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Tuesday 4th November 2008 Britain's leading conservative blog Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: 65% of Tory members say "never" to Britain joining the Euro Graeme Brown on Platform: The greatest debates Local government: Cllr Margaret Eaton - new Chair of the Local Government Association - explains her mission to champion localism AmericaInTheWorld: The whole world still needs America to tackle the bad guys says Boris WATCH: Barack Obama remembers his grandmother, who has died on eve of election Boris Johnson wants to separate young offenders from hardened criminals in jail Today's newslinks Is David Cameron signalling retreat on ending the BBC's monopoly of the licence fee? "The Tory leader, speaking on Radio 4's World at One, said: "I'm sceptical of that. I think we need to look at this issue of top-slicing but I think there are quite a lot of difficulties with it. On the whole I think we should celebrate the success of British broadcasting. It is based on the fact that the licence fee goes to the BBC, advertising income is available for Channel 4 and ITV, and subscription flows into Sky" he added." - Telegraph Mark Hoban MP presses for Iceland inquiry "Tory leaders are stepping up the pressure for an independent inquiry into the Government's handling of the Icelandic financial crisis following claims that the Treasury had been secretly monitoring developments for six months before a banking collapse that threatened British savers and local authorities with heavy losses." - Telegraph MPs Richard Bacon and Edward Leigh lead concerns about community sentences "Richard Bacon MP, a Conservative member of the committee, said the Ministry of Justice was "clueless over the effectiveness of community orders. The Ministry cannot say whether offenders are completing their orders or not". Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, added that there was a "chronic lack of information about community sentences"." - Telegraph David Cameron is facing a battle with his shadow cabinet over plans to rein in their lucrative second jobs - Daily Mail Tory MPs lead attacks after Quentin Davies offends families of dead servicemen - Press Association Gains in social mobility will not last, warn gloomy Tories - Guardian Students are leading the revival of Conservatives in Liverpool - Liverpool Daily Post "This is no time for a novice. Oh yes it is" Gordon Brown's favourite slogan will be seriously undermined if the American electorate vote for change - Rachel Sylvester in The Times Gordon Brown’s promises of a large number of new “green” jobs for the UK are unlikely to materialise - FT UKIP has "unanimously rejected" an electoral pact with BNP at next year's European elections - BBC And finally... Simon Cowell wants to bring X-factor to politics "Of course it had to happen. Simon Cowell says his next venture is politics. He wants to stage X Factor-style election debates instead of "those tedious party conferences" which are "boring" and "mean nothing". "It's just not entertaining," the pop impresario complained this weekend. Mr Cowell says he has met David Cameron and "he's very showbusiness". Gordon Brown isn't, although Cowell thinks he's interesting." - Melissa Kite in The Telegraph

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