The columnists are sticking with tried and tested issues.  So much so that when you see the list of topics (poor schooling, poor prisons, poor planning) you wonder if the pieces themselves will be derivative. 

One such piece is Steve Richard's in The Independent ('How the bloggers are making politics more febrile, more fun - and more challenging') In it, he rehearses the rather patronising  political-blogs-are-quite-interesting observation. So do today's columnists put up a reasonable fight?

Education

• Johann Hari in The Independent blends the true life events of Big Brother with the failings of the education system. ('Big Brother and the failed generation')

Prisons

• Camilla Cavendish in The Times uses the news that indefinite detention was attacked by the courts yesterday to launch a full frontal on the lack of direction or vision for prisoners. ('This is your prison scandal, Prime Minister')

• Ross Clark, also in The Times, refreshes the ongoing planning debates with a series of challenges to policy makers ('We've got lots of Countryside. Lets start building')

• Peter Riddell, in the last piece for today from The Times, suggests that it might not be a good thing for the Tories to descend into leadership introspection and civil war ('Get rid of Cameron? Tory mutineers are bonkers')
  

• Lib Dem members are often exasperated by the fact that other people just don't get them.  No doubt eyes will therefore roll when seeing the headline to Alan Cochrane's piece for The Telegraph -  'What are the Scottish Lib Dems for?'.  However, the question is worth while asking following the news that the Lib Dems have sunk to just 4% in the polls since May's elections (see the piece for various caveats on the poll itself)

Steve Richards argue that newspapers are still more influential than blogs.  Given today's interesting crop of opinion (especially the Prisons and Planning stories) the dead tree press is still very much in the ring.

Fresh from last week's rubbishing of the Lib Dems, Simon Jenkins this week writes an article that, in many ways, could only be written by a Lib Dem.  The cause of his ire this week is the Planning White Paper:

Blair's dismantling of local planning under the 2004 act is clearly to be completed under Brown. His ambition is simply to de-democratise the future development of Britain. When he next makes a speech about wanting "empowered communities and enabling rather than centralising government", someone in the audience should blow a raspberry and shout "hypocrite". The Tesco Clauses betray big business's grip over Labour

The Times fills in more of the details about what is upsetting Jenkins so much ("Proposals give supermarkets an easy ride to out-of-town centres")

Also in today's news

• David Howarth gives an update to the Lib Dem position on nuclear power ("These nonsensical arguments for nuclear power") More of Howarth's reasoning can be found in CentreForum's Britain After Blair.
  
• If you've been following The Tories squabbles over grammar schools you will want to read "Cameron should look to his Right" by Conservative Home editor, Tim Montgomerie.  The message is that the Tory right are wanting to flex their muscles - but backed out from doing it this time.