This was the fortnight that…

·         Gordon Brown’s key aide’s plans to smear senior Tories and their families were exposed [more]

·         And Gordon Brown eventually accepted responsibility [more]

·         The Home Secretary came under pressure following the collapse of the case against Damian Green MP [more]

·         A DNA pioneer attacked the government for storing the DNA of innocent people [more]

·         The Chancellor admitted that his previous economic forecasts were wildly optimistic [more]

·         The CBI attacked the government’s environmental policy [more]

·         Two organisations criticised the government’s ‘knee jerk’ crime and prison policies [more]; [more]

·         A teachers’ union called for a boycott of SATs [more] and adopted a Lib Dem policy [more]

·         A high profile Tory MEP branded the NHS a “mistake” [more]

·         A former Tory councillor was jailed for a year for abusing his expenses privileges [more]

·         Vince Cable published a “lucid and eloquent” book on the recession to positive reviews [more]

Over the last fortnight we learnt that…

·         The UK economy will not recover from the recession until 2012 [more]

·         A bailed-out bank will cut a further 4,500 UK jobs [more]

·         Unemployment will reach 3.2m by 2010 [more]

·         UK industrial production is falling at the fastest rate in four decades [more]

·         Car sales have fallen 30.5% in the last year [more]

·         The government have overpaid the Irish health service – possibly by €750m in the last five years [more]

·         Cost-cutting in the NHS is responsible for 4,000 blunders a year and putting up to 1m patients at risk [more]

·         The Treasury will be left with a £39bn public sector spending gap by 2015 [more]

·         Two thirds of small businesses feel they are not getting enough government support [more]

·         Three ministers have claimed their second home allowances while living in grace-and-favour apartments [more]; [more]; [more]

·         The leader of the Green Party thinks flying to Spain is as bad as stabbing someone in the street [more]

Over the last fortnight the Liberal Democrats…

·         Criticised the governments plans for a new generation of nuclear power plants [more]

·         Rejected government proposals to dock alcoholics’ benefits as ‘inhumane’ [more]

·         Dismissed the government’s new electric car policy as a ‘gimmick’ [more]

·         Uncovered the fact that the NHS is paying the government £81m at a rate of up to 5.6% [more]

·         Published research showing that 4 patients a day die in mental health trusts [more]

·         Revealed that the number of anaphylactic shock cases has doubled in ten years [more]

·         Found that the government’s VAT cut is principally benefiting the rich [more] 

·         Discovered that the dole is worth less now than in the previous two recessions [more]

·         Condemned a proposed 30% price hike by water companies [more]