Ministers should be given annual performance appraisals to see how well they are doing their jobs, a former head of the civil service said today.

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Question Time: Can't the BBC allow us one hour of unashamedly highbrow televison?

We no longer have reasoned arguments between people who know what they're talking about, interspersed with intelligent contributions from the audience

Baroness Warsi, Britain’s most senior Muslim minister

Baroness Warsi: Fewer than one in four people believe Islam is compatible with British way of life

Fewer than one in four people now believe that following Islam is compatible with a British way of life, Britain's most senior Muslim minister will warn today.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Rio was right, but he'll pay the price

Four cheers for Rio Ferdinand. The disagreeable Chelsea football captain, John Terry, called QPR player Anton Ferdinand a "f***ing black c***" during a match last autumn and was fined £220,000 and banned for four games. That's all folks, some pocket money taken and a bit of time off to swig champagne for breakfast.

Baroness Warsi cleared over Lords expenses

Tory chairman Baroness Warsi has been cleared of abusing expenses by claiming for overnight stays at a property she was using for free.

Steve Richards: Sayeeda Warsi's problem
is that her job just doesn't matter enough

Modern parties make it impossible for anyone to be

a wholehearted success as chairman

Warsi investigation 'to pick up loose ends'

An inquiry in to whether Conservative Party co-chairman Baroness Warsi breached the ministerial code will pick up any loose ends, Prime Minister David Cameron said today. 

Committee claims rights laws leave out Christians

Britain's equality laws have disadvantaged Christians and increased community tensions, according to a cross-party committee of Christian MPs and Peers published today.

Amol Rajan: A brutal price still paid for daring to challenge faith

FreeView from the editors at i

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Theresa May has taught me how to hate again

Did you watch and listen to THAT woman, Theresa May, last week? I did, live at the Tory party conference in Manchester, while pressing my bitten nails into my hands and building up such fantasies of violence that they could imprison me for thought crimes under our anti-terrorism laws. There wasn't much applause for the first part of her speech, so she threw them immigrants and asylum-seekers and then the Human Rights Act (HRA) to tear into. Members turned into noisy hounds and May was riding high. Until Ken Clarke pulled her off the horse. He is set to be punished by the PM, who obviously backs May's inciting horn calls.

Alistair Darling to expose 'volcanic' Gordon Brown

Former Chancellor Alistair Darling will lift the lid on Gordon Brown's increasingly "brutal and volcanic" demeanour when his memoirs are published next week, according to a Labour-supporting blog.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: What hope for tolerance if we treat foreign artists like dirt?

Some of the most accomplished from abroad are being humiliated, refused entry or sent packing. The Russian poet Alex Galper was thrown out

Dominic Lawson: Vote yes, or no – the outcome will barely make a difference

When Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg proclaim that the introduction of AV will 'end politics as usual', they are either fantasising or conning us

Johann Hari: If you get the X Factor you'll get AV

You can vote No with David Cameron, the BNP and a campaign that thinks you are too thick to count to three

Leading article: Myths on voting reform must not prevail

The campaign for a better democracy in Britain has to fight, fight and fight again. According to our ComRes opinion poll today, the No campaign in the referendum has opened up a 6 percentage-point lead, as some of the don't-knows have made up their minds over the past few weeks.

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National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
Sent down at the Old Bailey: A tour of the world's most famous court

Sent down at the Old Bailey

A tour of the world's most famous court
Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
British football scores an own goal

British football scores an own goal

Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

James Lawton

Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again
Dylan Hartley: Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong

Dylan Hartley talks tough

Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong
Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system'

Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

Plenty of sleaze

Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

The Freemasons’ Code

Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
Why clubs are keen to take a stand

Why clubs are keen to take a stand

There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death