It was typical of the self-aware, self-referential and self-deprecating “third Russell of comedy” to acknowledge that the X Factor final had taken a slither out of his audience share tonight.

Fear of siding with the right against a corrosive celebrity culture forces liberal thinkers to tolerate questionable values

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow is "not exactly chuffed" to see his wife in the Big Brother house, she has admitted.

Fans of The Hour (of which I'm most definitely one) will already be familiar with the "brisk banality" that so often dominated mid-century news coverage. It's depicted beautifully there, the Powers That Be calling for society lunches while the world slowly spins on its political axis. "Martial law may have been imposed in Poland," complained reporter Freddie (Ben Whishaw) in episode one. "And we have footage of Prince Rainier on honeymoon with his showgirl."

John and Edward talk to us about their new album Victory and their fame following Eurovision.

The cream of Irish music gathers together in Dublin to serenade the US President.

This is a state visit like no other. No walkabouts, no crowds of schoolchildren waving Union Jacks and an awful lot of police and security barriers. Try as politicians might to present the Queen's arrival in Ireland as evidence of just how normal Anglo-Irish relations have become, they're still not quite.

They may never win the football World Cup or triumph at the top of the medal table at the Olympics, but they were celebrating in Baku last night as Azerbaijan was crowned winner of the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time – finishing well clear of the United Kingdom and Ireland entries.

German teenager Lena will attempt to become the first Eurovision Song Contest winner to defend her title successfully on Saturday in the annual competition famous for light entertainment and heavy-duty kitsch.

Rising soul pop star Carrie Mac gives us the skinny on her favourite tunes, pop idols... and Jedward.

His famously stinging critique of Martin Amis's writings on Islam helped to make his name as Britain's foremost literary critic. But Terry Eagleton has saved some of his most poisonous invective for a fellow critic.