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RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: The public are sick and tired of being ignored and patronised

Andrew Feldman is the man in the headlines after allegedly describing Tory activists as 'swivel-eyed loons'. He denies making the throwaway remark. Feldman's alleged remark, whether or not he said it, is the default position of the political class towards the world outside the Westminster madhouse. The views of the great unwashed really are held in contempt by the self-styled sophisticates in their hermetically sealed bubble. You'd be forgiven for thinking the real swivel-eyed loons are all inside the Westminster Bubble.

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Who's in charge of the clattering Tory Party?

Press baron Lord Beaverbrook used to ask of his newspapers when they seemed rudderless: 'Who's in charge of the clattering train?' The same question may now be asked of the Tory Party.

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Cameron spared a potentially embarrassing session of PMQs tomorrow

Either by luck or design David Cameron hasn't taken one PMQs since April 24

Either by luck or design, David Cameron hasn't taken one Prime Minister's Questions since April 24. Six weeks will have passed by the time he next takes one on June 5.

The perils of beheading a giant prawn

From being the odd one out to receiving giant prawns with their shells still on, CRAIG BROWN continues his handy cut-out-and-keep A to Z of reasons to avoid dinner parties.

Fingers were wagged about not respecting minorities

A speech in favour of tolerance: At yesterday's gay marriage debate, Edward Leigh was opposing discrimination against people who disagreed with same-sex marriage

QUENTIN LETTS: Yesterday's gay marriage debate was a battle of intolerances. 'You're less tolerant than me.' 'Rubbish!' Yes, folks, it was another day of MPs wagging fingers about the wickedness of not respecting minorities - and then shouting down Hon Members who disagreed with them. What's more, Edward Leigh made a speech so in favour of tolerance that a visiting martian might presume that he was a Cameroon, a Blairite, a devotee of the Harmanite creed of anti-discrimination.

In 70 years, have we gone from the greatest to the weakest? Silly spats prove how weak our leaders are

David Cameron the Prime Minister eand Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister

The 2013 coalition is paralysed by the question of whether or not we should continue to belong to the European Union, now led by all- powerful Germany, writes PETER MCKAY.

The Great Innocence Robbery: The awful abuse of girls in Oxford is just the latest consequence

The Oxford sex gang in court, from L to R: Zeeshan Ahmed, Akhtar Dogar, Anjum Dogar, Kamar Jamil, Bassam Karrar, Mohammed Karrar, Assad Hussain

PETER HITCHENS: Commentators take what they want to from scandals. Already this is happening to the debate about the mass abuse of young girls in Oxford.

Old women are great with cakes - but far too prickly for TV news

Warm and nurturing: Mary Berry is wonderful, and I want her to continue for ever

LIZ JONES: Mary Berry (pictured) is wonderful, and I want her to continue for ever, but with their loud cries for comebacks, Angela Rippon, Joan Bakewell and Selina Scott, remind me why this particular sort of older woman is a turn-off.

Dave's got to kiss and make up - or face a divorce

Dragged in: It has been claimed that the Prime Minister used the 'swivel-eyed' insult himself to deride Euro rebels

JAMES FORSYTH: The Andrew feldman scandal could poison for ever relations between Cameron and his party, sending the Tories into the next Election as a divided force

Cameron's chums DO despise the grass roots

Whether or not the swivel-eyed comment was made by Lord Feldman or whether it was another member of his core group, the result is the same

Try as it might, there is no honourable way for the Tory leadership to draw back from the fact it thinks that grassroots Conservatives are swivel-eyed loons, writes MELISSA KITE.

The day I was almost killed by a rampaging herd of cows

The combination of aggressive cows minding their young and enthusiastic walkers can be fatal - many readers will be familiar with a sense of trepidation when walking through a herd of these cud-chewing beasts

The combination of aggressive cows minding their young and enthusiastic walkers, especially those who have dogs, can be fatal, as DAVID BLUNKETT so very nearly found out.

Never in living memory has our political elite seemed so disconnected from the pressures faced by ordinary people

DOMINIC SANDBROOK: For most people, times are tough. Summer is fast approaching yet, with food prices rising and energy costs rocketing, many families feel too squeezed to contemplate a holiday. One small group of lucky winners, however, is laughing all the way to the bank. For according to reports yesterday, Britain's 650 MPs can soon look forward to a £10,000 pay rise, taking their basic pay to a whopping £75,000 a year. Yet the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, who takes home an annual £142,826, believes that Britain's MPs earn only an 'ordinary' wage.

Tories are in a frenzy - but Soapbox Ed is caught with his pants down

Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband talks to members of the public in Hastings town centre from his soapbox

DAN HODGES: This week, the Conservatives have been working themselves into another Euro frenzy. But this has masked a more significant - and dark - mood that has settled over Ed Miliband and his troops.

The more abuse Mr Gove gets from the teachers, the more you know he's right

Michael Gove has been attracting unprecedented amounts of flak from the teaching profession on account of his education reforms. At the weekend, he came under fire from head teachers at their annual conference

Michael Gove has been attracting unprecedented amounts of flak from the teaching profession on account of his education reforms, which says to me that he is bang on target, writes MELANIE PHILLIPS.

What would my old village Bobby make of these swaggering RoboCops toting assault rifles that fire 750 rounds a minute?

Show of force: A police officer armed with an assault rifle and a baton gun on the estate in Luton

TOM UTLEY: Suffice it to say that the menacing young officer pictured in yesterday's paper is hardly the sort of copper I'd feel comfortable asking for the time.

'Yes, Britain IS on the move again - all because we didn't take the coward's way out': GEORGE OSBORNE's bullish assessment of 'healing' economy

Vision: George Osborne says the UK economy is on the right course

The economy is healing slowly, the tough decisions we have taken together as a country are beginning to pay off - and in me, you have a Chancellor who is going to stick to the course we have set out.

Airline pilots and pizza delivery boys work all hours. How arrogant of GPs to think it's beneath them

In the old days, if you were ill outside normal working hours, you could call your surgery and your family doctor would come round to see you.

DR MARTIN SCURR: The vocation and the art of medicine has been sacrificed for short-term economic gain, as measured by ticked boxes and statistics.

Ed's 'out-sourcing' police work while colleague Hazel works for a company seeking to profit from it

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Labour MP Hazel Blears has a new job, 'providing strategic advice on crime and policing matters' for Juice Advisory, a firm of ex-policemen who advise, inter alia, the new Police and Crime Commissioners

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: 'Loons' that Cameron alienates at his peril

Mr Cameron should heed Lord Howe's warning that he risks 'losing control' of his party and use his charm to convince grassroots supporters that he respects and understands their concerns.

Mr Clegg was like a farmer, gummies stuck in the mire

Soon Clegg was up to his oxters in doo-doo. It is rare to hear such obvious lies at the despatch box

QUENTIN LETTS: The deputy PM was confronted with a 2010 election leaflet in which Mr Clegg called for an in-out referendum. Now the same Cleggy is blocking the idea. Soon he was up to his oxters in doo-doo.