Week on the web

This was widely seen as the week Gordon Brown fought back,again, with a fix for the 10p tax row and a raft of new legislativeproposals.

The Mail's Ben Brogan gives the definitive guide to the Brownfour-stepfightback programme.

The FT's Westminster blog links to Labourhome's new regular poll,which aims to take the temperature of Labour activists.

It shows Brown's stock falling, and Miliband's rising.

Cassilis has a damning assessment of Labour's response torecent events, arguing that they have failed to recognise changesin the Conservative Party, "not dissimilar in fact to Tory tacticsin the mid-90's".

In the week Anatole Kaletsky asked why the media were so soft on Brown,Michael White questions why they are so soft on theTories.

Martin Meenagh stands up for the prime minister - sort of -saying Brown "is not that bad" and comparing him to Nixon.

Struggling to defend Brown was the Labour candidate for Crewe andNantwich, Tamsin Dunwoody, who rather excruciatingly (andbafflingly) refused to call Brown an asset.

Most bloggers seem to agree Brown's fortunes rest on theby-election, which this week saw Coronation Street actress LizDawn, aka Vera Duckworth, drafted in to help.

ChickenYoghurt says: "If you vote for a political party because a deadsoap opera character told you to, you will lose your vote. And yourprefrontal cortex."

Kevin Maguire says the Tory candidate has been nicknamed"Timmy" by Labour MPs, after the spoilt Vizcharacter.

But OliverKamm, who also links to the Dunwoody video, says it is evidenceof a "thunderingly inept" Labour campaign.

The blogger behind Crewe bloghas responded admirably to the arrival of the by-election circus onhis patch, and provides an excellent behind-the-scenes view of thecampaigning.

It is joining the Boulton & Co blog to organise a live online debate with the three candidates.

There has been some talk this week of how by-elections ain't whatthey used to be.

As a reminder, here's Littleborough &Saddleworth from 1993, featuring the Monster Raving LooneyParty and Mr Blobby.

With comparisons with the 1990s abouding, here's a profile ofanother crucialby-election test for the prime minister in 1993 - when the LibDems achieved the largest-ever swing against the government in aby-election.

More political nostalgia from Westmonster, which has been digging up old party electionbroadcasts including this Labour gameshow from 1970.

And finally, anyone hankering after reliving - or rewriting - thoseold elections, can now do so thanks to the general electionsimulator, via Dizzy.