Chris Dillow of the Stumbling and Mumbling blog explores why real wages have been falling in the UK. Over at the Mindful Money blog, Shaun Richards evaluates the impact of this on the UK economy.

Writing in The Independent, Danny Blanchflower comments on the ridiculously high expectations facing Mark Carney, the incoming governor of the Bank of England. Meanwhile, Jonathan Portes, Ann Pettifor, Brad DeLong and Frances Coppola advise the new governor on the IPPR website.

Lord Norton gets an ‘Oh!’ from his colleagues at the House of Lords when remarking that the body, being composed mainly of old white men, represents well the predominant demographic opposed to gay marriage.

Simon Wren-Lewis of the Mainly Macro blog contrasts the media refrain regarding Labour’s record in power with the hard evidence, urging ‘academics to speak to truth, as loudly as they can, when it is being ignored by the media’.

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist at The Guardian that broke the story of widespread US intelligence agency surveillance, explores the heroism of whistleblowers and the threats and intimidation faced after secrets are exposed.