We should probably have talked this through before you decided to do it, Tim," said Louis Theroux nervously in America's Most Dangerous Pets.

A sheriff said he gave orders to shoot to kill because he had to put the safety of residents first

Sometimes, a politician does something so embarrassing that you almost hope for a news blackout, so that people fighting for democracy in the Arab world don't change their mind.

Billy Smart was a fine example of nominative determinism. Smartness is quickness of insight, and he had it in bundles. He grasped the mood of post-war Britain unusually well when he launched Billy Smart's Circus in 1946. With great shrewdness and entrepreneurial zeal, he popularised circus entertainment by making it an antidote to austerity and an unbeatable form of family entertainment. Within a few years his quick intelligence, and eye for a commercial opportunity, had changed our cultural landscape. The imprint is deep and still with us.

For villagers and their families it is a tragedy, but for tiger conservationists a sudden rise in the number of attacks offers welcome, if gruesome, evidence the predator is staging a comeback.

David Cameron insisted yesterday that he was "minded" to outlaw circuses from keeping wild animals after MPs of all parties joined forces to inflict an embarrassing defeat on the Government by demanding an immediate ban.

The World Bank naturally wants the best possible staff to monitor risks to the financial system and the global economy, which it so often has to prop up. So you'll be pleased to hear that its new treasurer has a strong background in issues of risk. Step forward Madelyn Antoncic, who used to work as the chief risk officer at one of Wall Street's leading investment banks. OK, so it was Lehman Brothers, but Antoncic is thought to have told the bank's bosses they were making bets that were too big.

"An endangered species kept against their will for the entertainment of others," Nic Dakin said. He meant the Liberal Democrats, and that made the House laugh. Everyone was in a very frisky mood for the liveliest Thursday afternoon the House has had for years. The Backbench Business Committee, under the chairmanship of Natascha Engel, has maybe not put a bomb under the House of Commons but has certainly lit a firework in it.

Government concedes defeat after bribes and intimidation fail to deter rebels

More than 30,000 people have signed the Independent’s online petition calling for the Government to introduce a ban on wild animals, ahead of a key vote in the Commons.