George Osborne announced his Autumn Statement this week

Pick of the week: It’s all smoke and mirrors

Pick of the week: It’s all smoke and mirrors

A chance for you to catch up on our five most-read items of the week.

FiveSyria debate shows Corbyn is sinking fast

In fifth place this week we have a piece which looked at yesterday's Syria debate in the Commons. It found Jeremy Corbyn's performance to be less than impressive and concluded that he is watering down his strong anti-war views to keep the Labour party together. 

Four: Spending review 2015: Osborne's tricks – and how to spot them

Next up is a piece which looked behind the headline grabbing announcements of the spending review and instead highlighted the tricks the chancellor uses to evade scrutiny.

Three: Zac Goldsmith would scrap all London's bus lanes

In third place is our story on comments made by Zac Goldsmith which suggested he would scrap London's bus lanes if he becomes mayor. In an interview with LBC he said that the rise of electric cars would make the lanes obsolete.

Two: Osborne's spending review shows this is an extremist government

Next is a response to the Autumn Statement from the Green leader Natalie Bennett. She says plans for a 'small government', a massive agenda of privatisation, and speculative punts on energy show how the Tories are running an extremist government.

One: No one 'banned' the Church of England ad – they're making it up

And in the top spot this week is a piece which looked at the Christian ad ban which never was. It suggests the furore over it has been little more than a well crafted PR stunt by the Church of England.