1.30pm Roger Helmer MEP on Comment: "When they tell you that half our international trade is with the EU, that’s not a good reason to focus more on the EU. It’s a good reason to redress the balance with the rest of the world."
1pm WATCH: Andrew Mitchell says other nations aren't giving enough to UN disasters and emergencies fund
1pm ConHomeUSA: Top stories today concern accusations that Ron Paul wrote racially derogatory newsletters
ToryDiary: 61% of Tory members think early General Election would produce a majority for Cameron
Columnist Andrew Lilico: Priests should talk about politics. Often.
Caroline Dinenage MP on Comment: We must right the wrong done to the survivors of the Arctic convoys
Local government: Call for more offices to be converted to homes
More opinion poll evidence that Cameron's veto has produced "sustained" effect on Cameron's ratings
"Detailed polling on the prime minister's own ratings suggests that the gains in terms of his own personal standing are proving more sustained. By a 10-point margin of 50% to 40%, voters judge him to be "good in a crisis", an attribute which pollsters say is especially valued in political leaders. For Miliband the position is dramatically different, with just 21% deeming him to be good in a crisis against 44% who take the opposite view, a deficit of 23 points." – Guardian
Britain and Switzerland want new limits on type of cases heard by the European Court of Human Rights – Times (£)
"The ECHR has a backlog of 160,000 cases, with some taking years to resolve. The document describes many of those cases as “hopeless” and warns that the court is increasingly being used as a last resort by desperate claimants whose cases have rightly been thrown out in their home country." – The Sunday Times (£)
Andrew Lansley wants NHS hospitals to be freer to treat private patients
"NHS hospitals will be free to earn up to half their income from private work in a move that is reigniting coalition splits over health reforms. Opponents have given warning that the change, in which foundation hospitals will have their private patient income cap raised dramatically, could lead to a two-tier health system." – Times (£)
Britain is the fifth most charitable nation in the world but we can do even better – Nick Hurd MP in The Telegraph
Minister tells us to give more money to charity… even though UK is world's fifth most generous nation – Daily Mail
Ministers under pressure to force Lottery to be transparent about who gets its grant money – Sun
Andrew Mitchell warns that the world is "dangerously unprepared" for future disasters because rich nations are not doing enough – BBC
Conservative MPs Gary Streeter and Mark Field criticise Rowan Williams for political sermon on Christmas Day – Times (£)
Tory minister James Paice declares hunting ban has failed – The Sun
"Ministers privately accept that there is not a Commons majority in favour of repeal, since almost all Labour MPs, most Liberal Democrats and some Tories want the ban to remain." – Telegraph
Ken Clarke vows to end compensation for criminals injured in prison – Daily Mail
Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers have been accused of “total hypocrisy” for campaigning against the effects of Government spending cuts in their own constituencies
"Jeremy Browne, a foreign office minister, Steve Webb, the pensions minister, James Brokenshire, a crime minister, and Sarah Teather, the children’s minister, are among those campaigning against the consequences of spending cuts on public services such as libraries and recycling." – Telegraph
The London Games of 1948 demonstrate how austerity can be turned into a sporting triumph – Boris Johnson in The Telegraph
Tax cuts for low and middle-income families in April will be dwarfed by hidden reductions in tax credits – Independent
End-of-year political sitreps
David Cameron is Steve Richards' Politician of the Year – The Independent
"In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has shown impressive leadership. For the sake of himself and Britain, he will need to display the same backbone in 2012." – Mail leader
Alex Salmond is The Times' 'Briton of the Year'
"One incumbent politician managed to defy the odds, to win re-election despite everything, to win a majority when the election system was designed to prevent anyone winning a majority, to come from behind to destroy his opponents. That politician was Alex Salmond." – Times leader (£)
Ed Miliband insists he has had "good year" – Times (£)
BBC bosses have started filming ex-PM Tony Blair's OBITUARY — even though he is just 58 – The Sun
Price of items like food, heating, water and transport has risen by 43% over last decade while average inflation has been 35% – Sun
Britain falls behind Brazilian economy, to seventh place in international league table – Daily Mail
Meryl Streep develops admiration for Margaret Thatcher after starring role
"Playing the former prime minister had made her respect what Thatcher achieved against the odds, she said. "The more I learned, the more my view of her changed. Wherever you stand on her policies, and many people didn't like her, the scale of her influence and the fact that she got things done was extraordinary," she said. "And the mental, physical, spiritual energy that it took to live every one of those days as head of the government was phenomenal. It's really humbling to consider that she was at 10 Downing Street for ten-and-a-half years. I admire that achievement. I stand in awe of it, even though I didn't agree with a lot of her policies."" – The Guardian | Express
And finally… Larry the Downing Street cat is banned from the flat lavishly refurbished by David Cameron
"Labour MP Kerry McCarthy said: “Poor Larry is being treated like some servant from Downton Abbey. It is shocking that after all the publicity he is not even allowed to set paw inside the Prime Minister's flat." – Mirror
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