph above.

BLDGBLOG brings news that more than 100 miles of tunnels have been bored beneath Chicago.

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Nick Thornsby has caught Labour MP Phil Woolas, already facing a court challenge to his victory at the last general election, faking a photograph of his Liberal Democrat opponent.

The death of Sir Cyril Smith is marked by Sandy Walkington: "Cyril’s tragedy was that his weight made him a figure of fun when he was in fact a shrewd and insightful politician who never got the recognition he deserved."

Disgruntled Radical says the Coalition "must ... be a launch pad for Liberalism, not a slippery slide into decline". Better than that, he suggests how we can ensure that it is.

Tom Watson MP reproduces the letter he has written to the Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police about the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

A feature in the Leicester Mercury introduces us to Gary Silke, who edits a Leicester City fanzine but is pleased that his children have not inherited his passion: "Everything good about the game I fell in love with in the mid-70s has either gone or been devalued." Maybe he has just grown older, but his children do sound promising. His son "builds dens, climbs trees and is a keen cricketer" and his daughter, wonderfully, is called Liberty.

Found Objects recalls the lost Teesside village of Warrenby. I have done my best to perpetuate its memory by borrowing one of that blog's photographs.

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Nick Clegg stood in at prime minister's questions today. Nick Thornsby's Blog was impressed: "I thought Nick Clegg handled himself extremely well, looking reasonable, intelligent and fluent. Jack Straw proved a difficult opponent, though not because he scored some big hits against Clegg. Frankly, Straw’s line of questioning was just plain weird. He went on for far too long on some technical points that, if we’re honest, nobody really knows or cares much about."

Jonathan Wallace was not impressed by Her Majesty's Opposition: "Labour ... are completely obsessed with having a go at the Lib Dems, to the exclusion of the issues that matter to most people. It makes them feel good to be beastly to the Lib Dems but its not the sort of behaviour that will give them victory at the general election in 2015."

"The future of Phil Woolas as Saddleworth’s MP will be decided by an election court in less than two months’ time. It was revealed today that two High Court judges will travel to Oldham for five days of hearings, beginning on Monday 13 September." Read all about it at Saddleworth News.

The blog Save Bray Studios has been set up to prevent the destruction of the former home of Hammer Films.

Random Blowe brings news that tomorrow the Director of Public Prosecutions will announce whether any police officer will face criminal charges over the death of Ian Tomlinson. And also news of a demonstration in support of Tomlinson's family.

The current Leicestershire Festival of Archaeology is covered by Culture 24.

More on Lib Dem complaints against Phil Woolas

Last week I wrote about Liberal Democrat attempts to have the election result in Oldham East and Saddleworth overturned.

Asif Ansari, in a report for the North West edition of the BBC Politics Show, has more detail on our complaints:

In the last few days of the campaign, Labour put out a small newspaper which was predominantly an attack on their Liberal Democrat opponent, Elwyn Watkins.

Mr Watkins believes the leaflet falsely portrayed him as a politician courting votes from militant Muslims; not a group known to be particularly supportive of British democracy.

"Why are the extremists urging a vote for Watkins?" asked Labour.

Still-undecided voters had the option to read the backpage which moved onto financial matters.

This reported Mr Watkins to be personal assistant to Saudi Arabian billionaire, Sheikh Abdullah Ali Alhamrani.

It helpfully pointed out: "Political donations from overseas are illegal. Even the Ashcroft money can't match a Sheikh."

It was not entirely clear what Sheikh Abdulah's interest would have been in Oldham East and Saddleworth. But putting that to one side, the clear impression was that Middle East money was oiling the Lib Dem campaign.

I shall keep an eye open for the video of his report.

Lib Dems seek to overturn result in Phil Woolas's constituency

BBC News reports:

An election candidate who lost out to former Labour minister Phil Woolas by 103 votes is challenging the result.

Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins came second in Oldham East and Saddleworth on 7 May following two recounts.

But he claims Labour leaflets contained misleading claims about his reputation and campaign and has begun a High Court bid to have the result quashed.

You can find more information on Elwyn Watkins' own webpage. There he is quoted as saying:

"It is clear that Labour literature circulated within the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, specifically 'The Examiner' newspaper, an edition of the 'Labour Rose', and a full-colour 'Election Communication' leaflet, contained numerous misleading and erroneous claims regarding my personal character and reputation, and that of my campaign.

"Although much of the material in these leaflets was misleading or in error, my case will focus on three particular areas: the claim that I do not live in the constituency, the stories about me 'wooing' Muslim extremists and the back page newspaper article regarding the financing of my campaign.

"It is my intention, therefore, to petition for an election court to consider the material and the false claims within, against the record of press statements, personal appearances, miscellaneous correspondence from government agencies and election expense returns, and to seek appropriate redress in accordance with the provisions of the Act."

The Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election count remembered

John Rentoul writes in the Independent on Sunday:

A sound bite, a photo opportunity and a Government defeat in the Commons: Nick Clegg is suddenly a player. He took a high moral tone against the Prime Minister: "If someone is prepared to die for this country, surely they deserve to live in this country." He posed with Joanna Lumley and David Cameron outside afterwards.

Then, for the first time since the days of James Callaghan, the Government lost a vote on an Opposition motion – this one tabled by the Liberal Democrats.

Suddenly, I was taken back to Saddleworth moor, to memories of hanging around the market in Littleborough, interviewing potential voters, for The Independent. The question that I was trying to answer in that by-election campaign was not whether John Major's Government would lose the seat, but whether Chris Davies would win it for the Liberal Democrats, or Phil Woolas for Labour.

My straw poll in the market was inconclusive, but the Lib Dems won a famous victory and sang "Walking in a Liberal Wonderland" into the early hours of the morning.

Those of us who were there will also recall singing "You can stick your Daily Mirror up your arse".

Happy days.

Chris Huhne wins Quote of the Day

From David Ottewell's blog for the Manchester Evening News:

"Mr Woolas has taken up more positions on immigration than someone in training with the Kama Sutra."