This week  Spun out: Derek Draper  Mandelson's former protege-
turned-psychotherapist resigned from his editorship of the
LabourList website as a result of the No 10 smear scandal in
which leaked emails showed him apparently approving of using the
site to spread lies – real lies, not the usual stuff – about the
Tories. He thus becomes possibly the first spin doctor in
history to prove that not all publicity is good publicity.
Except of course for Mandy. And himself, back in 1998 when he
was in the middle of all that lobbying-for-cash controversy.
Note to Labour's future self: if you're in crisis and you're
turning to Draper for help, that's not a solution, that's a
symptom.  Election dysfunction: Silvio Berlusconi  So you are a
72-year-old self-made billionaire who is friends with an
18-year-old girl who calls you "papi" and whose birthday, unlike
those of your own children, you leap to attend? So you're a
prime minister who likes to fill his cabinet with inexperienced
but attractive young women? So what? Is t