Hmm, what shall I write about today?...

Any idea what Andrew Gilligan has been writing about today? Tell you what - don't bother guessing - you know what the answer will be anyway.

Today he expresses his disgust at the payouts to Ken's "closest cronies" (apparently there is a scale of cronyism).

Don't worry though - Livingstone is given a whole three sentences to defend himself. (Which is three more than he usually gets).

In typical Evening Standard style the article is accompanied by a less than flattering photo of an adviser to the former mayor: sneering, scruffy and not that far removed from an average press snap of some recently convicted criminal.

For more examples of this photo-spin, compare those accompanying stories about Ken and company, which you can find by clicking here (scroll to 3rd photo) and here, with a typical one about Boris, located here.

"Cronyism". That must be Andrew's favourite word. For those who want a definition of the word, the Gilligan Dictionary defines it as: "A person who works or has worked with Ken Livingstone."

I've said it many times before: The man, by any measure, is completely obsessed with the former mayor. His inability to change the subject is bizarre. But it is one particular aspect of this that concerns me: His criticisms go beyond the last mayoralty, beyond the former staff, beyond previous policies. It centres on the man himself. It would not be unfair to go as far as to say that Gilligan hates Ken Livingstone.

Beyond this is an overt policy from both Gilligan and the Standard as a whole to protect and support Mayor Johnson - the man who gave Gilligan a job - from criticism.

Any negative stories that surface are immediately dismissed as over-reactions, non-events, "nitpicking", the early blips that come from a new start, or someone else's fault.

If all else fails and a positive spin cannot be put on such a story then it is simply sidelined or ignored completely.

It is this that destroys any attempts to claim journalistic impartiality.

For me, the hypocrisy of Andrew Gilligan can be best summed up by the following:

Back in March of this year, in an interview with the Independent about his "war with Ken", Gilligan said:

"We are just doing what journalists should do, which is holding people in power to account. I will do exactly the same to Boris if he becomes mayor."

Mr Gilligan - you lied.