Rick Santorum scored an upset double primary triumph in the deep south last night, guaranteeing that the Republican presidential race will drag on for weeks if not months yet. His victories in Alabama and Mississippi deliver a fresh jolt to the limping front runner Mitt Romney, and raise pressure on Newt Gingrich, his rival for the conservative vote, to drop out and thus set up a one-on-one Santorum-Romney battle for the Republican nomination to face president Obama in the autumn.

In one of the closest fought Republican primaries to date, the polls can't split the main candidates

Two very funny Shakespeares and an 18th-century romp join the wave of comedies rolling across the British stage

Advertising campaign attacking Gingrich pays off for Republican frontrunner

The GOP is putting on a Tea Party-backed, smash hit revival of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'

It's a very good swing, just not quite knocked out of the park

Frontrunner wins by just eight votes, while Michele Bachmann quits race after dismal showing

Mitt Romney was clinging to a perilously thin lead yesterday in Iowa, which kicks off the Republican nominating process with caucus voting tomorrow, but possibly only by virtue of the conservatives in the state dividing over which of his rivals they would rather see challenge President Barack Obama.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today reaffirmed his determination to press ahead with reform of the House of Lords over the coming year.

A documentary about two 69-year-old sisters has scandalised Holland. It's because they're prostitutes, says Geoffrey Macnab

White-collar workers bemoan the constraints of corporate life, but find solace in its abstract rhythms. When Freud speculated about the death drive, he argued that repetitive actions mask the desire to return to an inanimate state. Perhaps this explains our attachment to office routine – except that the inactivity of compulsory redundancy makes employees recoil in alarm.

The old buzz phrases 'moral responsibility' and 'personal duty' are being revived by the Occupy protesters

It remains difficult to write about anything but the riots, which may be the result of my being away while they were taking place — but at least it saves you from my holiday stories.