Dunky settles into new job...

There was an interesting debate on prisoner release this morning related to the Al Megrahi (left) and Ronnie Biggs cases.

Nick Palmer MP was trying to get to grips with the question of when prisoners should be released on compassionate grounds and when they shouldn’t.

He reckoned it should never be down to a politician to decide – which given the manoeuvring around the Lockerbie bomber’s case feels like a sensible suggestion.

The SNP were there and a justice minister. But it seems as though Alan Duncan, the newish shadow prisons minister, found something more interesting to do.

He moseyed on down to Milbank for a slot on The Daily Politics, leaving David Burrows to fill in.