Chris Gilson takes a look at the week in political blogging.

Weekend

David Herdson at politicalbetting.com looked at whether we need more MPs in their 20s and 30s. Still on the topic of representation, Sunder Katwala at Next Left unpacks Daniel Hannan’s (at the Telegraph) recent assertions that the Tories have historically been a more representative party than Labour.

Sunny Hundal at Liberal Conspiracy looks at possibility of another ballot in former Minister Phil Woolas’ seat, due to Labour’s election tactics in that constituency. Mark Pack has more, while Daniel Hodges at Labour Uncut blames the Labour ‘right’ for losing the election. Neil D at Harry’s Place has a piece on Ed Balls’ attacks on Gordon Brown.Mike Smithson at politicalbetting.com asks if making seats more equal in size will actually help Labour’s electoral fortunes.

Tim Montegomerie at ConservativeHome discussed George Osborne’s return from the G20 meeting – he has wide endorsement for his planned financial consolidation from G20 finance ministers. Tim Worstall lookex at why tougher tax enforcement may not be a panacea for government – if the tax avoiders don’t have enough money, they will still avoid paying through bankruptcy. Stumbling and Mumbling takes issue with Nick Clegg’s assertion that Thatcher took an ‘axe’ to public spending in the 1980s.

Daniel Korski at Coffee House blogged on the politics of aid, and Andrew Mitchell’s new initiative, while David Semple at Liberal Conspiracy is critical of new poverty ‘Czar’ Frank Fields’ policies to reduce welfare dependency.

Finally, Next Left has a guide to the world cup – but by political affiliation.

Monday – David Cameron speaks on cuts today

Lesley Smith blogging at Labour Uncut says there “must be a woman” on the Labour leadership ballot. Sunny Hundal at Liberal Conspiracy defended Ed Balls over his recent harder line on immigration. Alistair Campbell has praise for Margaret Beckett.

John Redwood defends the proposed cuts to be announced by David Cameron today; while George Eaton at The Staggers says that cuts will be worse than in Thatcher’s day. Benjamin Fox at Left Foot Forward has arguments against the large scale ‘austerity’ cuts announced by Cameron today, and George Eaton at The Staggers thinks that the state of the public finances are not as bad as Cameron has made out today. Hopi Sen is very critical of the reasons given for cuts – they’re based on a decline in market confidence for Britain, which he feels is not likely.

Richard Excell guest blogging at Left Foot Forward has a great post analysing and unpacking David Cameron’s claims about ‘8 million’ economically inactive people in the UK today. Wat Tyler at Burning our Money reckons that we will need to find 4 million new jobs after cuts – but no-one has any idea as to where these might come from.

Iain Dale took a quick look at who is running in the upcoming election for deputy speaker.

Hopi Sen has some positive words about the coalition government, but also offers a warning.

Tuesday

Keynesian Liberal’s Peter Wrigley says that Cameron’s blaming of the previous Labour government for the current fiscal situation is very much ‘old politics’ rather than the much touted ‘new’. David Blackburn looked at how long the new government could really blame Labour for the new ‘age of austerity’. Sunny Hundal at Liberal Conspiracy took a pragmatic look at the state of the left-immigration debate at present, while Hina Majid at The Staggers urged caution for the Labour party in pushing immigration as an issue – it may be ‘confusing’ for voters.

Jonathan Isaby at ConservativeHome looked closely at how George Osborne will conduct the upcoming spending review, while Nick Robinson reported that the government will soon publish a document aimed at consulting the public on spending cuts and the role of government. Capitalists@Work had some ‘low-hanging-fruit’ services that in their opinion, should be early targets for spending cuts, while Alex White blogging at the FT Westminster Blog warned that defence may be one of the first targets in the review. Guido also has some advice (via Canada) on how and what to cut from government, but Faisal Islam at Snowblog is against using Canada as an example of how to cut government services in the coming years. Nicola Smith at Left Foot Forward says that the coalition’s cuts will hit young people hard.

Mark Pack has more on the coalition’s plans for electoral reform – the AV referendum will be packaged in the same bill as one to reduce the number of MPs.

David Lammy MP blogging at Liberal Conspiracy supports ‘a woman’s voice’ in the Labour leadership race and warns against ‘narrow’ cliques. Labour Uncut has an interview with Diane Abbott, while Mike Smithson at politcalbetting.com recommended that Labour back the ‘bruiser’ Ed Balls in the leadership race; he has enough fight to take on the Tories, he says.

Wednesday

In the morning John McDonnell quit the Labour leadership race, and backed Diane Abbott; Paul Waugh at The Telegraph also has a good account of Abbott’s nomination in the early afternoon. George Eaton at The Staggers has comments on what effect Abbott’s nomination might have on the contest as a whole. Dan Paskini, blogging at Liberal Conspiracy says that Andy Burnham is Labour’s ‘token candidate’, not Diane Abbott.

Iain Martin at the Wall Street Journal asks Where is Gordon Brown?, in the style of a missing persons report; later he describes the Labour leadership race as an ‘economics free zone’.

Eamonn Butler has some international lessons for debt reduction, while Will Straw at Left Foot Forward has some arguments against fiscal contraction here. Mark Pack has some further comments on the Canadian experience, and Sarah Ditum looked at Iain Duncan Smith’s compassionate Conservatism.

Shamik Das at Left Foot Forward took a look at UKIP’s finance woes – £350,000 of their donations have been declared impermissible, and they are refusing to forfeit these.

Thursday

Peter Wrigley at Keyesian Liberal had thoughts on the AV system, and the Lib Dems’ support for it. Tim Montegomerie at ConservativeHome says that the Lib Dems will have to ‘swallow’ the government’s proposed higher tuition fees.

Stuart White does some ideological party mapping over at Next Left.

David Blackburn at Coffee House warned of trouble for the coalition if cuts mean that unemployment reaches the 3million mark.

Sunder Katwala at Next Left takes a look at ceilings for public sector pay – is £150,000 too high? Guido talks pay rises for Special Advisors and Ministers. Apparently Andy Caulson is paid more than Nick Clegg.

Tom Harris of And another thing… looks at the Labour leadership race – he encourages Labour to choose the candidate that the Tories are most ‘afraid of’?

Friday

Mike Smithson at politicalbetting.com warned against early poll-related predictions on the Labour leadership race, while ConservativeHome takes a look at the Tory right.

John McTernan, blogging at Labour Uncut outlines arguments for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent.

George Eaton at The Staggers is concerned that government cuts will hit the poor the hardest, while Rayhan Haque at Left Foot Forward has an in-depth discussion of the proposed Capital Gains tax reform, and Hopi Sen agrees with everyone.