For reasons delayed until the final item (no peeping), I nipped into the local newsagent on Saturday to ask if he had a copy of a magazine called The Lady. "Everything we have like that," said the Sri Lankan guy, waving towards the top shelf, "is up there." I hereby apologise to him for cackling, because if Rachel Johnson remains its Editor for much longer he will look admirably prescient.

Equalities chief Trevor Phillips told today how MPs who mocked a colleague over his disability made him feel "physically sick".

Far from snoring in front of the TV, the ambassador is on constant alert after taking on the drug cartels back home. As Joanna Moorhead reveals, he was sent here for his own safety

The BBC has apologised to the Mexican ambassador over remarks made on Top Gear. But it defended the show's presenters – including Richard Hammond, who branded Mexicans "lazy", "feckless" and "flatulent"– saying stereotyping was part of British humour.

What A predictable dance. Last Sunday, the BBC's Top Gear team attempted to provoke by citing some tired old stereotypes about Mexicans. The Mexican ambassador duly took offence and wrote to the BBC to demand an apology. Yesterday the BBC issued an apology. And now everything will calm down. Until the next outbreak of offended fury, that is.

The Mexican ambassador to Britain has complained to the BBC over "offensive, xenophobic and humiliating" comments on the motoring programme Top Gear.

So they haven't selected the new Stig from the Stig Farm yet. Top Gear (BBC2, Tuesday) has yet to replace Ben Collins, who outed himself as the show's stormtrooper-lookalike boy racer in his autobiography – an act that was regarded as so abject by the BBC that it was as if Santa Claus had whipped off his fake beard to reveal that he had been Noel Edmonds all along (the clue was in the name).

The TV presenter James May has been injured while filming on location in Syria. The accident took place during a shoot for the BBC car show Top Gear, replicating the journey of the Three Wise Men.

It's just lumps of snap-together plastic, yet in a virtual age, children are still clamouring for Lego. And it's a favourite that we don't outgrow, says Nick Duerden

Undeniably cute with his twitchy whiskers, pouchy cheeks and shining eyes, it's easy to see how the hamster has snuggled his way to our hearts. Unlike Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny, the hamster has never needed an animated alter-ego equivalent to do the talking for him. Not unless you count Richard Hammond...

The BBC has apologised after Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson described a car as "special needs".

One of the distinctive white racing helmets worn by The Stig on BBC's Top Gear could fetch up to £1,200 when it is sold at auction today.

It can't be easy for Janice Hadlow just now. She is the woman who made television stars of Simon Schama and David Starkey. She is ready to enthuse about plans to broadcast underwater images of a submerged Mycenaean city, to make a landmark series on the classical world, and to reveal the home-decorating secrets of the Victorians.

The brakes have been slammed on racing driver Ben Collins's career as Top Gear's The Stig following his High Court battle with the BBC, sources said today.