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We speak to Sunny Hundal, editor of left-liberal website, Liberal Conspiracy

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Our double dip is still dipping

by Caroline Crampton / 24 May 2012 11:02

The ONS has this morning released their second estimate of UK GDP for the first quarter of 2012, and it’s not good news for George Osborne and the coalition. They have revised their first estimate of 0.2% decline down to 0.3%, indicating that not only is the UK still in a double dip recession, but it’s actually slightly deeper than we originally thought.

You don’t have to look very far to see

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The agenda

24 May 2012 08:18

What's happening

Today Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are in Berlin to meet German ministers and industry figures. Clegg will give a speech to launch the Queen Elizabeth prize for engineering

Today Iain Duncan Smith is due to make an announcement on the universal credit,the government's replacement for work-based benefits

Today David Willetts gives a lecture at the University of East Anglia on the economy and growth

Today Policing minister

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Is Whitehall about to join the 21st century?

by Charlotte Henry / 23 May 2012 16:14

The civil service have been issued with new social media guidelines, governing the appropriate use of services such as Facebook and Twitter. Introduced by Cabinet Office minister Frances Maude and head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake, they go into great depth describing both how individuals should use them, personally and professionally, and how the civil service's IT infrastructure needs to be updated in order to accommodate these services.

There is

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PMQs: Cameron lets rip while Lib Dems stay home

by Amber Elliott / 23 May 2012 12:48

Has David Cameron adopted 'fire at will' early? There were no Lib Dems sat on the frontbench at all at PMQs today.

Maybe the PM took Adrian Beecroft's advice and binned 'em? He certainly looked angry enough.

Maybe the Lib Dem frontbenchers felt they couldn't maintain their 'neutral' faces well enough for the cameras?

Or perhaps they were enjoying the sun? Or bidding for Olympics tickets?

Unfortunately, Ed Miliband didn't

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The agenda

23 May 2012 08:03

What's happening

Today Nick Clegg meets Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones and ministers from the UK and devolved governments at the Cabinet Office to discuss proposed welfare changes

Today Andrew Marr and Jeremy Paxman give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry

Today Public health minister Anne Milton launches the Start4Life campaign, which aims to help mothers-to-be have healthier pregnancies

Today Consumer affairs minister Norman Lamb attends the annual OECD council meeting

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Clegg’s core compromised by coalition

by Tom Rollins / 22 May 2012 17:21

“For liberals, this is core stuff.” So spoke Nick Clegg today at the Sutton Trust, in a much-discussed speech on the need to promote social mobility.

His address should be praised for bringing class – always a loaded word in this country – back into mainstream discussion, at a time John Prescott’s claim that “we’re all middle class now” looks increasingly hollow to a lot of voters. However the jury is still out

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Why we should rip up our tax system

by John O’Connell / 22 May 2012 16:24

George Osborne called our tax system a "spaghetti bowl" in 2010. He had a point. We have one of the world’s longest tax codes at over 11,500 pages, and this has real consequences for families and businesses in the UK. If someone sat down to design a tax system from scratch, they wouldn’t come up with the one we have now. It exists because of years of tweaking at the edges to raise more

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My experience of a neighbour dispute in Hebron, West Bank

by Ian Lucas / 22 May 2012 15:29

Neighbour disputes are the most difficult cases to solve. I learned this truth as a high street solicitor and am reminded of it often in my role as Wrexham's Member of Parliament.

But the difficult cases I have seen are as nothing compared to what I saw in Hebron recently.

Hebron, a biblical city, has the centre to prove it. Built on a collection of hills, it boasts

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Fight to change EU from inside

by Emma Burnell / 22 May 2012 13:35

I’m generally pro-European. Well actually, I’m generally 'please stop talking about Europe now'. It’s not an abiding passion – I used to find my mind slid off the topic like butter off parsnips – but in general, I guess I am in favour if not in fervour. From my non-scientific method of never recalling a conversation being started with me on the topic outside of SW1, I suspect that’s how most people feel –

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