Flipchart Fairy Tales weighs in on this week’s story of the former Goldman Sachs banker who trashed his former employer in the pages of the New York Times. The blog notes that not even banks go from nice to nasty in a decade.

The Economist’s Bagehot discusses the current state of UK-US relations, noting that the two respective leaders are closer than conventional wisdom would suggest, and many British Conservatives would vote for Obama.

Ryan Shorthouse writing for the New Statesman makes the case for a strengthening of the liberal right in British politics through a more codified Lib Dem-Tory alliance.

Jonathan Portes at Not the Treasury View analyses the government’s work experience programme and investigates whether it does in fact work.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation blog discusses research on whether employment is enough to keep parents out of poverty.