The country's past rulers ate bulls' balls, burned heretics and shunned sex – and we think ours are a bad lot

Take it from me, there's much more to Game of Thrones than gnomes bumming

If you find Sorkin's latest a bit trite, think on this: at least you're not watching Winter Wipeout

Forget wearing your heart on your sleeve – for today's politicos, it's all about the badge on your lapel

The Government has shown "no leadership" on cycle safety despite an alarming rise in cyclist deaths over the past year, it has been claimed.

Soak up the politics and party action on the South Coast

What in hell's teeth did we watch before HBO came along? Its latest is this saucy medieval fantasy drama, based on George R R Martin's bestselling novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, and while it may not be in quite the same league as The Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire, it's still considerably more gripping than your average British drama.

It is hard to accept that something that enormous and that popular can be as good as people tell you it is. A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin's vast fantasy epic – simply reading that phrase will close some minds instantly – has been appearing at irregular intervals since 1996. It is now being adapted as a television series. The first season, A Game of Thrones, recently aired on HBO and Sky Atlantic.

On Tuesday 14 June, a shocking, heart-wrenching documentary was shown on Channel 4. ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’, broadcast just after 11pm, displayed what presenter Jon Snow described as “devastating evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and a powerful case for bring those guilty of these crimes to justice.”

Children sleep within inches of fungi growing through walls. Immigrants live illegally in sheds in other people's back gardens. These are just two examples of the rise of slum housing in Britain, as individuals and local authorities struggle to cope with a 21st-century housing crisis which has led to unscrupulous "slum landlords" profiteering from society's most vulnerable.

Jon Snow, the Channel 4 newsreader and president of the national cyclists' organisation, CTC, has added his support to The Independent's "Save our cyclists" campaign, launched yesterday.