In a major policy speech this week Ed Miliband announced: "The next Labour government will have less money to spend ... we will have to be laser-focused on every single pound we spend."

As part of this candid new approach, Miliband singled out Britain's welfare budget for special attention. Universal benefits that ended up in the pockets of wealthy pensioners and middle-class parents would need to be re-evaluated, he said, and the welfare budget would be capped. Or at least the part of it that is deemed "structural" - the part that persists beyond the normal economic cycle.

Miliband's speech was the second part of a Labour double-header this week. Ed Balls had already prepared the ground with a speech in which he vowed to enforce an iron discipline on his cabinet colleagues.

And finally, the latest in a long line of lobbying scandals has been the talk of Westminster this week. But it's not just the low-level skullduggery of free holidays and undeclared donations that continues to blight politics. According to Seumas Milne, the revolving doors between parliament, the civil service and big business are of far wider concern.