What really annoys MPs is that the executives at Ipsa who control their salary are so much better paid

It’s been a surprise hit in the US, and not just because it has A-list narrators...

Sunday

Baroness Thatcher remained in hospital today as she recovered from minor surgery.

Baroness Thatcher is said to be “in good spirits” as she recovers from minor surgery but is expected to spend Christmas in hospital.

A long-time New York City publicist who worked with celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, Robert Redford and Martin Scorsese has died. Lois Smith was 85.

Murky things are happening on the Edinburgh Fringe – and it's not even August yet. This year's fastest-emerging trend is for bribery with three acts offering cash in return for bums on seats. Nathan Cassidy is giving audiences £1 to see his show Free Pound on the Free Fringe (ticket cost: "minus £1". Donations welcome). Elsewhere, Mark MacNicol has gone for a money-back clause: if audiences don't like his "sexy, sensual, dark" theatrical take on Fatal Attraction, he will refund the £8 ticket price from his own pocket. And Irish comedian Caimh McDonnell has taken the most audacious route, promising to donate £100 to Macmillan Cancer Relief for every review published in a "recognised media source" before 20 August (only one review per outlet, sadly). Will any of these stunts work? Or will it emerge that these are, in fact, shows you couldn't pay a man, woman or Arts Diarist to see? And whatever happened to old-fashioned flyering on the Royal Mile in the rain?

When his father (Tom Hanks) is killed on 9/11, a precocious boy sets off around New York in search of people with the surname "Black", believing that one of them will impart a message from his dead dad.

My parents were... understandably worried when I told them that I wanted to be a professional actor, because in Swaziland, where I grew up, there was no prospect of earning a living doing that.

Weirdly, Phyllida Lloyd's Iron Lady devotes just half of its running time to Margaret Thatcher's upbringing and political career.

Julia Roberts is cast against type as a wicked queen in her new film, Mirror Mirror. The Hollywood favourite has more starring roles coming up but tells Lesley O'Toole that she's now happy to treat acting more like a hobby

Juliannne Moore is cast as Alaska's presidential hopeful in a recreation of 2008 election race

And the winner is... Yes, after the Oscars, who can doubt that the brothers Weinstein, Harvey and his younger sibling Bob, are back on top in Hollywood? The Weinstein Company distributed The Artist in the US, and orchestrated its campaign to win Best Picture, and that wasn't the only one of the firm's movies taking plaudits.

What was clear last night is that the Oscars are now a surprise-free zone. By the time the statuettes are dished out on a Sunday night in late February, there have been so many other awards ceremonies already that it is already ordained what will win.