I've got a feeling the folk over at Microsoft won't be too happy right now. The Tories have just published a report recommending that the government makes more use of open source software (ie using OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Word), and bans any IT contract worth over £100 million. The report suggests this could save us taxpayers over £650 million a year. What's inte...

The Guardian has news of Labour’s further inconsistency in their plans for the Post Office network: Lord Mandelson is urging the prime minister to save the Post Office network by allowing it to provide government services and financial products, according to a leaked letter seen by the Guardian. Mandelson suggests that the current economic downturn and “recent

Here are my favourite expenses revelations from yesterdays Guardian liveblog. 1. Mark Oaten claimed for a new Mac computer and copy of Microsoft Office Mac Home & Student Edition. Either he is using this for his personal home use (in which case why is he claiming for it) or he is violating Microsoft's Licence agreement in using it for work. 2. Meg Hillier managed to claim £25 fo...

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) neatly encapsulates much of how modern government is run, its weaknesses and the problems our democratic systems face in trying to control or improve bureaucracy. The Office of the Public Guardian was created for the best of reasons following the 2005 Mental  Capacity Act in order to administer a

A "well-placed source" tells the Guardian: "David Cameron said the candidate he hoped for was Ed Miliband, and the candidate he most feared was David Miliband." Isn't it convenient the "well placed source" said that just when the ballots go out? If I was that journalist I'd think - 'hmmmm, is there an agenda here?' But clearly people are more gullible there.

The Times editorial on Zimbabwe today is one whole lot better than this Guardian effort of two weeks ago. It concludes, as the Guardian was not ready to, that 'international intervention is the only course now available to save more...

Mehdi Hasan has a provocative article in the Guardian So what, Nick Clegg, made you forget liberty? It is standard Guardian fare these days: you can’t trust the Lib Dems. The “delay” in completing the abolition child detention in deportation cases is the focus of his attack. To be fair, he acknowledges that Labour hardly

The Guardian… A government efficiency drive aimed at slashing spending in town halls and boosting productivity in the health service is likely to deliver billions of pounds of new business for private companies, the Guardian has learned. Outsourcing firms are preparing for a bonanza of local authority contracts to provide everything from bin men to back office

Much has been made in the past couple of days of the Police revising their view over how the voicemails of Milly Dowler were deleted, and how this impacted on the Guardian’s exclusive. But rather than just let the Guardian correct their original story – and show they had not just one or two, but four separate sources for it – Rupe’s troops have decided to lay into editor Al...

Lord Mandelson is urging the prime minister to save the Post Office network by allowing it to provide government services and financial products, according to a leaked letter seen by the Guardian. Mandelson suggests that the current economic downturn and "recent events in the financial services" present an opportunity for the Post Office to take on a new range of tasks. In the letter to Gordon Bro...