Government ministers are riding roughshod over the civil service, and that leads to government by cock-up and a loss of morale in Whitehall

They all know how to pull off the celebrity apology

The Home Secretary is "on the precipice of destroying a police service that is admired and replicated throughout the world", rank-and-file officers said today.

More than 20,000 off-duty police officers took to the streets today as they warned that Government cuts are putting public safety at risk.

Up to 16,000 off-duty officers will don black caps representing each officer expected to be lost under the Government's budget cuts as they take to the streets tomorrow.

Rank-and file police officers are to stage a protest over proposed changes to their pay and conditions.

Independent report will put ministers on the spot with recommendation of awards for officers

In an essay in praise of idleness, that cadaverous philosopher Bertrand Russell argued "that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work".

Who knew that there is a soft-porn star called Teresa May? Well, obviously fans of her filmic oeuvre and glamour model shots know this. So does Theresa May, who has received invitations intended for a near namesake who does something no Tory Home Secretary would ever countenance, ie, publicly dropping an 'h' along with her garments. She also provides hot action with a lesbian colleague, in case you are interested.

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has defended using day-release prisoners to paint her home, claiming they "didn't have anything else on".

René Girard knew better than most what made Christianity Christian. Primitive societies, he argued, are overcome by "mimetic desire". Rivals within any group are driven by a fierce competitive instinct to do the other down, and own what he owns. The solution is to identify a potential victim, the vanquishing of whom temporarily restores peace and civility. In Roger Scruton's unbeatable analysis, "scapegoating is society's way of recreating 'difference' and so restoring itself. By uniting against the scapegoat, people are released from their rivalries and reconciled."

Senior coalition figures were holding out the prospect of a return to government for David Laws tonight despite a damning verdict on his expenses claims.