Morning Report: March 22nd

Cracks are appearing in what once seemed to be a united front over Libya. Divisions have opened up between the government and the army over whether Gaddafi is a legitimate military target. Whilst the motion on military intervention passed overwhelmingly in the commons last night, some who had been for the action are now having second thoughts. Tom Watson is unlikely to be the only Labour MP feeling this way today. As Rachel Sylvester notes in the Times (£), we played by the rules, and now we need to stick to them.

In yet another blow to worker’s rights, Eric Pickles has announced the scrapping of a deal that ensured that public sector workers rehired by the private sector get contracts that are “no less favourable”. Or to put it another way, Eric Pickles just made it easier for councils to get rid of staff and have someone else rehire them on worse wages to do the same job. And all in the name of “localism”. The mask is slipping…

Elsewhere this morning, there’s record satisfaction with the NHS, so why on earth are the government so determined to break it up? George Monbiot has had a conversion to nuclear power in the wake of the Japanese earthquake (figure that one out). And the Times has a headline so bizarre that I checked it wasn’t April 1st – “Chancellor hopes £100m pothole fund will restore nation’s optimism” (£). Straws. Clutching.