Modest to a fault, Steven Adams explains while tuning up that his band’s performances start awkwardly, only relaxing at the end, so everyone feels short changed.

A couple have been cleared of killing their four-month-old son who was suffering from rickets.

My experience working for The Access Project, a charity that helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds win places at university, has convinced me that when it comes to widening participation, the focal point should always be grades.

This is a column no columnist is supposed to write. The whole business of journalism is to put the reader first, not one's own interests. But these are desperate times, and in response to a critical situation I am going to flaunt that rule.

Alongside two guitars and a piano, there is also a thick, heavy black folder on stage with Ryan Adams tonight. Flipping through its well-organised pages, it's possible to see the deliberations and doubts on the singer's face as he decides what to play next.

Strife in the Square Mile? 'Twas ever thus

Police were appealing for witnesses last night as they investigated the killing of a blind imam inside a London mosque shortly after he had taken morning prayers.

There was better news for embattled Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today when Liberal Democrats captured a seat from their Tory coalition partners in the latest council by-elections.

Police today warned clubbers to beware of a potentially deadly batch of Ecstasy after two people were taken seriously ill at one nightclub over the weekend.

Three years ago, Simon Baile was hailed as the saviour of Oddbins when he took control of the off-licence chain. Sadly, it didn't work out in the end – the company went into administration in the spring after the taxman vetoed a rescue plan – and it seems some people at Oddbins hold their managing director responsible. This farewell message was sprayed on the door of the Oddbins branch in Islington, London, yesterday: "Goodbye everyone, it's been a pleasure – Simon Baile, I hope you rot in hell".

A one-off event paying tribute to Dylan's 70th birthday, Thea Gilmore's concert showcased her own re-recording of his John Wesley Harding album, interspersed with one or two musical and poetic asides.

Ian Holloway intends to sit down with chairman Karl Oyston to plot a way out of the relegation mire Blackpool landed in yesterday.

As London’s first pub theatre, the King’s Head has always punched above its weight: I lost count of the major writing talents which emerged there during the Seventies and Eighties, and the transfers to the West End. After its only begetter Dan Crawford died in 2005, the down-home, ramshackle honesty with which he infused it seemed doomed to extinction too.

When someone's got northern soul, it's good to see them keeping the faith. The Bolton-born indie rock quintet Cherry Ghost have got it by the coal mine-full, and huddled round the font in Islington's Union Chapel they looked every bit the heavenly host, albeit with guitars rather than harps. Performing in a cherry-coloured glow which whispered through the stained-glass windows, you'd be forgiven for mistaking them for the resurrected personas of all those who died of joy at the first-ever Smiths gig.