Michael White gives John Prescott's online activities* a glowing review in the Guardian today.

But given that we are constantly being told that Prezza's unique selling point is his authenticity, the most interesting section centres on just who exactly writes the former DPM's Tweets and blogposts.

No one doubts that Prezza is the author of some of his own output, but it turns out that his son David - who works for a digital PR agency - lends more than a helping hand.

Asking how Prescott blogs and Tweets is "a bit like asking David Copperfield how he does his tricks", Prescott junior says.

Here's Mike White:

"He was adamant that - contrary to claims by rightwing bloggers such as Iain Dale - his father does write many of his own blogs and tweets. 'Sometimes, it's him, sometimes it's us. He can't do the technical stuff like uploading links'."

The italics are mine.

FOOTNOTE*: Father Ted writer Graham Linehan has gone out of his way today to Tweet that Prezza is flat out wrong about his reasons for starting the #welovethenhs tag.

"Just to be clear, I started #welovethenhs simply to counteract lies from Fox news and the like. Couldn’t care less about Tories vs Labour."

It risks getting buried among everything else today but the ICM poll in the Guardian makes depressing reading for Labour types.

Despite the Dan Hannan row, the poll shows that more people think the healh service would be better under the Conservatives (48%) than Labour (41%). Even 24% of current Labour voters think the Tories would improve the NHS.

I wonder if one of that 24% includes this 'senior Cabinet minister' who was having problems getting the NHS to help his elderly relative. The unnamed minister stated: "It's awful. Absolutely bloody awful. We've got to do something about it."

Most of today's papers carry extracts from David Cameron's interview with Jane Moore for Grazia magazine.

But the magazine is now out and the full version* reveals just how painful the Tory leader finds the loss of his son Ivan. It's impossible not to be moved by his words.

"Losing a child is the most painful thing in the world. People tell you that it will get better, but it doesn't really," he says.

He underlines how difficult his recent holiday in Brittany was without his six-year-old "beautiful boy".

"The holiday was particularly geared up for Ivan. We got the ferry so we didn't have to fly and worry about the wheelchair, and those wonderful Brittany beaches have ramps down to the sand...so, yes, it was hard. You know, we'd expected to go on holiday all together..," he says.

Jane Moore reveals how she had seen the Camerons two Christmases ago at the London stage version of The Snowman. While Sam looked after the younger two children, David cradled Ivan in his arms for the entire performance, whispering reassuringly to him throughout. Proof that the family always included him in their plans.

"It was a very special communication we had with him. He would hear our voices and his eyes would dart across the room. There were times when he seemed quite wel, but there were times when the suffering...

"I try to remember that suffering, actually, because it somehow makes it a bit better...to know he's not suffering any more. When I look back on his short life, there was an awful lot of severe epilepsy and pain."

I'm told that the interview was not meant to focus on Ivan - and it does follow him to Cameron Direct events and features many other issues - but the Tory leader unexpectedly opened up when Jane Moore put the questions to him.

FOOTNOTE* The full interview is not available online so I bought a copy (given that Grazia is not yet in the Lobby library). The tone of the piece is far from sombre and he answers everything thrown at him. Here's some of Grazia's quick-fire questions:

Angelina or Jennifer? "Definitely Jennifer. I'd be afraid that Angelina would want to fight me"

What's on your SkyPlus? "Midsomer Murders, Wire in the Blood, Silent Witness and that Stephen Fry drama Kingdom."

Favourite film? "Lawrence of Arabia"

 
Chris Grayling delivers his speech today suggesting parts of Britain resemble scenes from The Wire*.

This prompts several thoughts, not least whether he will issue a spoiler alert at the beginning. "For those who don't want to know the plot of Series 3, look away now...", for example.

Judging from Grayling's BBC News Channel interview this morning, he won't need to exercise such caution. He lets slip that in fact he has only seen bits of the first series. For the uninitiated, there are five seasons of the award-winning programme.

Interviewer: Have you really seen any more than that first episode?

Grayling: Yes I’ve seen a number of … I’ve seen most of the first series. I have seen a number of the other episodes yes. I have.

But more worrying for the Shadow Home Sec is the fact that Wire writer David Simon has warned against any politician seeking to use his creation to demand tougher 'crime crackdown' or 'war on drugs' policies.

"It is possible that a few thinking viewers, after experiencing a season or two of The Wire, might be inclined, the next time they hear some politician declaring that with more prison cells, more cops, more lawyers, and more mandatory sentences that the war on drugs is winnable, to say, aloud: "You are hopelessly full of shit.""

It is, of course, interesting that the Conservatives are trying to grab a bit of zeitgeisty glamour from The Wire. David Cameron said only today (via Grazia) that wife Sam likes nothing better than to sit down 'with a plate of pasta' in front of the prog*. But while I love the programme myself, it's true that only a fraction of the public have actually seen it (thanks to the totally, utterly inept scheduling by BBC2 putting it in a graveyard slot). Is this a new tactic, a "chatterati" offensive to grab ABC1 votes?

FOOTNOTE*: The pic of Omar above is for my wife. She loves it whenever he's on screen.

FOOTNOTE 2*: Further proof that women can multi-task. Personally, I can't eat and watch The Wire as I'm too busy trying to decipher the street slang.

UPDATE: I hear my blogpost quote was put to Mr Grayling at his presser just now. He handled the "full of shit" line quite well, apparently, stressing that he never suggested that the war on drugs was "easily winnable".

FURTHER UPDATE: Home Secretary Alan Johnson has now hit out at his opposite number.

“Chris Grayling should be praising the police for continued reduction in gun-related offences, rather than talking Britain down.

“The connection between The Wire and Chris Grayling’s grasp on the problems of modern Britain is that they’re both fictional.

“The serious problems being tackled in our communities will not be diminished by his embarrassing habit of making glib references to television programmes that he thinks will make him sound 'cool'.”

jk

Nearly a full 24 hours after their victory, the PM has now released a letter to the England cricket team inviting them to Downing Street for a celebration.

Better late than never, huh? Lets see if Freddie wees in the newly-laid vegetable plot....

Here's the letter:

Michael Gove is clearly in need of some help on the numeracy front. Here's an ad showing how high the bar is being set by the Shadow Schools Sec for applicants to work in his office.

Following the Scots Parliament proceedings just now, I was amazed to hear of one of the most bizarre (if less high profile) elements of the Lockerbie bomber affair.

As Megrahi's last address was given as Ailsa Drive in Newton Mearns, a posh suburb of Glasgow, it turns out that an unfortunate social worker at East Renfrewshire Council has the task of monitoring his conduct in Libya.

Although he never lived in the family home, it was given as an address in the event he was to have been released on bail pending an appeal.

And as with all prisoners released on licence, Megrahi is subject to conditions regarding place of residence, travel and behaviour and has to be monitored by a senior social worker.

The council's criminal justice manager, Jonathan Hinds, will be involved in monthly video conferencing with Megrahi to check if the Libyan abides by seven conditions. Megrahi is also supposed to give monthly updates on his medical condition.

When Kenny MacAskill was asked by an MSP just now what would happen if Megrahi failed to turn up for the video conference. Macaskill ducked the question and simply replied: "I have returned him to Libya to die".

When the England women's cricket team won the World Cup in March, GB reacted quicker than a Freddie run-out.

The PM said (and check it on the Number 10 website HERE):

“It was a thrilling game and the whole country can be immensely proud of the spirit and skill the team showed in beating New Zealand. I am delighted for captain Charlotte Edwards and the whole team and hope they are all now celebrating a famous victory down under!”

Fast forward to today and - as yet - there is just silence from G Brown on the Ashes victory. Now, granted Number 10 say that the PM will be writing to Andrew Strauss, but we still haven't got any public praise from our own Prime Minister. This contrasts with David Cameron's swift and wholehearted tribute and that of Boris Johnson, inimitably stating that England "spun, swung and swatted their way to an incredible triumph".

Liam Fox is now pointing out that Brown's silence probably has much to do with his other big silence - on Lockerbie. If the PM is keeping schtumm on the release of the bomber (even tho A Darling and D Miliband have commented on his 'hero's welcome in Tripoli), then maybe it would be a wee bit embarassing for him to speak out on a sporting triumph, the logic goes.

The Shadow Defence Sec says: "The hallmark of Brown's career has been to disappear at difficult times.

"Now when the world's attention is focused on the release of a mass murderer, we have the humiliation of being governed by the invisible man. We would normally have Gordon Brown associating himself with every national sporting success. But today he is even silent on that subject because of the embarrassment of his cowardly silence over Megrahi.”

Sarah Brown managed to Tweet last night her congratulations to the team. I know Brown is Scottish and the cricket team is English but it that would be a sad state of affairs if that was the reason for his less than wholehearted support (as David Mundell pointed out last night there are more Scots cricket supporters per head than the English).

More importantly, Brown's silence on Lockerbie is looking increasingly surreal. Will he finally relent at some point today?

Or will we just get the cricket letter (hastily issued post-Fox)?

It all reminds me of this fantastic Daily Mash take on the ridiculous things Prime Ministers actually do issue their "congratulations" on - in this case, Carol Vorderman's bosom.

4PM UPDATE: Despite being promised this hours ago, the Brown letter to Andrew Strauss has STILL not been made public. That means that we are now nearly 24 hours since the actual Ashes triumph.

I suspect the PM is weighing up the 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' costs and benefits as I write

455 UPDATE: The letter has finally been published. Brown invites the team to No 10 for a reception at some point. See updated post HERE

One Labour person just pointed out how all the success of the last couple of weeks (which began when Mandelson was in charge) was being put at risk by this latest example of the PM's ham-fistedness. As they say, he's going to have to say something on Lockerbie at the Netanyahu meeting tomorrow, so why didn't he get the 'PM condemns hero's welcome' line out of the way last week (the same day Miliband and Darling were authorised to do so)?

I posted yesterday on how strange it was that Gordon Brown failed to comment on the Lockerbie row.

Today, David Miliband finally commented and Alistair Darling has since followed suit.

But now David Cameron has written to the PM to demand he too speaks out.

Here's his letter:

Dear Prime Minister,
 
The decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary to release Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds has been widely condemned, including by President Obama.
 
As I said yesterday, I believe that the decision to release Megrahi was wrong.  He was convicted of murdering 270 people, and I do not believe he deserved to be released on compassionate grounds, or returned to Libya.
 
The scenes of him receiving a rapturous welcome at Tripoli airport on his return will have distressed many people. I note that Colonel Gaddafi’s son has now publicly thanked not just the Scottish authorities but the British Government for its stance, raising questions about the British Government’s role
 
You have not commented on the decision since it was announced yesterday. This morning your Foreign Secretary refused several requests to say what he thought of the Scottish Justice Secretary’s decision.
 
The fact that the decision to release was taken by the Scottish Justice Secretary does not preclude you, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from now expressing your opinion on a subject that is of great public concern, and which affects Britain’s international reputation and our relations with our allies.
 
It is curious that while others have commented, Britain’s own Prime Minister has not.
 
I hope you will now take the opportunity to do so.
 
We are entitled to know what you and your Ministers have said to the Libyan authorities on this matter, and to the Scottish Justice Secretary.
 
Above all, I believe that the public are entitled to know what you think of the decision to release Megrahi, and whether you consider it was right or wrong.
 
I hope you will now take the opportunity to make your own view clear.
 
David Cameron

Japan officially pulled out of recession this week. Its growth figures didn't make as much of a noise here as those of France and Germany, largely because Tokyo is not as important to our direct trade as our European partners.

However, when the world's second biggest economy posts positive growth, even 0.9 per cent, it is worth noting.

In particular, the political read-across doesn't sound good for Gordon Brown - the figures don't really seem to be helping Japan's PM as he embarks on a general election campaign.

Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, which has enjoyed nearly unbroken power for 50 years, is trailing badly in the polls to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

A poll out today suggests the DPJ is set for a landslide.

Aso even said this week that the reason Japan had pulled out of recession was largely down to his "stimulus" package. That may or may not be true. But even if he can take some credit, the political payback appears to be eluding him.

In what could be a script for David Cameron, the DPJ's leader Yukio Hatoyama said: "Mr. Aso said Japan is seeing signs of economic recovery, but it is not what the people are actually feeling at all.”

Now, I know that one key difference here is that the left-of-centre DPJ actually proposes an even bigger stimulus package to get Japan's economy moving.

But nevertheless, if Aso falls, watch out for some nervousness* in Number 10.

FOOTNOTE: Mike Smithson over at PoliticalBetting has posted on just how Brown's own numbers seemed to have tanked ever since April 11, soon after smeargate wiped out any G20 bounce. Mike says it was "the day the Labour government died". Worth a read.