Holidaymakers who have to claim on their travel insurance this summer have been warned that they could end up severely out of pocket because some policies have very high excess levels hidden in the small print.

Whether you're jetting away long-haul or just day-tripping, Rebecca Gonsalves rounds up the pick of the high street's sunniest buys

It's hard to pigeonhole Canadian singer Al Spx, aka Cold Specks, in the usual generic slots. She calls what she does “Doom Soul”, which almost covers the elements of soul, folk and darkling indie in the single “Blank Maps”, where hammer dulcimer and cello carry her soulful delivery of the typically quixotic sentiment “I am a goddamn believer”.

Sex toys worth £11,000 have been stolen by burglars who raided a mail order company, police said.

Much credit to the Blackburn fan who smuggled a chicken into Ewood Park to protest the side's owners, Venky's. But when most grounds check any kind of bag for booze, weapons or, God forbid, water, the question is – like when Inter fans smuggled a Vespa into the San Siro in 2001 – how did they do that?

Experts tried 400 times but could not recreate events without assistance

After spending many years in the background, writing the lyrics for artists as diverse as Tinie Tempah and Cheryl Cole, tonight, on the final date of her UK tour, Emeli Sandé is basking in the limelight.

The sunglasses

Ah, Paris in the spring.

Once, most British chaps wouldn't be seen dead carrying a tote or a sleek satchel. How things have changed...

Q&A: Travel unravelled

'My dream trip is to a country with no cricket'

Around 1,000 surfers will swap their boards for rubber gloves and bags this weekend for their biggest ever clean-up of plastic packaging, drinks tins and other debris on beaches.

This spring reawakens childhood dreams, with princess silhouettes, a soft palette and dainty embroidery covering the most delicate fabrics.