The Rugby Football Union today announced that Canterbury will replace Nike as England's kit manufacturer for the next four years.

A pocket rocket of a player, he is now eyeing glory as a coach. He talks to Dave Hadfield

Four members of a criminal gang have been jailed for their role in one of the biggest alcohol smuggling frauds ever uncovered in Britain.

The General Synod debates women bishops again today. While they make up their minds, John Walsh weighs the palaces and puce robes against the political powerlessness

Frank Cioffi was a remarkable member of the early-1950s Oxford generation of philosophers. In his later career he was known for the fresh, original, combative precision of his essays and lectures, his half-century of critical engagement with Freud and his illuminating explorations of often neglected aspects of Wittgenstein's later works. The enormous range of his reading and conversation provided a wealth of accessible examples, often humorous or earthy, to anchor difficult philosophical points. His explorations of the character, scope and complexity of humane knowledge offer strength to those who seek to develop a philosophy of the humanities to supplement or rival the philosophy of science and expand our philosophical understanding of human knowledge.

Sportswear firm JD Sports Fashion has bought all of Blacks Leisure's 290 stores out of administration for £20 million.

Christian leaders delivered a string of politically-charged sermons yesterday attacking financial greed – capping a year of tumultuous events that has often seen the religious establishment wrong-footed.

A man who grew a large cannabis plant to look like a Christmas tree will spend the festive season behind bars after police found his home-based drug factory.

New Zealand's worst-kept sporting secret was finally revealed today when Steve Hansen was announced as the new All Blacks head coach.

Matt Parish has quit and returned to Australia less than six months into a three-year contract as coach of Salford after several differences of opinion with the club's director of football, Steve Simms. He is now expected to take up the role of assistant coach to Geoff Toovey at the Australian champions, Manly.

Women made up two in three of all council staff who lost their jobs in the past 15 months – and in some councils made up all job cuts, the GMB union has said.

Police today appealed for information to identify the culprit behind an "elaborate hoax" after two suspicious devices closed down parts of a city centre.