CHANCELLOR Gerhard Schroder extended an olive branch to the left wing of his party yesterday, bringing one of his fiercest critics into government.

Then loosen up. Your body language could be blocking your promotion.

AMBITIOUS CIVIL servants will need to discover their "feminine side" if they want to emulate Sir Humphrey Appleby. But unlike him they must not be afraid to cry. The Civil Service College, where high flyers train, is to spend thousands of pounds teaching future permanent secretaries to say: "No, Minister - I have a bad vibe about this."

Is office flirting normal and healthy, or potentially threatening and innapropriate? Flirting guru Peta Heskell takes on ex-model Judi James

School project work has a lot going for it as a teaching method, but it is also a font of parental cheating, rampant copying and a resourcing nightmare.

SIR PAUL CONDON, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, will admit that a number of his officers are intentionally racist when he appears before the Stephen Lawrence inquiry later this week.

First of all, be prepared. Research your audience in depth. Why are they there and what do they expect to hear from you? Then tailor your speech to that particular audience. Know your purpose. Why have you been invited to give a speech, what are you trying to do? If there are several speakers, be absolutely certain that you're not speaking on the same subject as any of them. Get material from as many sources as you can: friends, colleagues, books, magazines, the Internet. Decide on the points you want to make and work your material into a logical structure. Tell the audience what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you've told them. Your opening words should be guaranteed to grab the audience's attention. Make your points clearly and succinctly, in a logical order. Remember that a good speech is heavily weighted toward example and illustration. You've got to help your audience visualise what you're saying. The conclusion should be strong, to hammer home your message so the audience remembers both it and you. Use your body language, it will help you emphasise the points you are making. If you're nervous, let the adrenalin help you, that's what it is there for. The knowledge that you've spent hours preparing will give you confidence. Put yourself in the right frame of mind and say to yourself: I'm looking forward to this, I'm going to give this speech and nothing is going to stop me from getting my message across. Fiona McClymont

Has being PC made us forget how to have fun? asks Hester Lacey

No need for any reader to feel ashamed for not recognising who was doctor and who the patient in your perception problem ("Are you thinking too much", 25 May). It was nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with body language.

When Adventures in Motion Pictures' corps of 18 male swans first spread their wings in the autumn of 1995 the media wilfully dubbed it "the gay Swan Lake". Yet the show's reappearance in the West End this week ruffled no feathers among traditionalists. Following its sell-out first season and tour, word has got out. Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake isn't a parody or a subversion: it's an hommage. And far from making light of Tchaikovsky's score, it plumbs depths uncharted by Petipa's original. What's more, Bourne's meticulous attention to dramatic nuance allows him to give his love-story-cum-thriller all the psychological complexity a modern audience craves but rarely gets from narrative ballet.

Violetta's a cross-dresser, but who exactly are the other denizens of this demi-monde? Edward Seckerson relishes the detail in Jonathan Miller's new staging of 'La traviata'

The Lord Chancellor's adherence to a 50-year-old edict shows a lack of vision, according to campaigners