The Spectator

‘You’re going to feel some pressure,’ say dentists as they prepare to inflict pain. The more honest they are, the more tolerable the experience tends to be. So it is with political actions that have foresee-able adverse consequences: as much as voters dislike those consequences, they dislike being lied to even more. David Cameron’s interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr last weekend was another minor milestone on the road to Number 10.

Not every illness is swine flu Sir: Congratulations to Sarah Standing (‘The national swine flu sickie’, 25 July). It seems incredible that so much money is being spent so recklessly when we have such an enormous debt on our national books. In these days of ‘patient-led’ medicine the public decides what it is suffering from and certificates are often available for the asking; no doubt the flu itself will be followed by epidemic ‘post-viral fatigue’. GPs seem suddenly to have abandoned the god of ‘evidence-based’ medicine in favour of self-protection. I can say this because I am a GP of a certain vintage who rarely caught any disease from a patient.

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall. For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which - providing your writing isn't libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency - you'll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there's no need to stay 'on topic' - which means you'll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There's also no constraint on the length of what you write - so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything's fair game - from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.

Having your prospects in life determined at birth is the most pernicious and fundamental form of inequality. So the present political focus on improving social mobility is to be welcomed on principle. To think that all the advantages and disadvantages of background can be ironed out is delusional; short of a Spartan-style nationalisation of child-rearing, how could such a level playing field even be attempted? But this country could — and should — go a lot further towards broadening equality of opportunity: a 2005 report funded by the Sutton Trust found that Britain came joint last with the United States in this respect in a survey of 11 developed economies.

Part Two of The Spectator’s Guide to the Top 50 Political Scandals — counting down from No. 25 to No. 1 There is one word that frightens politicians more than any other: scandal. They know that scandal can bring about personal ruin, cut short a promising career and even bring down a government. The power of scandal is that it imprints itself on the public mind. Some are about sex, others about money, drugs or espionage. But they are all about power: the corrupter, the ultimate aphrodisiac. This is your guide to the scandalous world of Westminster. Read on. And if you missed the first part, you can catch up on the countdown from 50 to 26.

Few subjects animate the polenta- eating classes more than constitutional reform: tinkering with institutions excites the bien-pensant mind in the way that train sets excite ten-year-old boys. So it is no surprise that the expenses scandal triggered a fresh flurry of demands for wholesale upheaval of the political system and — in particular — proportional representation. It was always unclear why anyone would think that PR, a system that weakens the constituency link and empowers the party bosses who control the candidate lists, would ever reduce corruption. In search of better judgment, The Spectator consulted its readers on the sorts of reforms that might improve the system and then submitted their recommendations to a PoliticsHome opinion poll.