By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

The Conservatives like the Swedish schools model so much, they've copied it and included it in their draft manifesto.

Michael Gove has repeatedly advocated the Swedish model, saying:

"We have seen the future in Sweden and it works...After 15 years, 900 new schools have been created and standards have been driven up. If it can work there it can work here."

But last night, the head of Sweden's independent national education agency - the Swedish equivalent of Ofsted - revealed that their school reforms have led to falling standards and rising segregation.

Speaking to Newsnight, Per Thullberg, general director of Skolverket, said that although students in the new schools may have better standards, it is because "they come from well-educated families":

Richard Robinson's Speech Bubble

The King has spoken. Amongst this week's eclectic news mix of electoral reform, MPs' expenses and rather questionable Toyota cars, the Prime Minister yesterday received a welcome endorsement from the King's Fund to a speech he delivered on Labour’s Plan for the NHS.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

At a press conference at Labour head office this morning, Andy Burnham launched the new VoteNHS website to support the "target cancer" campaign. The campaign aims to save up to 10,000 lives a year by backing a pledge to create a new NHS guarantee of cancer diagnosis within one week of GP referral, allowing patients to be tested and told their results in just seven days.

By Mark Dominik

After a week of missteps and mishaps, the Conservatives are on the run. With their lead down to 9 points in the latest poll of polls conducted by The Independent, the Tories have made a fundamental change in campaign direction.

Gone are the vows to quickly cut government spending. The posters of an airbrushed David Cameron promising to cut the deficit, not the NHS, are on their way out. And so much the better, some Conservative strategists might say, because Shadow Chief Secretary Philip Hammond was only ever able to identify £1.5 billion of early cuts anyway.

By Sam Bacon  / @SamBaconSam

Looking at the 2005 general election map at the start of the animation by Philip Palfrey of the University of Sheffield (right) there are two startling visual traits. The first is that from the 2005 general election, almost all of the significant clusters of Labour constituencies are based around the major urban conurbations of England, and - given the geographical distribution the major cities of England - nearly the entire north of England was red in 2005. The second stunning part of this animation is that as the hypothetical swing towards the Conservatives grows, given the distribution of Labour constituencies, it is the city constituencies that start to turn blue.

Full Name: Chris Williamson

Age: 53

From: Derby

PPC for: Derby North

Blog: chriswilliamsonlabourleader.blogspot.com

Member of the Labour Party since: 1976

CV:

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

* As many as 40 Labour MPs will rebel on the AV vote today, though the PM is still expected to win it.

* In Afghanistan, the number of British dead is now higher than that in the Falklands, after the loss of three more soldiers over the past few days.

* Banks still aren't lending at acceptable levels, in spite of Treasury pressure, reports the Independent.

* A new Populus poll today points to the increasing likelihood of a hung parliament.

* People who inform on benefit cheats could be given a share of the resulting savings to the state under proposals being examined by Labour's manifesto team, the Guardian reports.

* And a £20,000 levy on estates is being considered by Labour to pay for social care plans.

* One of the world's leading economists, Nobel prize winning Joseph Stiglitz, has urged Gordon Brown to continue spending and reject cuts.

* Just 44% of Americans now approve of Obama's presidency, while 47% disapprove, a new poll shows.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

In a signal that Labour is serious about mutual ideas underpinning its election manifesto, Tessa Jowell and Ed Miliband gathered at Downing Street today with representatives from social enterprises, local mutual healthcare providers, corporate co-operative leaders and business representatives to discuss the strategic framework for how the Government might move towards an increased role for mutuals in the personalisation of public services.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

A new Populus poll for Tuesday's Times shows "the race between the Conservatives and Labour has tightened this year and voters increasingly [33%] expect a hung parliament after the general election".

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Here's a new video highlighting some of Labour's achievements over the past thirteen years, taken from Gordon Brown's speech to Party conference last year.

You can get this part of the speech written into a skyline on a LabourList's tshirt, which are already proving popular on doorsteps across the country. 

If you would like to order a t-shirt, please pay £14 (includes postage and packaging) to www.labourlist.org/donate and leave the note "T-shirt" and your preferred colour (black or red) and size, and your postal address.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Two weeks ago, Ben Furber wrote on LabourList that MumsNet was likely to be a key political battleground in the 2010 election.

Today, Labour stepped up its Mumsnet campaign, with a targeted attack ad against Tory plans on child tax credits. The ad warns families that they'll "get less than they bargained for" if the current Tory plans to cut child tax credits are introduced.

By Alex Finnegan

Bill Clinton was the original Comeback Kid. The former president was first elected as Governor of Arkansas in 1978, but after a series of slip-ups he lost the 1980 Gubernatorial contest, only to come back and win again two years later.

During the Democratic primaries in 1992, when it looked like the Clinton campaign was down and out, a memorable interview with Hillary on 60 Minutes earned him a second place victory in the New Hampshire primary. The Comeback Kid was back - and the rest, as they say, is history.

By Hopi Sen / @HopiSen

So David Cameron is to launch a highly personal attack on Gordon Brown over expenses.

Aside from the obvious point (that I think Cameron’s wrong) I have three problems with this, from a political strategy and tactics point of view.

First, it undermines David Cameron’s carefully constructed “nice” image. Cameron sometimes does this at PMQs and it makes him look sneering - and sometimes even braying. That’s OK in PMQs, but doesn’t work on its own. Cameron is supposed to be about a new politics. This feels like the same old mud wrestling.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Last week, the secretary of state for children, schools and families, Ed Balls, announced that the DCSF was inviting all local authorities to bid for money to finance new universal free school meals pilots.

The DCSF website says:

"Free school meal pilots are already running in three local authorities – Durham and Newham and Wolverhampton. Durham and Newham are trialling universal free school meals for all primary age children and Wolverhampton are trialling extended eligibility. Although the pilots only started in September 2009 there has already been some very positive feedback. Adding new pilots from September 2010 will help even more families across the country and allow the government to collect more evidence on the health and educational benefits of free school meals."

Ed Balls remarked:

By Gabe Trodd

The more you really think about what Chris Grayling is trying to achieve in deceiving the British public about the reality of crime rates in Britain, the more despicable it becomes. Exposed by the BBC, rebuked by the Chairman of the independent UK Statistics Authority for "damaging public trust", debunked by this week’s Economist in a front page special feature, condemned by local police commanders and denounced by more honourable Conservative colleagues, Grayling has vowed to maintain his crumbling stance on this issue until the general election, which is a decision that more than consolidates his reputation as the weak-link in the Tories’ line-up.

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

* David Cameron has "personally attacked" Gordon Brown as a "shameless" defender of the old elite.

* The budget has been pencilled in for late March -- suggesting the election will be on May 6th.

* Thousands will lose their jobs as universities face cuts.

* The TV debates risk being "negotiated to death" as the parties discuss details of the format.

* Caroline Lucas is 8 points ahead in Brighton Pavillion.

* David Cameron will stop errant MPs abusing parliamentary privilege.

* The Queen is being prepared for the possibility of a hung parliament.

* Tom Harris is in praise of Alastair Campbell.

From @LabourList

Catch up with all the last week's highlights on LabourList with the ShortList.

Our PPC Profile this week was of Easington's Grahame Morris.

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By Darrell Goodliffe

Bob Ainsworth wants a "debate" on defence following the launch of the Ministry of Defence Green Paper. There were some predictable responses; the The Times waded in saying that Britain may be "broken" but not so broke that it can't afford to continue to splash large amounts of cash on defence.