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Nick Robinson, Political editor

Nick Robinson Political editor

Welcome to Newslog - come here for my reflections and analysis on what's going on in and around politics

A question of judgement

It was an £8bn bid for control of a media empire.

A politician would have to take the ultimate decision about whether News Corp would be allowed to take full control of BSkyB - whether, in other words, the Murdoch family empire extended its media power.

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How war decision could be reached

It may soon be decision time on war in the Middle East - a war which could follow an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities designed to stop any plans they might have to develop a nuclear bomb.

The consequences of any war are incalculable.

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Ministers discuss war in Middle East

Senior ministers are discussing how Britain would respond in the event of a military confrontation between Israel and Iran later this year.

With new international talks about Tehran's nuclear programme due to start in Baghdad later, ministers remain hopeful that diplomacy can prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapon and persuade Israel not to carry out its threat to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.

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Prisoner vote ruling 'helpful'

I understand that government lawyers regard the latest ruling on whether prisoners should have the right to vote as "fairly helpful".

However, ministers have yet to study the full judgement or to agree how to respond to the latest ruling from Strasbourg.

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IMF backs Osborne

Update added below at 11.50am

It was the soundbite of the chancellor's dreams. The head of the IMF said that when she looked back at the UK's deficit in May 2010 and imagined there being no plan to reduce it "I shiver".

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IMF – Backing Plan A or calling for Plan B?

Stand by for the latest utterances of the IMF about the state of the UK economy to be scoured for evidence of support for the government's Plan A or backing for Labour's calls for a Plan B.

The fact that the chancellor is rolling out the red carpet for the Fund's managing director Christine Lagarde suggests that George Osborne is pretty confident that what she'll say is helpful. In truth, whoever is head of the IMF has to be a diplomat and has to maintain good relations with the world's finance ministers in order to persuade them to stump up the funds the IMF needs.

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Battling to win economy argument

The Coalition believed that it was winning the argument on deficit reduction, but fears it is in danger of losing the argument on growth.

That is the principal reason for the prime minister's speech today and his insistence that there is no choice between austerity (bad and found wanting) and growth (new and potent). So, David Cameron claims that deficit reduction and growth are NOT alternatives: indeed, he argues, delivering the first is vital to securing the second.

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Cameron sticks to his charted course

The language could not be clearer.

"It's time to stand firm" and "to resist dangerous voices" calling for "retreat" and "to take the right course" not " the easy one".

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About Nick

Nick started blogging about politics for the BBC in 2001 when he was one of the earliest mainstream journalists in the UK to adopt the format.

He has been in his current role since 2005.

Before he was political editor, he did the same job at ITV News, before which he was chief political correspondent for BBC News 24, deputy editor of Panorama and a presenter on BBC Radio 5 live.

He began his time at the BBC behind the microphone, starting as a trainee producer in 1986 on Brass Tacks, Newsround and Crimewatch.

Based at Westminster, he has particular responsibility for serving the flagship news programmes, including Today on Radio 4 and the Ten O'Clock News on BBC One.

Born in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1963, he attended Cheadle Hulme School, followed by University College, Oxford where he studied politics, philosophy and economics.

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  • Martin Rosenbaum, Freedom of information specialist Martin Rosenbaum Freedom of information specialist

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