The European Court of Human Rights sure started something when it ruled that Princess Caroline of Monaco and her family should not have been photographed skiing and playing tennis in public. To begin with, the decision was considered by media lawyers in the UK to strengthen the case for a privacy law - something the industry would welcome with the same enthusiasm it would afford the Black Death. Secondly, it supplied ammunition for those charged with shielding public figures from the public eye.

Richard Desmond, already under fire for an extraordinary tirade against Germans, now faces fresh allegations of xenophobia - this time over the content of his newspaper, the Daily Express.

The new director of the Press Complaints Commission has promised to avoid making friends with newspaper editors in an attempt to end claims that the watchdog is too close to the industry.

Few would disagree that the Press Complaints Commission does not live up to the claims of its three-F slogan. Fast: yes.

Tony and Cherie Blair have filed a second formal complaint about press coverage of their children's university plans, Downing Street said last night.

You have to admire his cheek. On Tuesday the Prime Minister made a formal protest to the Press Complaints Commission after the Daily Sport published pictures of his 15-year-old son kissing another teenager in a nightclub. Mr Blair and his wife Cherie believe the photographs breached two clauses of the editors' code of practice, including one restricting the use of material on the child of a famous parent. Excuse me? Is this the same couple who, only a month ago, shared with us not just the news of Mrs Blair's latest pregnancy but Mr Blair's reaction to impending fatherhood and hints about where the unexpected conception might have taken place?

`Ordinary people face ruin and bankruptcy when they take on a large or powerful institution'

WITH CHERIE at 45 and Tony 46, the Blairs were not expecting to have to go through the upheaval of having another baby in the family.

`The Sun cannot be blamed for the ills that beset modern Britain, such as xenophobia, intolerance and general yobbishness'

CALLS FOR laws to ban newspapers paying witnesses in criminal trials increased yesterday after the acquittal of Gary Glitter on sex abuse charges. The court had heard that his accuser was being paid by the News of the World.

THE GLAM ROCK star Gary Glitter was jailed for four months yesterday for possessing what was described as some of the most vile child pornography ever uncovered, just two hours after he was cleared of sexually assaulting a teenage fan.

THE CABINET OFFICE minister Ian McCartney complained yesterday of "horrendous" media treatment of his family since the death of his son from a suspected heroin overdose.

In his last major article, the outspoken MP for Kensington and Chelsea takes on the press: `It is impossible to overestimate the level of crude vindictiveness that reporters apply'

THE LATEST newspaper circulation figures, released yesterday, reveal further success for The Independent. Audited sales for the month of June show The Independent's daily sale at 225,516, a rise of almost 1,000 copies on the same period last year. The Independent is the only broadsheet newspaper to show a year-on-year increase, and this is the sixth successive month that the newspaper's circulation has grown.