The former director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken MacDonald QC (pictured), has criticized the UK’s system of self-regulation of the press calling on "all credible media organisations" to withdraw from the "farcical" Press Complaints Commission (PCC).

According to the Guardian, Sir Ken argued for independent regulation of the press saying "The press may think the PCC works, but they are living in a dream world. Nobody else does."

‘Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor, said the credibility of the PCC was "clinging by its fingertips", and that recent investigations had been "embarrassing".'

‘The PCC's current review should work out whether it has the capacity to be a regulator or a mediator, he said.

The universities minister, David Lammy (pictured), in an interview with the BBC, has said that universities identified as being at risk of targeting by extremists will have counter-terrorism police stationed on campus.

Mr Lammy told BBC Radio 4's The Report, "We have identified universities for whom the risk is greater and they have to work closely with Special Branch, and so I think it is a partnership between leadership at universities and the police."

"We recognise that threat levels have been raised and that this is an extremely serious issue and that there are particular institutions – and those institutions are aware of this because we have brought it to their attention – where the risk is greater. Those institutions are working very closely with the police, and are working closely with Special Branch, and those institutions are present on campus."

The Guardian reports that Lammy 'declined to name the institutions in question, saying he did not think that would be "helpful" and refused to be drawn on whether university Islamic societies should be monitored more closely.'

The Jewish Chronicle reports that Tzipi Livni is planning to visit the UK within months to test the government’s resolve in changing the law on universal jurisdiction.

The government has come under heavy lobbying pressure from Israel and Anglo-Jewish groups to amend the law, which allows for those accused of war crimes to be arrested on British soil at the instruction of magistrates who rule that a prima facie case exists. Anglo-Jewish groups are pushing for a change to the law that will effectively exempt Israeli officials who don’t enjoy diplomatic immunity from possible arrest and prosecution for alleged war crimes.

Tzipi Livni told the JC:

“I will do this not for me, not for provocation, but for the right of every Israeli to travel freely. I am not going to be restricted by extremists because I fought terror.”

She said the law was “being abused by extremists for political reasons. Belgium and Spain have changed their laws, and the British know that they have to do so”.

“My intention is not to stay in Israel for ever. I don’t think as a decision-maker, who made decisions against terror, that I should plan never to leave Israel. The British fight terror, too. They do not remain in Britain. They travel.”

Perhaps Ms Livni might have considered that her decisions during the Gaza assault, in which 1,400 Palestinians were killed, would bear heavy consequences?

Andrew Dismore (pictured), MP for Hendon and chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights has questioned whether the credibility of the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, has been undermined. Dismore also advocated introducing a fixed term for the post.

Dismore’s comments were made after a committee hearing on the future of the control order regime. The control order system has suffered several blows following legal judgments ruling on their erosion of the legal rights of defendants and the inadmissibility of ‘secret evidence’ as reason to subject individuals to control order restrictions.

Lord Carlile has supported the system saying there was no “suitable alternative”.

"I think there is a risk of the perceptions of [Carlile's] independence being undermined, and that then undermines [his] credibility.'

Amnesty International has criticised Israel’s response to UN demands for investigations into allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law during its brutal assault on Gaza last year as being ‘totally inadequate’.

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Programme Director Malcolm Smart said:

“The investigations undertaken by Israel fail to meet international standards of independence, impartiality, transparency, promptness and effectiveness.

“The Israeli military is investigating itself and in no way can this be adequate in obtaining the truth and ensuring justice for the victims.”

“There were numerous credible allegations during Operation ‘Cast Lead’ that violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli forces caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians, led others to be used as “human shields” and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and other civilian infrastructure.

“Yet more than one year on, according to the update, only one soldier has been convicted of an offence as a result of the Israeli investigations, and that was the theft of a credit card.”

The burqa continues to attract the most illiberal of attitudes with the Conservative MP for Kettering, Philip Hollobone (pictured), expressing ‘huge sympathy with those who want action taken against people who want to cover themselves up in public’ and likening it to ‘the religious equivalent of going around with a paper bag over your head’.

During a parliamentary debate yesterday, Hollobone spoke on immigration and its effects as ‘overwhelm[ing] our indigenous culture in ways that are frankly unacceptable’.

The comments as recorded in Hansard are as follows:

‘Mr. Hollobone: The problem is the scale of the immigration-the number of people heading our way-and it is going to overwhelm our indigenous culture in ways that are frankly unacceptable.

‘At the crude end of the debate, the problem is reflected in talk about the burqa. I must say that I have huge sympathy with those who want action taken against people who want to cover themselves up in public. How ridiculous would the House of Commons be if we were all to wear burqas? How would Mr. Speaker be able to identify which Member to call next?

‘Mr. Frank Field: The voters might prefer it. [Laughter.]

‘Mr. Hollobone: The voters might well prefer it, but it is the religious equivalent of going around with a paper bag over your head with two holes for the eyes. In my view, it is offensive to want to cut yourself off from face-to-face contact with, or recognition by, other members of the human race. We should certainly look at ways to tackle that issue.’

The Independent published an article yesterday on the findings of a ComRes survey it commissioned on attitudes towards the burqa. See the survey results here.

Contrast the Independent’s headline on the article and its opening paragraph with the coverage on the same in the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.

The Independent titles the story, ‘Poll shows Britons back limited curbs on the veil’, and opens with:

‘The British people support some restrictions on wearing the burka in public but oppose an outright ban, according to a new poll for The Independent. The ComRes survey found that almost two out of three people believe it should be illegal to wear a burka in places such as banks and airports. But six out of 10 people oppose a ban on wearing it in all public places.’

While the Daily Mail headlines the article ‘One in three Britons want total burka ban’ and the Daily Express titles it ‘Ban the burkha’. The Daily Express also misprints the survey results by stating in its opening sentence:

'Two out of three people believe burkhas should be banned in public...'

When in fact two out of three people oppose a ban on wearing the burqa in 'any public place'.

The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown MP today delivered the first address in IPPR’s series of speeches by senior politicians and leading thinkers on a progressive future for Britain, as we approach the next general election.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Arts, the Prime Minister set out his vision for ‘A New Politics’. He said:

‘It's clear people want to change the way politics is done in this country. People want to get involved in big causes and want to be part of a strong community, as they showed so movingly in the recent Haiti disaster appeal and in campaigns like Make Poverty History before it, but we have to accept we have a lot to do to make politics the focus of their idealism and their hopes.

‘From young people who have more faith in single issue campaigns than broad based party programmes, to the people who say they won't vote, to those who are tempted by the fringes and the extremes, it is clear that the way we do politics in the future needs to be different from the past.

‘And while the vast majority of MPs work around the clock to serve their communities, it is clear that the public have been rightly outraged by the expenses crisis, so trust needs to be restored.

‘And so the question today is do we make the championing of the renewal of politics and a new constitutional settlement a central cause for this decade, or do we just talk about change without giving it substance?'

The Southern Daily Echo carries a feature item on Noor ul Islam primary school (pictured) in Leyton, east London.

Prompted by the possibility of a Muslim school opening in Southampton, and what it could mean for the community there, reporter Sarah Jones goes off to observe the workings of a Muslim school elsewhere.

Jones writes:

‘Bashing out emails to any Muslim primary school in London I could find, I have to admit I wasn’t too hopeful of a response.

‘What I wanted was clear – a visit to their school ASAP – but what was in it for them?

‘The proposed new school in faraway Southampton would mean little to them and head teachers are busy people.

‘And no one can ignore the fact that it’s not the easiest of PR jobs to sell an Islamic school in the current political climate. I never heard from the first six schools I emailed.'

Lord Andrew Phillips of Sudbury (pictured) writes a comment piece for The Independent today on the gross travesty of justice that persists in the Middle East with the Palestinians in Gaza suffering under a blockade while Israel is allowed to act with impunity, despite its breaches of UN resolutions and allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during its savage assault on the Gaza Strip last year.

Lord Phillips writes:

‘To visit Gaza for a third time in five years still induces a gut reaction of pity, depression and anger – pity at the hopeless, helpless plight of the Palestinians; depression about their future and, ironically, that of Israel too; and anger at the latter's cynical policies – and impunity.

‘Following the Gaza blitz the UN raised a $4.5bn restoration fund. Not one dollar has been spent, so vindictive is Israel's siege by land, sea and air. Bare survival is thanks to the tunnels under the Egyptian border, but they are now being blocked off. If and when that is complete further radicalisation of the Palestinians and working class Muslims elsewhere is inevitable, and with it more terrorism in the West, of which the abuse of Palestine is the greatest engine.

‘But what for me and many explodes the Israeli apologia for their conduct in Palestine, and particularly its security claims, is its relentless colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, settlers now totalling around half a million. Nothing could be as provocative, except perhaps the assault on, and siege of, Gaza conducted with the same controlled violence as characterises the occupation of the West Bank with its hundreds of humiliating and disruptive checkpoints and a pass system which outdoes that of old South Africa.'