Nicolas Sarkozy launched a personal attack on David Cameron yesterday amid growing signs that last week's agreement struck by the other 26 European Union countries without Britain is already fraying at the edges.

Several non-eurozone nations having doubts about 'fiscal compact', while Sarkozy inflames divisions with attack on 'kid' Cameron

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that Europe "needs Britain" and a British departure from the European Union was "not on the agenda". Trying to heal some of the wounds created by the "Britain vs the Rest" split over the new eurozone fiscal pact last week, Mr Sarkozy added that he wanted to press ahead with "strong co-operation" between France and Britain on defence and nuclear energy policy.

Boxing will always be a sport apart. After the super-middleweight title fight between Britain's Nigel Benn and Nigel McClellan in London in 1995, which left the American with severe disabilities, Parliament debated a motion to ban the fight game.

Not another fight between the dads at an Under-9s football match?

Successful debt auctions in France and Spain brought some respite to European bond markets. Spain paid 5.19 to 5.54 per cent to sell bonds maturing in four to six years.

Imanol Harinordoquy, the exceptional No 8 who did more than anyone to drive France towards October's World Cup final in Auckland, may be the proudest Basque ever to play international rugby – a pride that has been known to manifest itself in a fierce dislike of the opposition, even if they happen to be Basques themselves. Anyone wondering where he gets it from has no need to wonder further. Blame the parents – or at least, M Harinordoquy Snr.

Tuesday’s Basque derby was always going to be a spiky affair – Biarritz, bottom of the table and without a home win in the league this season, against the star-studded ensemble put together on the chequebook of France’s Mr Specsavers, Alain Afflelou.

The Derby market, in the absence of 2,000 Guineas winner Frankel, is waiting for a seminal performance to emerge from the current round of Classic eliminators to capture the imagination anew. There may be one at Leopardstown this afternoon, or at York later in the week, but events at Lingfield yesterday will definitely not impact on next month's Blue Riband; neither Dordogne nor Hurricane Higgins, the first two home in the Surrey track's trial, is entered at Epsom.

Jay Landesman, who described himself as "a cultural pioneer", was one of the key literary figures of the Beat era which blossomed in the late 1940s, and for several years he published and edited a magazine he founded Neurotica, a quarterly journal that flourished between 1948 and 1952. His experiences dealing with writers and poets of the era inspired an unpublished novel, The Nervous Set, which became the first (and only) Broadway musical about beatniks.

The biggest fight I've ever had with my mum was over this book. It was the summer I turned 17, and my family were spending a fortnight in the Dordogne. I remember very little about that holiday. I have to phone my mum to ask the name of the nearest big town (Bergerac) and my sister to check other details, like the names of the boys we befriended (Jon and David).

Landlords must accept reality

It's hardly surprising that landlords would lobby so hard in relation to the proposed cap on housing benefit ("Landlords claim housing benefit sums are 'fiddled' ", 3 November). Many have benefited enormously from a flawed system which has undoubtedly driven up rents.