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.

The housing charity Shelter estimates that there is a shortage of a million homes in the UK

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.

Journalists divided by plan to turn selected presenters into stars – and relegate others

The scarlet poppy is a symbol of blood sacrifice and death; it is also a symbol of the stubborn renewal of hope and life

Notebook

A new exhibtion, Things, at the Wellcome Collection, opens in London today.

Alessandro Talevi's high-risk production around an old four-poster pays off, with a terrific Opera North cast and an astonishing richness of sound

The Tory MP Zac Goldsmith engaged in a furious on-air row with the Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow last night over an investigation into his general election campaign spending.