He believes in hanging, in legalising guns, and the gamut of right-wing obsessions, but he should be saluted for his latest act of bulldog patriotism. He has persuaded the Commons authorities to fly the Union flag on all three flagpoles above the Houses of Parliament all year round, and not just on the day of the Queen's Speech. And why not?

Where were you, Gordon?

*Is Gordon Brown turning publicity-shy late in life? Since the summer break, the Prime Minister's ( Read more... )
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It is thought the trains failed as they left the cold air in northern France and entered the warmer air inside the tunnel, Eurostar spokesman Bram Smets said.

The exhausted passengers are now on their way home, hours later than expected, but the tunnel remains closed.

Hundreds of people are stuck in France waiting for services to resume and many others are waiting in Folkestone.

The service is suspended until midday today and anyone ( Read more... )
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Despite Thursday's assurances that the airport had a "robust response plan" to deal with the conditions, it was forced to close until 10am yesterday, causing disruption to thousands of passengers. After 38 flights were cancelled and a further three diverted, a spokeswoman insisted: "The overnight operation did exactly what it was supposed to do."

Officials had insisted on Thursday that there would be no repeat of the flight cancellations in February because this latest ( Read more... )
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It is expected to be held early in the new year in time for industrial action against the airline to start by the end of January or in February. A ballot is likely to take two weeks to be completed and the union has to give a week's notice that it is to take place and a further seven days' notice of any strike approved by members.

Union officials had planned for a 12-day strike to start next Tuesday, ruining the Christmas travel plans of a million passengers, but the ballot was ruled illegal ( Read more... )
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Between them, they are meeting £24,782.18 demanded of them by Sir Thomas in his final batch of letters to MPs this week. The repayments are in addition to £15,318.16 they had already returned because of his audit. The Conservative frontbenchers have also returned at least £30,000 deemed as unacceptable by an internal party investigation. Conservative MPs have now paid back more than £250,000 in claims since the expenses scandal blew up in May.

Last night, the party said it was "leading the ( Read more... )
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Anxiety over running out of battery or credit, losing one's handset and not having network coverage affects 53 per cent of the UK's 45 million mobile-phone users, according to the study by YouGov.

Stewart Fox-Mills, the head of telephony at the Post Office, which commissioned the survey, said "nomo-phobia" was a real phenomenon for many people. "We're all familiar with the stressful situations of everyday life such as moving house, break-ups and organising a family Christmas, but it seems ( Read more... )
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Solicitor General Vera Baird was embroiled in a confrontation at King's Cross railway station in central London.

The Redcar MP said her new puppy was unwell and made a mess on a platform which she was unable to clear up.

Mrs Baird, a well-known dog lover who won the annual Westminster Dog of the Year competition in 2004, said she asked cleaning staff for help.

But a mother with her young child confronted the senior politician over the ( Read more... )
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Local authorities were warned yesterday that they will be blacklisted if they fail to meet tough targets to combat housing benefit fraud costing taxpayers £2bn a year.

Alistair Darling, the Social Security Secretary, is writing to councils, telling them he will use his powers to "direct standards and timescales for improved performance". Mr Darling is concerned so many local authorities are not providing the management information needed to assess them.

Inspections will concentrate ( Read more... )
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Lance Corporal David Kirkness, 24, and Rifleman James Brown, 18, of the 3rd Battalion the Rifles, were manning a checkpoint protecting the busy bazaar in Sangin, Helmand, when they were killed by a pair of suicide bombers on a motorcycle at a vehicle checkpoint.

Two members of the Afghan National Army were also killed and a further two suffered serious injuries in the attack on Tuesday.

The following day, their commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Nick Kitson and his Afghan counterpart ( Read more... )
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After formal complaints from neighbours, Westminster City Council has imposed various working conditions on the Punchbowl in Mayfair, including customers not being allowed to drink outside after 8pm and smokers restricted to a certain area after that time. Staff also have to make hourly checks outside for glasses and litter.

Ritchie, whose Sherlock Holmes remake premiered in London this week, co-owns the pub. Some 70 complaints about rowdy drunken crowds have been made in the past 18 months. ( Read more... )
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On their last working day before their Christmas break, senior Tories will outline plans to tackle unemployment, crime and coastal erosion in towns they claim missed out on the ?Brown boom? and have suffered badly in the ?bust? that followed.

The shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling is off to a very chilly Dover, shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague is going to Cleethorpes and shadow Chancellor George Osborne to Penzance and Newquay. Tory chairman Eric Pickles will ( Read more... )
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The inquiry had been criticised during its first month of public hearings for being overly secretive with documents and failing to properly pin down those heavily involved in taking Britain to war. In a staunch defence of the conduct of his team, Sir John said that there had already been "valuable and illuminating evidence" produced and said that important documents would be published next year.

"We have not been trying to ambush witnesses or score points," Sir John said. "But this is a ( Read more... )
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Yet, as its first four weeks of public hearings draws to a close, Sir John Chilcot's inquiry into the decision to invade Iraq has already exposed a string of failings within the British Government during the 70 hours of testimony given by the 38 witnesses that have appeared so far. One theme has emerged above all others.

"This time, in contrast to previous inquiries, where it becomes essential, they are prepared to leave Blair in the firing line," said Brian Jones, a former Ministry of ( Read more... )
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Sir Thomas Legg, the retired civil servant who scrutinised Commons claims, has told some 200 of the 753 MPs he investigated to return money. Nearly half of them are challenging his rulings.

Party leaders have urged MPs to comply with the demands in an effort to wrap up the expenses scandal. The Conservatives will today detail repayments by Shadow Cabinet members.

But the resistance of such large numbers of backbenchers ensures the controversy will drag on until close to polling day.

The ( Read more... )
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Union leaders reacted with fury to the ruling, which they described as a "disgraceful day for democracy", but BA executives were exultant at winning a postponement, at least, of industrial action until after the lucrative Christmas and New Year period.

Cabin crews who had been expected to walk out on Tuesday will now be expected to work as normal after Mrs Justice Cox granted an emergency injunction after hearing of "serious and substantial" irregularities in the way the ballot was carried ( Read more... )
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The decision by the Supreme Court to insist that the over-subscribed Jewish Free School (JFS) in London must use religious rather racial definitions to select its pupils has reignited an ancient debate about what constitutes the nature of Jewishness. Different people locate the answer in different places somewhere inside a triangle which is bounded by faith, ethnicity and culture ? with identity, religious practice and the politics of Zionism each pulling the definition in contrary ( Read more... )
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A light dusting across south east England this afternoon precedes up to 15cm (5.9ins) in areas around London overnight, forecasters warned.

Temperatures remained resolutely above freezing across the UK at lunchtime but they would plunge as low as minus 9C (15.8F) tonight in the Scottish Highlands, MeteoGroup UK, the weather arm of the Press Association, said.

With treacherous conditions during festive preparations, the ( Read more... )
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The film director co-owns The Punch Bowl in Mayfair, west London, which has been bombarded with 70 complaints about rowdy drunken crowds over the past 18 months.

City of Westminster Council will consider whether to remove, suspend or change the terms of the venue's licence, which has attracted celebrity customers including singer Justin Timberlake and actor Kevin Spacey.

Ritchie, 41, is one of the pub's directors with Piers Adam, who was at the hearing, and Guy ( Read more... )
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The patient, who has not been identified, died at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow yesterday.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said blood tests had shown the presence of the deadly bacteria.

The sickening fake tribute site, which lured in more than 350 members, was established on Tuesday hours after Barry Michael McCarney (30) appeared in court charged with sexually assaulting and killing the 15-month-old baby at her Co Fermanagh home last weekend.

Comments relating to the heinous abuse the baby allegedly suffered were posted on a page entitled ?RIP Millie Martin? on the popular social networking site from contributors across the world. A number of ( Read more... )
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