Paper Monitor
10:43 UK time, Monday, 18 October 2010
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
The big political announcement of the week has been made today in the Daily Mail.
It's a revelation so significant that it threatens to overshadow the second-biggest event on Wednesday (something George Osborne wants to tell us, apparently).
Sadie, David Blunkett's guide dog, is to retire.
The former home office minister writes a poignant column about his trusty companion, now 10, who and has served alongside three Labour leaders.
Sadie is Mr Blunkett's third guide dog since he entered the Commons in 1987. She has been petted by the Queen and George W Bush (Paper Monitor note: isn't it appropriate to pet guide dogs?) and she barked at Vladimir Putin.
She also fell asleep, snoring, under the table at a meeting of the European Union in Brussels, proving that some meetings test the mettle of even the most dedicated among us.
His second dog, Lucy, was once trodden on by Tony Blair during Prime Minister's Questions, and yelped so loudly that she prompted an apology from the then Labour leader, which was recorded in Hansard.
Much as Paper Monitor enjoyed reading Mr Blunkett's reflections on life with Sadie, it can't help wonder why Sadie herself did not pen her own valedictory words. After all, this is the dog that once wrote .
Sadie's early forays into journalism, eagerly , gave some of her canine colleagues the confidence to find their own voice, sparking columns elsewhere from Buster and Hercules.
As she prepares to swap the hotbed of the Commons for a life of carefree country walks with a new family, Sadie can reflect on her pioneering work in pooch equality.
The 
