Welcome to this week's Britblog Roundup, which unfortunately clashes with a visit from the Pope. Plenty to get through, so let's get cracking.

We start with politics, as that is the meat and drink of this blog. In fact, let's start with the 10p tax band. Jonathan Calder exposes the short-term cynicism of the move, which was barely remarked on by Labour MPs this time last year - because they weren't 10 points behind in the polls.

Whilst on the subject of cynicism, I wondered who would be the first to do this:

Eunydd Thomas, who left his Carmarthenshire County Council ward after receiving a so-called “golden goodbye” of at least £16,000 from the Welsh Assembly Government in 2004, is now canvassing for re-election, claiming “great demand” for him to return to the post.

The Welsh Government have admitted there is no legal reason he can not do so, despite saying four years ago that only councillors who had “no intention” of ever standing as councillors again could apply for the money.

Can anyone say they are surprised? Incentives, as Worstall would say; incentives.

And, speaking of incentives (seamless, this), a typically insightful (and provocative) post from Chris Dillow at Stumbling and Mumbling: why we should not pay child support. (Do also read the post by Hopi Sen, on the Shannon Matthews case, that inspired it.)

Problems for the government's "flagship Diploma qualification". Brian Micklethwait untangles some horribly mixed metaphors.

Gordon Brown has not had his troubles to seek, and his infamous decision to sell off half of Britain's gold reserves in the summer of 1999, at the very bottom of the price curve (and thereby [indirectly] costing the country billions) has become the stuff of legend. But PigDogFucker lays down a fair challenge to all the Brown-haters (of whom I am enthusiastically one): were you snorting in derision at the time? I can't honestly say that I was. But, in my defence, I was probably in bed with a girl. Or something.

Every right-thinking bloggers' favourite prank monkey, Councillor Terry Kelly of Paisley, is at it again - describing the government's plans for cadet units in state schools as "offensive". Right For Scotland was such a cadet (as was I) and has returned to blogging after a spell of paternity leave (congrats, sir) to spell out exactly why TK is wrong and why the cadet corps is something to be treasured, not pilloried.

Finally on politics, TravelGal, guestblogging at A Very British Dude, writes about South Africa, China and Zimbabwe.

Let's dip a tentative toe into the world of feminism. I'm not going to editorialise too much here, having been guilty of a great deal of sexism on this blog over the last week: so I shall direct you to The Daily (Maybe)'s defence of Amanda Marcotte - I don't quite understand why on this occasion, but she's been taking a lot of flak from the sisters - and a very disturbing case from Scotland, where a woman with learning disabilities found she was, as a result, considered an "unreliable witness" - to her own rape.

On a slightly lighter note, Lady Bracknell has an extremely amusing vignette that demonstrates the difference between US English and the real thing.

Two of the best medical bloggers around - if not the two best - have two posts up this week which are both, in their different ways, rather moving and certainly thought-provoking. The superlative Random Acts of Reality, which you should really be reading more often; and Doctor Crippen, who you should be reading every day.

My London has a review of a compelling one-man show which fuses drama with hip-hop. And, since we've brought up hip-hop (a subject on which Mr Eugenides is, naturally, an expert), you may enjoy this move from Barack Obama, which we are reliably informed is lifted straight from Jay-Z:

Let's wrap things up with a few posts that aren't easily classified - one of the perennial selling points of the Britblog Roundup. Barkingside 21 reiterates a simple truth of economics; it is not supermarkets that destroy small independent traders; it is us, for shopping with them. Early Modern Whale relates the story of a remarkable 12 year-old girl who spent a long illness reciting devout Christian truths, much to the amazement of family and community.

Historical novelist Elizabeth Chadwick tells us her guilty secret; she was inspired to write her first book when she fell in love with a French-Canadian ham actor - complete with "freshly washed blow-dried hair" - in a long-forgotten childrens' mini-series. And finally, Susanne Lamido tells us the tale of the Hackney Mole Man. (If you want to know why, you have to go and read it.)

That's your lot for this Sunday. Tune in next week, when the Roundup will be hosted, appropriately enough, at Amused Cynicism.

Until then, as the man used to say: Toodle-pip!