5pm Ed Miliband's terrible start to 2012 is at the top of our 5pm newslinks
4pm ThinkTankCentral: The Legatum Institute strengthens team with series of appointments
3pm Local government: Free Wi-Fi on the way for Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea
2pm John Baron MP on Comment: We need clarity from the Prime Minister on Europe
12.30pm Local government: To slay the health and safety monster the "six pack" must go
Noon ConHomeUSA: Today's newslinks focus on Rick Santorum's weaknesses but also praise from three of America's biggest columnists
11.15am Columnist Andrew Lilico: Either the Fiscal Union Treaty can't use the institutions of the EU, or there has to be a referendum – there can be no third way
ToryDiary: Cameron's first big interview of 2012 focuses on nursing, the economy and the meaning of the EU veto
Columnist Bruce Anderson looks at the qualities of David Cameron's inner circle: I cannot think of a time when relationships at the top of the Conservative Party were so harmonious
David Merlin-Jones: The EU's flagship environmental policy is producing crime, corruption and profiteering
On Local government:
WATCH:
David Cameron wants nurses to make hourly ward rounds to checks patients are comfortable – Telegraph
Baby boom leads council to call for relaxation of small class sizes rule – Guardian
Gove's call for shorter school summer holiday is rejected by local authorities – Independent
Children's minister Tim Loughton considers legal right for divorced mums and dads to see their children – Telegraph
Transport minister Norman Baker to hold summit on faulty SatNav systems – BBC | Guardian
100 business leaders back HiSpeed Rail – Letter in The Daily Telegraph
Five of six Tory MPs on cross-party Lords reform committee back largely-elected Senate of 450 part-time legislators – Times (£) | Independent
"I cannot believe that anyone, no matter how opposed to the hereditary principle, really wants to turn the Lords into another House of Commons stuffed with full-time politicians with experience only of PR, corporate communications and policy making. An Upper House full of Ed Milibands, Nick Cleggs and David Camerons is the last thing we need." – Melissa Kite in the Daily Mail
Sarkozy wants Tobin tax on agenda of European summit in new clash with Cameron – FT (£)
"Andrea Leadsom led a chorus of Eurosceptics demanding the Prime Minister pull rank on his deputy Nick Clegg and take charge of the issue before the next election. Described as “The Iron Lady of Banking”, she is one of 120 Tory MPs in the Fresh Start group, which has drawn up a list of functions that should be handed back to the UK by the European Union." – Express
Scottish Tories set out vision for future – Herald
Vince Cable is considering plans to prevent executive directors from chairing the remuneration committees at other listed companies – FT (£)
Lib Dems lose three out of four of their voters
The Independent also reports that Vince Cable and Tim Farron are darlings of Lib Dem grassroots.
Shadow Defence Secretary Jim Murphy tells Labour to accept some spending cuts
"In a significant intervention in the internal debate on Labour's approach to the deficit, Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said he rejected "shallow and temporary" populism and pledged to accept £5bn of the government's planned cuts in defence." – Guardian
Ed Miliband’s spin-doctor has launched a desperate bid to deny that the Labour leader is doomed
"A leaked ‘briefing note’ for Labour MPs, written by Tom Baldwin, Mr Miliband’s director of communications, insists that the comparison is ‘well wide of the mark’. And he even claimed that Mr Miliband has presided over the ‘best recovery of any opposition party’ ever." – Daily Mail
Miliband rebukes Abbott for race gaffe on Twitter – Times (£)
The Matt cartoonist on Diane Abbott: "Trust a woman to make a sweeping generalisation"
> On ConHome yesterday Paul Goodman argued Diane Abbott should be sacked, Robert Halfon MP urged us to avoid lynch mobs
Boris Johnson reviewing the Iron Lady: Would ANYONE want to watch Gordon Brown, the movie? – London Evening Standard
There IS a party that champions grammar schools, Mr Portillo – Nigel Farage in the Daily Mail champions UKIP's schools policy
Poverty, not colour, is the more menacing and basic dividing line in modern Britain – Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph
Republican voters want an idealist but the party establishment is reluctant to oblige – William Rees-Mogg for The Times (£)
And finally… Which silver screen star should replace David Cameron?
"The West Wing’s US President Josiah Bartlett has been voted the fictional head of state people would most like to see take over from David Cameron to run Britain… A less obvious choice was President Merkin Muffley, played by Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War black comedy Dr Strangelove, who earned 7 per cent of the vote in a poll of 1,515 people." – Scotsman
> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. This thread is moderated but during working hours (that's 6am to 10pm for ConHome) comments will usually be delayed no longer than sixty minutes. Read our comments policy here.