diff --git a/src/calibre/db/cache.py b/src/calibre/db/cache.py
index 1a408939df..aa43785292 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/cache.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/cache.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import os, traceback, random, shutil, operator
 from io import BytesIO
 from collections import defaultdict, Set, MutableSet
 from functools import wraps, partial
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, itervalues, unicode_type, zip, string_or_bytes
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, itervalues, unicode_type, zip, string_or_bytes, cmp
 from time import time
 
 from calibre import isbytestring, as_unicode
@@ -956,14 +956,14 @@ class Cache(object):
 
         class SortKey(object):
 
-            __slots__ = ('book_id', 'sort_key')
+            __slots__ = 'book_id', 'sort_key'
 
             def __init__(self, book_id):
                 self.book_id = book_id
                 # Calculate only the first sub-sort key since that will always be used
                 self.sort_key = [key(book_id) if i == 0 else Lazy for i, key in enumerate(sort_key_funcs)]
 
-            def __cmp__(self, other):
+            def compare_to_other(self, other):
                 for i, (order, self_key, other_key) in enumerate(zip(orders, self.sort_key, other.sort_key)):
                     if self_key is Lazy:
                         self_key = self.sort_key[i] = sort_key_funcs[i](self.book_id)
@@ -974,6 +974,24 @@ class Cache(object):
                         return ans * order
                 return 0
 
+            def __eq__(self, other):
+                return self.compare_to_other(other) == 0
+
+            def __ne__(self, other):
+                return self.compare_to_other(other) != 0
+
+            def __lt__(self, other):
+                return self.compare_to_other(other) < 0
+
+            def __le__(self, other):
+                return self.compare_to_other(other) <= 0
+
+            def __gt__(self, other):
+                return self.compare_to_other(other) > 0
+
+            def __ge__(self, other):
+                return self.compare_to_other(other) >= 0
+
         return sorted(ids_to_sort, key=SortKey)
 
     @read_api
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py
index 349e104458..77889afe5f 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/base.py
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ __copyright__ = '2011, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import re, threading
+from functools import total_ordering
 
 from calibre import browser, random_user_agent
 from calibre.customize import Plugin
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import check_isbn
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.author_mapper import cap_author_token
 from calibre.utils.localization import canonicalize_lang, get_lang
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, cmp
 
 
 def create_log(ostream=None):
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ def cleanup_title(s):
     return s.strip()
 
 
+@total_ordering
 class InternalMetadataCompareKeyGen(object):
 
     '''
@@ -86,21 +88,38 @@ class InternalMetadataCompareKeyGen(object):
                 source_plugin.get_cached_cover_url(mi.identifiers) is None) else 1
 
         self.base = (same_identifier, has_cover, all_fields, language, exact_title)
-        self.comments_len = len(mi.comments.strip() if mi.comments else '')
-        self.extra = (getattr(mi, 'source_relevance', 0), )
+        self.comments_len = len((mi.comments or '').strip())
+        self.extra = getattr(mi, 'source_relevance', 0)
 
-    def __cmp__(self, other):
-        result = cmp(self.base, other.base)
-        if result == 0:
-            # Now prefer results with the longer comments, within 10%
-            cx, cy = self.comments_len, other.comments_len
+    def compare_to_other(self, other):
+        a = cmp(self.base, other.base)
+        if a != 0:
+            return a
+        cx, cy = self.comments_len, other.comments_len
+        if cx and cy:
             t = (cx + cy) / 20
             delta = cy - cx
             if abs(delta) > t:
-                result = delta
-            else:
-                result = cmp(self.extra, other.extra)
-        return result
+                return -1 if delta < 0 else 1
+        return cmp(self.extra, other.extra)
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) == 0
+
+    def __ne__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) != 0
+
+    def __lt__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) < 0
+
+    def __le__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) <= 0
+
+    def __gt__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) > 0
+
+    def __ge__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) >= 0
 
 # }}}
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/tweaks.py b/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/tweaks.py
index de18f88e34..93f9a4866f 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/tweaks.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/preferences/tweaks.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import textwrap
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from functools import partial
+from operator import attrgetter
 
 from PyQt5.Qt import (
     QAbstractListModel, QApplication, QDialog, QDialogButtonBox, QFont, QGridLayout,
@@ -104,9 +105,9 @@ class Tweak(object):  # {{{
             ans = ans.encode('utf-8')
         return ans
 
-    def __cmp__(self, other):
-        return -1 * cmp(self.is_customized,
-                            getattr(other, 'is_customized', False))
+    @property
+    def sort_key(self):
+        return 0 if self.is_customized else 1
 
     @property
     def is_customized(self):
@@ -190,7 +191,7 @@ class Tweaks(QAbstractListModel, AdaptSQP):  # {{{
                 pos = self.read_tweak(lines, pos, default_tweaks, custom_tweaks)
             pos += 1
 
-        self.tweaks.sort()
+        self.tweaks.sort(key=attrgetter('sort_key'))
         default_keys = set(default_tweaks)
         custom_keys = set(custom_tweaks)
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/caches.py b/src/calibre/library/caches.py
index 21413d4e31..359d6418cf 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/caches.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/caches.py
@@ -1113,13 +1113,31 @@ class SortKey(object):
     def __init__(self, orders, values):
         self.orders, self.values = orders, values
 
-    def __cmp__(self, other):
+    def compare_to_other(self, other):
         for i, ascending in enumerate(self.orders):
             ans = cmp(self.values[i], other.values[i])
             if ans != 0:
                 return ans * ascending
         return 0
 
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) == 0
+
+    def __ne__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) != 0
+
+    def __lt__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) < 0
+
+    def __le__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) <= 0
+
+    def __gt__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) > 0
+
+    def __ge__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) >= 0
+
 
 class SortKeyGenerator(object):
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/ipc/job.py b/src/calibre/utils/ipc/job.py
index 70cd4612c6..881575705e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/ipc/job.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/ipc/job.py
@@ -6,13 +6,17 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2009, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-_count = 0
 
 import time, io
+from itertools import count
 
 from calibre import prints
 from calibre.constants import DEBUG
 from polyglot.queue import Queue, Empty
+from polyglot.builtins import cmp
+
+
+job_counter = count()
 
 
 class BaseJob(object):
@@ -22,10 +26,7 @@ class BaseJob(object):
     FINISHED = 2
 
     def __init__(self, description, done=lambda x: x):
-        global _count
-        _count += 1
-
-        self.id            = _count
+        self.id            = next(job_counter)
         self.description   = description
         self.done          = done
         self.done2         = None
@@ -125,22 +126,36 @@ class BaseJob(object):
     def is_running(self):
         return self.is_started and not self.is_finished
 
-    def __cmp__(self, other):
-        if self.is_finished == other.is_finished:
-            if self.start_time is None:
-                if other.start_time is None:  # Both waiting
-                    return cmp(other.id, self.id)
-                else:
-                    return 1
-            else:
-                if other.start_time is None:
-                    return -1
-                else:  # Both running
-                    return cmp(other.start_time, self.start_time)
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return self is other
 
-        else:
+    def __ne__(self, other):
+        return self is not other
+
+    def __lt__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) < 0
+
+    def __le__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) <= 0
+
+    def __gt__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) > 0
+
+    def __ge__(self, other):
+        return self.compare_to_other(other) >= 0
+
+    def compare_to_other(self, other):
+        if self.is_finished != other.is_finished:
             return 1 if self.is_finished else -1
-        return 0
+
+        if self.start_time is None:
+            if other.start_time is None:  # Both waiting
+                return cmp(other.id, self.id)
+            return 1
+        if other.start_time is None:
+            return -1
+        # Both running
+        return cmp((other.start_time, id(other)), (self.start_time, id(self)))
 
     @property
     def log_file(self):
diff --git a/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/model.py b/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/model.py
index 910076fd24..458aa347ed 100644
--- a/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/model.py
+++ b/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/model.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ __copyright__ = '2009, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import copy, zipfile
+from functools import total_ordering
 
 from PyQt5.Qt import QAbstractItemModel, Qt, QColor, QFont, QIcon, \
         QModelIndex, pyqtSignal, QPixmap
@@ -18,6 +19,8 @@ from calibre.web.feeds.recipes.collection import \
         SchedulerConfig, download_builtin_recipe, update_custom_recipe, \
         update_custom_recipes, add_custom_recipe, add_custom_recipes, \
         remove_custom_recipe, get_custom_recipe, get_builtin_recipe
+from calibre import force_unicode
+from calibre.utils.icu import primary_sort_key
 from calibre.utils.search_query_parser import ParseException
 from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type
 
@@ -59,12 +62,19 @@ class NewsTreeItem(object):
                 child.parent = None
 
 
+@total_ordering
 class NewsCategory(NewsTreeItem):
 
     def __init__(self, category, builtin, custom, scheduler_config, parent):
         NewsTreeItem.__init__(self, builtin, custom, scheduler_config, parent)
         self.category = category
         self.cdata = get_language(self.category)
+        if self.category == _('Scheduled'):
+            self.sortq = 0, ''
+        elif self.category == _('Custom'):
+            self.sortq = 1, ''
+        else:
+            self.sortq = 2, self.cdata
         self.bold_font = QFont()
         self.bold_font.setBold(True)
         self.bold_font = (self.bold_font)
@@ -81,25 +91,23 @@ class NewsCategory(NewsTreeItem):
     def flags(self):
         return Qt.ItemIsEnabled
 
-    def __cmp__(self, other):
-        def decorate(x):
-            if x == _('Scheduled'):
-                x = '0' + x
-            elif x == _('Custom'):
-                x = '1' + x
-            else:
-                x = '2' + x
-            return x
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return self.cdata == other.cdata
 
-        return cmp(decorate(self.cdata), decorate(getattr(other, 'cdata', '')))
+    def __lt__(self, other):
+        return self.sortq < getattr(other, 'sortq', (3, ''))
 
 
+@total_ordering
 class NewsItem(NewsTreeItem):
 
     def __init__(self, urn, title, default_icon, custom_icon, favicons, zf,
             builtin, custom, scheduler_config, parent):
         NewsTreeItem.__init__(self, builtin, custom, scheduler_config, parent)
         self.urn, self.title = urn, title
+        if isinstance(self.title, bytes):
+            self.title = force_unicode(self.title)
+        self.sortq = primary_sort_key(self.title)
         self.icon = self.default_icon = None
         self.default_icon = default_icon
         self.favicons, self.zf = favicons, zf
@@ -126,8 +134,11 @@ class NewsItem(NewsTreeItem):
             return self.icon
         return None
 
-    def __cmp__(self, other):
-        return cmp(self.title.lower(), getattr(other, 'title', '').lower())
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return self.urn == other.urn
+
+    def __lt__(self, other):
+        return self.sortq < other.sortq
 
 
 class AdaptSQP(SearchQueryParser):
diff --git a/src/polyglot/builtins.py b/src/polyglot/builtins.py
index d66cb9c576..67b194a97b 100644
--- a/src/polyglot/builtins.py
+++ b/src/polyglot/builtins.py
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ if is_py3:
         code = compile(code, f.name, 'exec')
         exec(code, ctx)
 
+    def cmp(a, b):
+        return (a > b) - (a < b)
+
 else:
     exec("""def reraise(tp, value, tb=None):
     try:
@@ -74,6 +77,7 @@ else:
     long_type = long
     exec_path = execfile
     raw_input = builtins.raw_input
+    cmp = builtins.cmp
 
     def iteritems(d):
         return d.iteritems()