The Festival has lost none of its intensity since expanding to a fourth day in 2005, but those who counselled that "less is more" may yet feel they had a point when they contemplate today's card. Elevated to the Thursday centrepiece, the Ladbrokes World Hurdle has hitherto borrowed lustre first from Inglis Drever, who won three times in four years, and then from Big Buck's, whose record-breaking spree of 18 wins has incorporated the last four runnings.

Obituaries promoted on the front page of a broadsheet and language that would never pass in a UK paper demonstrate a vastly different set of values

However conscientiously they strive to improve the odds in terms of safety at Aintree – a greater imperative than ever, after trauma and tragedy in each of the past two years – the one thing they will never provide is a level playing field. Even so, some felt that the dice had been unfairly loaded in favour of one horse in particular when the weights for the John Smith's Grand National were published.

Given that awards and judgements seem to be a natural feature of the turn of a year, surely the statisticians at the sport's ratings bible Timeform can take the opportunity to hand out a bit of justice with the removal of one of their pejorative gongs. For the past four seasons the symbol for unreliability – a periwig squiggle – has accompanied their annual essays on the classy but enigmatic Tidal Bay.

Sorry Alan, but this Lexus is a bit too cool for you...

Japanese cars are the most reliable, according to a survey.

A hot hatch for the green generation? I'm not convinced.

With yesterday a horror show for stocks across the Square Mile, Bumi was one of the worst hit amid renewed fears over the debts of the Bakrie family. The Indonesia miner, which was co-founded by financier Nat Rothschild, slumped 46.1p to 497.4p following reports claiming the family needs to resolve a covenant breach on a loan worth $437m (£271.1m) by the end of the week.

The mother of a newborn baby was shot dead outside a US maternity centre by a woman who then drove off with the child.

Britons' growing love for online shopping helped demand for parcel deliveries at UK Mail, the private post deliverer, leap 10 per cent in the first three months of this year.

HSBC’s global profits have risen to £13.8 billion, a 15 per cent annual rise and one of the healthiest profits ever reported by a British company.

The family of retired businessman Christopher Tappin are due to hear from him today for the first time since he was extradited to Texas on Friday to face charges that he tried to obtain missile parts to sell to Iran.

The unending quest for populist, eye-catching initiatives with which Ed Miliband might be personally associated steers us into the realm of tax avoidance. Sadly this proposal would do nothing to rebuild fraternal bridges, but Little Ed is advised to announce that, as PM, he would fulfil an old Labour pledge to close a gaping loophole.

Up to 3,000 Malaysians staged a protest against a rare-earth refinery yesterday over fears of radioactive contamination.