5.45pm WATCH: Former Tory minister Lord Moynihan welcomes UK's first London 2012 medal
Noon Ben Rogers on Comment: Our country must face up to the challenges of radical Islamism and social breakdown
ToryDiary: Cabinet league table for end-July
Columnist Nadine Dorries MP: Feminism has advanced equality for women but it has also created unrealistic expectations
Alex Deane on Comment: An end to Sunday trading laws, now!
Local government: Abolish the HSE and bring in localism for health and safety
WATCH: Aidan Burley MP talks to the BBC about his views on multiculturalism
Aidan Burley, whose Twitter attack on 'leftie' opening ceremony was widely condemned, says he disliked triteness – Observer
Boris Johnson has dismissed suggestions the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was left-wing as "nonsense" – BBC …and Andrew Gilligan claims the Olympics has suckered The Left
In the Mail on Sunday (scroll down link), Peter Hitchens was unamused: "It was a social worker’s history of Britain – a nation of simple peasants crushed and besmirched by evil top-hatted capitalists, but rescued in the end by the NHS, immigration, the suffragettes, and the egalitarian strains of pop music. I half-expected the giant Voldemort to transform itself into a menacing Thatcher figure, trampling, slashing and cutting every nice nurse in sight, and tossing bedsteads out of the stadium with a callous sneer."
> Yesterday's ConHome: Next time round, can we have Aidan Burley as part of the show, please? and All Tory MPs pour praise on opening ceremony (well nearly all)
Unionists claim ceremony will have hurt SNP
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser is quoted in Scotland on Sunday: “There is always a danger of reading too much into these things, but I think we have seen a reclamation of British identity over the last year with the Queen’s Jubilee and the passage of the Olympic torch. The ceremony wasn’t just about London or about England, it was about the whole of the UK. No matter where they lived, I think people will have associated themselves with a lot of what they saw.”
What should Osborne do next?
James Forsyth reports that Osborne, increasingly sceptical of green groups, is considering further changes to planning laws – Mail on Sunday
"“Cameron firing Osborne now is for the birds,” said a Tory backbencher. “But it becomes perfectly possible if there is a major economic disaster, such as if Britain loses its AAA credit rating or the euro comes apart and we don’t react well.”" – Iain Martin in The Sunday Telegraph
In The Sunday Times (£), Martin Ivens urges Osborne to give us the big picture: "You can’t live hand to mouth in politics. A narrative that makes sense of what you are doing day to day is vital. Osborne must tell us where the country is headed, and his prime minister has to help him join up the dots."
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Matthew Parris speaks for Team Osborne — Why are Tory MPs so "unbelievably lily-livered and flaky"?
John Redwood backs George Osborne in his determination to cut energy subsidies
"I am all in favour of more effort being put into fuel efficiency , insulation, smart industrial solutions and the rest. What seems stupid is for the EU to make it too dear and too dificult for higher energy using industries to prosper in the west, exporting them to the east. The Treasury needs to push back not just on the UK Energy department over subsidy levels, but also tackle the EU elephant in the energy room. We need cheaper energy all round. We need to save more on the subsidies." – John Redwood
William Hague disappointed by the failure of negotiations to secure a United Nations arms trade – BBC
Party donors want Chris Grayling and other traditional Tories promoted – Mail on Sunday
Boris' campaign guru Lynton Crosby offered to advise Syrian rebels – The Sunday Times (£)
Tory MP Dom Raab has a 10-point plan to help the underdog, focusing on work and education to revive social mobility – The Sunday Times (£)
Change is coming – local people will soon decide local police priorities – Douglas Carswell MP
Tory MP Stewart Jackson injured after trying to stop a man smashing up a bus shelter – Mail on Sunday
Margaret Thatcher had a weakness for pretty faces like John Moore and Cecil Parkinson, claims Lord Waddington – Mail on Sunday
John Bercow twice as likely to force Coalition Ministers to answer Urgent questions as he was with Labour Ministers in Gordon Brown’s Government – Mail on Sunday
Cameron, Clegg and Miliband all choose abroad for summer holiday – Observer
President Hollande is an inspiration to the Labour leader. But he may also turn out to be a cautionary tale – Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer
Half of young people want to shop for longer on Sunday – The Sun
Churches and other religious groups are facing a threat to their charitable status unless they admit non-believers to their services, in what critics have branded an attack on religious freedom – The Sunday Times (£)
And finally… John Prescott's "Thai brides" gaffe
"John Prescott has become caught up in a bizarre Twitter row after accusing Tory Minister Grant Shapps of advertising ‘Thai brides’ on his website. The former Deputy Prime Minister made the astonishing claim when he told his followers on Friday: ‘NEW – Tory minister advertises Thai brides on his website… another @grantshapps internet fail.’ But when Lord Prescott’s followers clicked on the site belonging to the Housing Minister, they were left baffled as there was no evidence of women being advertised. Mr Shapps then heaped embarrassment on Lord Prescott by pointing out that the pictures he had seen had been generated by advertising software that had tracked previous internet searches on the peer’s computer. Mr Shapps messaged back: ‘Ads are rendered based on previous browser use – found a bride yet John? Wouldn’t mention to your Mrs.’" – Mail on Sunday
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