The Independent

Sarbdeep Swan, 37, personal assistant, London

Upstairs, downstairs, 2012-style

12 February 2012 12:00 AM

There are now more domestic workers in Britain than in Edwardian times. As the TV favourite returns Genevieve Roberts and Nick Butler meet some of them

Since 1952 the Queen has given royal assent to more than 3,500 Acts of Parliament.

60 facts about the Queen you didn't know

06 February 2012 11:57 AM

As she celebrates six decades as head of state, i uncovers some curious facts about Her Majesty.

Stamp featuring the Queen’s image on an old £1 note featured in the Royal Mail’s Diamond Jubilee Definitives collection

A royal stamp of approval

06 February 2012 12:00 AM

An enlarged stamp featuring the Queen's image on an old £1 note is one of six featured in the Royal Mail's Diamond Jubilee Definitives collection. The stamps, which will be available across the UK from today, show different images of the Queen used on stamps, banknotes or coins during the past 60 years.

Weather in brief: Whiteout for snowdrop fans; Sledgers take a wok in the park; The battle of Brick Lane; Thieves caught leaving tracks

06 February 2012 12:00 AM

Chippenham Park, near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, was closed to all but one hardy busload of snowdrop enthusiasts from Lowestoft yesterday morning. With 4in of snow on the ground they looked in vain for the flowers, which normally bloom on the first weekend in February.

South London estate residents bar filming

06 February 2012 12:00 AM

Residents of an infamous council estate that became a favourite location for film and television directors portraying urban decay have banned it from appearing on screen again unless it is depicted in a positive light.

Lyndsey Graham with her two-year-old son Dylan in the cab. She plans to take him to work until he starts school

Mum on the road... in a 44-ton lorry

05 February 2012 12:00 AM

Being a delivery driver saves on childcare, says one of Britain's growing number of female truckers

Video: Theresa May gets heel stuck in pavement outside No.10

31 January 2012 11:45 AM

In front of waiting cameras, Theresa May gets her heel stuck in a crack on Downing Street but takes it in good humour.

Snow came to the moors of Devon yesterday

Mild no moor: winter hits South-west

31 January 2012 12:00 AM

Snow came to the moors of Devon yesterday with blizzards on Dartmoor and Exmoor. A high pressure system over Scandinavia and western Russia is set to push raw, easterly winds across the UK as the week progresses, causing temperatures as low as -10c and one the longest cold snaps of the winter so far.

A contender in this year's Tough Guy Challenge suffers the fire, mud, wet and cold in Telford, Shropshire.

Tough Guy Challenge: Fire, mud and skirts

30 January 2012 10:49 AM

Not for the faint of heart, weedy of stature or flaky of disposition, this year’s Tough Guy Challenge saw around 6,000 competitors willingly hurl themselves into mud the consistency of chocolate milkshake, dart through fire, crawl on their bellies beneath barbed wire and splash their way through freezing water.

Boris Johnson celebrates Chinese New Year in Trafalgar Square, yesterday

Chinese New Year: The big beast of politics

30 January 2012 12:00 AM

There was optimism from the Mayor of London as he celebrated Chinese New Year in Trafalgar Square yesterday.

Sorry, chaps, women are better parkers

30 January 2012 12:00 AM

It is a stereotype that has spawned countless jokes and become a truth universally acknowledged by men across the land – women are the least proficient gender when it comes to parking a car.

'The cathedral of Middlesex': Great Barn of Harmondsworth has been rescued by English Heritage

'Cathedral' barn is saved

30 January 2012 12:00 AM

Britain's greatest surviving ancient wooden building, a huge medieval barn dubbed "the Cathedral of Middlesex" by John Betjeman, has been rescued for the nation after years of neglect at the hands of an off-shore property developer who bought it for £1.