Nick Denton says…

“One law of media competition applies as strongly to web properties as it did to their predecessors: scoops drive audience growth.”

This has to be a pretty compelling argument for students paying their way. Guido presents to you the best and brightest of Northumbria University:

Comparing the privileged life of an undergraduate to kids starving in Africa, who have to worry about their next meal rather than their media studies assignment. Nice.

Hillary Clinton said in her presser yesterday that “a counterpart” told her ”well, don’t worry about it, you should hear what we say about you…” An interesting line, clearly from a native English speaker in its idiomatic use of “well” and “don’t worry about it”, which is bordering on slang. No one with English as a second language, however fluent, would ever come up with a line like that. Add a barbed sense of humour and the fingers are pointing at William Hague.

Talking of Hague, Guido isn’t the only one to have noticed that in the past few days former Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind has been put on Sky News, BBC News, BBC Radio 2, 4, 5 and Channel Four speaking about Wikileaks and other foreign policy issues. It’s almost as if the current Foreign Secretary has been sidelined and a new spokesman found. Guido can’t think why Hague might not want to hit the airwaves to discuss why the Americans were featuring his personal life in their intelligence dossiers. Rifkind seems well on top of the brief still and would be high up the list of likely candidates for the job, were a vacancy to arise…

UPDATE: Paul Waugh questions why Hague isn’t representing the UK on the international stage in Kazakhstan tomorrow.

As the news emerges that The Telegraph is set to join the FT, News of the World and The Times behind the paywall, Guido is intrigued to why such a decision was made when all the evidence shows it’s not a winner. The Times has lost 95% of their online traffic, but the bad news doesn’t stop there. Since they introduced their pay-wall in June their paper sales have headed south as well:

Introducing a pay-wall was supposed to increase revenue by forcing people to buy the paper or subscribe online. Instead the decline of newspaper sales is unmitigated. There will be glum faces over in Victoria as it dawns on the hacks that soon nobody will be reading their work…

The parliamentary rumour mill was running away yesterday that it was all change at David Ruffley’s office. Apparently the two staffers who were in to cover Ruffley’s recent absence did not have their contracts renewed. The timetable for replacements has been delayed.

Maybe they needed some more training…

On the day we  learn Jacqui Smith, who was so good with her sums in the past, is off to accounting firm KPMG, Guido thought he would check out how Geoff Hoon’s project that “bluntly, makes money” was coming along…

It seems the former Defence Secretary is so desperate for clients, for a little “Hoon-work”, that he’s openly publishing his mobile number. From a gate-keepered senior cabinet minister, who most would have to go through six people to talk to on a good day, to being open to all sorts of random calls. Oh how the mighty fall…

Obviously Guido couldn’t resist…

GF: Are you going to join the APPC?
GH: Err…I must be a bit slow this morning.
GF: The Association of Professional Political Consultants…
GH: <silence>
GF:  …The register of lobbyists to declare their clients etc?
GH: To be honest I haven’t actually heard of it. I’m not really a lobbyist… When people have asked me to lobby the government I’ve told them to go elsewhere.
GF: Will you be publishing your clients list on your website?
GH: No, can’t really see a case in which that would happen. Maybe one day.
GF: Do you have a Former Member’s Pass to the Parliamentary Estate?
GH: Err yes, yes I do.
GF: Have you used it yet?
GH: To be honest, not yet.

Sure it will come in useful one day, oh and not a lobbyist? TaylorHoon state:

“Our aim is to provide business with market intelligence on ways to gain competitive advantage. To do this we are able to offer a distinctive combination of advice, skills and experience from the highest levels of business and politics.”

Sounds like lobbying to Guido…

Greg Hands asked the Deputy Leader of the House yesterday:

“My Honorable Friend has spoken of the success this year of the orientation programme for new members. But existing members should not be overlooked. I note that one member has spoken only once since the Election; hasn’t asked a single question; and has made only 5 of the possible 131 votes. Would the Deputy Leader of the House agree to approach the Member for Kirckaldy and Cowdenbeath, if he can find him, and see if some orientation might help?”

James Macintyre no longer has a column in the New Statesman in which to share his insights. He now has only his Twitter to pass on wisdom. Yesterday he had a ground breaking “Twitter Exclusive” revealing that Gordon’s new book makes no mention of Tony Blair.

For Macintyre it is an exclusive from “a top Whitehall source”, for the rest of us it is a month old story we read everywhere. Wonder how his book is coming along?

Iceland’s President, Olafur R. Grimsson, told Bloomberg TV on Friday that his country is better off than Ireland because they allowed the banks to fail two years ago and devalued the krona:

“The difference is that in Iceland we allowed the banks to fail. These were private banks and we didn’t pump money into them in order to keep them going; the state did not shoulder the responsibility of the failed private banks.”

The Irish bank bail-out is being foisted on them by the EU and the IMF whereas sovereign Iceland let the banks go bust and restructured the financial sector to keep the commercial sector serviced. As a consequence, “Iceland is faring much better than anybody expected” says Grimsson:

“How far can we ask ordinary people – farmers and fishermen and teachers and doctors and nurses – to shoulder the responsibility of failed private banks… That question, which has been at the core of the Icesave issue, will now be the burning issue in many European countries.”

Under this plan 20 cents of every euro of Irish taxes will go to pay the interest on the bank bail-out debts. The Irish bail-out plan will cost €54,800 per Irish household. Ireland’s future thus looks a lot more bleak than Iceland’s path of debt default and a devaluation of 60% two years ago which has the country rebounding: exports and manufacturing are growing by 20%, tourism is back near all-time highs, real wages are rising, unemployment is declining sharply, interest rates fell from 18% to 5.5% and the stock market has rebounded 50% from its lows. In contrast this euro-banker’s bail-out will only burden the next generation of Irish who don’t flee with crushing debts not of their making…

Britain and europe should keep their bail-out billions rather than foist them on Irish taxpayers to cover the responsibility for bad investments made by their own private banks. They can use the billions to bail-out their own banks directly if they want, without involving the Irish taxpayers…

It was an unusually catty Department of Culture Media and Sport Questions in the House yesterday afternoon. It wasn’t just that an embarrassed looking Ivan Lewis showed up but, his fellow Shadow Minister Gloria de Piero was particularly feisty.

Given the brief closeness she once had with Ed Vaizey, who she now shadows, it must be tough coming to blows all the time…