The full official dossier of MPs' receipts has finally been published – but in a highly edited form. Nevertheless, is this a case of better oun that in? Our first talking point in the pod this week is whether the battered Palace of Westminster can finally start to rebuild itself.
Not quite, is the verdict, because – as the Guardian's top political blogger Andrew Sparrow explains – such heavy use has been made of the black marker pen that the worst wheezes such as address "flipping" are hard to detect. And Polly Toynbee points out that the sheer weight of data ensures local papers will be trawling for months, ensuring the malady will linger for many months to come.
The man or woman tasked with cleaning things up, however – the new Speaker of the Commons – will be appointed on Monday. Simon Hoggart informs us that MPs are greatly excited about a rare chance to vote secretly – in a process that, Politics Weekly can reveal, was adopted from the Kenyan parliament. But there is less excitement in the pod about any of the candidates actually on offer – with John Bercow picking up most of our votes, although without too much enthusiasm.
There's no longer anything new about New Labour, and our final talking point is where this reality leaves the left. The chair of the leftish pressure group Compass, Neal Lawson, tells us about a conference his outfit held last weekend. The Guardian's letters editor, Nigel Willmott, was there; he tells us he came away feeling optimistic about a new broad front for reform, which runs well beyond the Labour party.
