Politics Live blog: Monday 28 November

• David Cameron has chaired a meeting of ministers to discuss plans for Wednesday's strike. "Part of that contingency planning is working with different bits of the public sector to make sure people are aware of likely disruption," the prime minister's official spokesman said.

• Dave Prentis, the Unison general secretary, has said that there could be a "rolling programme" of strikes going into the new year if the government does not back down over public sector pension reform.

• Sir Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has told MPs that the eurozone crisis is largely to blame for the Bank downgrading its growth forecast for this year and next year. "The bulk of the downward revision can be attributed to news since August about what is happening in the eurozone," he said. "It is the bulk of it. Beyond the one year horizon we have not made significant changes to our growth rates."

• Steve Webb, the pensions minister, has announced that automatic pensions enrolment for small businesses will be delayed by a year until 2015.

• John Bercow, the Speaker, has said that he is "gravely concerned" about the way so many details of the autumn statement have already been released. When Labour's Angela Eagle raised this on a point of order in the Commons, Bercow said: "I have been gravely concerned about these matters and I can tell the House I have had conversations with senior members of the government on the subject. I would like at this stage to await events. The House will look forward with interest and respect to hearing the statement by the chancellor tomorrow, but I remain alert to the concerns raised and I shall be looking further into the matter." Government announcements are supposed to be made to the Commons before they are made to the press.

That's it for today. Thanks for the comments.

3.48pm: Here's a short afternoon reading list.

• Katharine Birbalsingh at the Telegraph writes about David Lammy's new book about the summer riots, and quotes from the passage where Lammy describes what happened when he raised knife crime with Gordon Brown.

It was at the end of the session that Gordon came over to ask if there was anything in particular that I would like to raise. "Actually, there is," I said, noticing him look alarmed that I might be about to launch into a long speech. "I'm really worried about knife crime." It was still a big concern in Tottenham and was showing the signs of morphing from an inner city problem to a nationwide concern. More and more mothers were turning up at my weekly advice surgeries and telling me that they felt scared and helpless to stop their sons drifting into trouble. "What are we doing for these women?" I asked. "Often the father isn't around, and their own parents might be on the other side of the world. They're not coping and we've got to find a way of helping them." Gordon looked at me quizzically while I spoke, as if I was missing something obvious. "Tax credits," he responded, as soon as I finished. "If they're single parents and they're working, they'll be entitled to them." With that there was a pat on the arm. "Thanks, David." On to the next conversation.

• John Rentoul on his blog posts the full transcript of Ed Balls' interview with the Independent on Sunday, which includes Balls' thoughts on Friday evening TV and his account of how he tried to get on Jim'll Fix It.

When I was young, the ideal Friday night was Pot Black, 9 til 9.25, One Man and His Dog, Pro Celeb golf and then HSB. It was just top TV. Jim'll Fix It was great in the early evening slot. Final Score; Doctor Who or Jim'll Fix It, but after 7, 7.30 it really fell apart. Strictly is more in the teatime slot. X Factor: that's filled a slot which has been pretty awful over the last 20, 30 years. It was good fun. I wrote to Jim [Jimmy Savile] many times. I wanted to conduct an orchestra; never got that. Can I be a drummer? Probably "Can I be the mascot for the England football team?" More or less the same as everybody else. I didn't think I was ever quite quirky or innovative enough. Never occurred to me to be. I never got it, I never got the call. My sister did get a Blue Peter badge. For a picture. A very exciting moment. I was very, very jealous.

• Luke Akehurst at LabourList says Labour campaigners should read Lord Ashcroft's research about public opinion and the economy.

Given [what Ashcroft's report says], the economic themes articulated by Ed Miliband in his recent speeches make a lot of sense: avoiding any suggestion of increasing public spending but instead talking about changing the economic rules to make the system work for the hard-working majority and ensuring we don't have another financial crisis; criticising top pay abuses and excessive energy company profits as well as benefit fraud; speaking up for the "squeezed middle" who are hit by stagnant pay and rising prices.

This report says to me that as a party we need to be campaigning as hard on prices and pay as on cuts.