You make some good points about how Google can use, and is using, its strengths in other areas to help push G+. I think this is the most important factor, much more so than features such as Circles. That's because, though they are nice and have brought in a useful innovation, Facebook has the people and money to be able to copy any feature tweak that someone else tries and turns out to be popular. What lets another firm really challenge a big, rich competitor is when they can do things which simply having lots of resources don't easily let you match - as with Google making use of its big email and search user base, something that Facebook's money can't simply buy (even if they buy up another search company).

As it happened, I missed all the media coverage after the initial report of 1 feared dead for about 12 hours. That means I missed the diversion into inaccurate Islamic speculation, but it also brought home how another part of these stories is often not only rapid speculation dressed up as analysis but also hopelessly inaccurate early death figures. I can understand why they turn out to be so wrong, but given how often the number of deaths is either hugely more than early reports (as in this tragic case and in the case of 9/11) or thankfully massively less, but only rarely roughly the same, that is also a reporting habit that could do with questioning.

Ah, clearly we think alike on the exam photos! Welcome to enter my £50 for charity challenge on this score: http://www.markpack.org.uk/50-for-a-charity-of-your-choice/

Very nicely put in that penultimate paragraph of your post.

The Mail got lots of its facts wrong including, rather amusingly, the times of the tweets which far from being sent in the middle of the night were sent during the day: http://bit.ly/axSuUt

Thanks for responding, but all the other professional, independent pollsters who have followed strict guidelines have come up with different results? Or are you saying that ComRes, ICM etc aren't independent + professional?

How come you don't mention any of the other four polls which paint a very different picture - i.e. Lib Dem support holding up and Lib Dems in second ahead of Labour?

I suspect those results - particularly the relatively low ranking for TV - would have looked very different if you'd been asking at 9pm rather than 9am?

Pew are reputable and know their stuff when it comes to surveys, but... how can a poll that is conducted amongst adults (18+) only be used to produce figures for the media age of users of services that allow under-18s to use them?

Jon: I'd ask the question the other way round. If people are willing to pay for (just) the official version of news largely about one club, doesn't that suggest that others offering news that is more than the official line and is about the sport more broadly would also be able to charge? I think the issue is more about having content which really stands out from other content that is available for free - which is where it is easier for a club.

Didn't ICM for Sunday Telegraph in May put Labour in third? Not much of a consolation, mind you!

Yup, that's my top Blackberry configuration tip. It's great to see the surprise and relief on some people's faces when you show them that they don't have to be bugged by the flashing light all the time.

Graham: that's not as big a problem as it sounds, because councils only have to fully check against original records a sample of postal ballots. So they could decide to do all but those which are logistically very difficult - but still check over the phone that the date of birth given is correct (which provides some protection against fraud).

Congratulations Simon. Hope the new job continues to go well.