As it turns out, those who occupy our Great Offices of State have been saying some real stupid shit this weekend. Here’s a roundup of some of the “best” total tosh the two top tories I refer to have revealed this weekend.

Alongside the mudslinging, in the wake of the latest Conservative scandal there is a genuine sense that real reform is needed when it comes to political-party funding. The Cruddas affair is only the latest in a series of questionable incidents highlighting the risks that lobbyists’ and private-donors’ influence pose in Westminster.

It’s a common refrain in tabloid-press: we live in a welfare state that redistributes wealth at the expense of hard-working individuals, to the benefit of free-loaders. The truth, though, is that welfare benefits everybody. Admittedly not in the same way – or to the same extent, as many pay-in more than they receive-back, but the welfare state provides social security and a safety-net for all people, preventing the prolifigation of absolute poverty. This results in a more stable, peaceful society – something that is in the interests of all.

“Old Labour”, under Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution, committed the party to socialism in theory, through “common ownership of the means of production”, but what about their policies in practice? Did Labour up ever really commit itself to socialism, before becoming the social-democratic “New Labour” of the 90s and early 21st century?

The difference between Iraq and Libya is the difference between neoconservative foreign policy and liberal-interventionist foreign policy. It is the difference between Bush & Obama. The difference between unilateral invasion & UN-supported liberation. The difference between external-regime-change and a genuine, grassroots revolution… But there’s a lot more to it than that.