Most of the government is either on holiday or has ground to a halt, but Eric Pickles is still hard at work fighting taxpayer-funded propaganda newspapers in rotten boroughs. The Communities Secretary has given Greenwich Time, Hackney Today, the Newham mag, Waltham Forest News and the infamous pro-Lutfur Rahman Tower Hamlets paper East End Life two weeks to explain why they shouldn’t face action:

“It is scandalous that bloggers have been handcuffed for tweeting from council meetings, while propaganda on the rates drives the free press out of business. Only Putin would be proud of a record like that.”

Who could he possibly have in mind?