It’s Saturday morning, so here are eight thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

Why don’t we trust politicians? – The BBC’s Nick Robinson takes politicians to task, doesn’t let the media off the hook either… while Labour’s Rachel Reeves mouths platitudes.

The BBC regains its honour – Nick Cohen links the Beeb’s problems with Newsnight and Jimmy Savile to the wider question of institutional trust: ‘We ought to be extending anti-managerialism into every private and public hierarchy.’

The Savile inquiries: giving truth a bad name – Frank Furedi isn’t a great fan of truth and reconciliation-style post mortems: ‘There is no need for expensive inquiries to establish that Savile was a repulsive individual.’

A political problem: Labour’s lost voters are.. wrong. – Labour blogger Hopi Sen reminds us all where this country’s real problems lie — too many voters can’t handle the truth, and too few politicians want to give it to them.

Politicians of all hues want more local democracy. But do any of them know what it actually means? – Steve Richards addresses the public fear few Lib Dems like to address: ‘I worry about what would happen if my council acquired too many additional powers.’

The political books you need to own right now – Because it’s not too early to start hunting for those Christmas presents.

Fuckety-Bye To All That – Chris Addision bids a fond farewell to The Thick Of It as it fucks the fuck off from our TV screens.

CentreForum’s Liberal Hero of the Week #19: Rowan Atkinson – And talking of giving offence, I nominated the comedian for his stalwart defence of free speech: ‘For me, the best way to increase society’s resistance to insulting or offensive speech is to allow a lot more of it.’

* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.