70 police officers to guard one little flame might seem excessive, but the seven and a half thousand Olympic torch bearers still to run will no doubt be glad of the protection, after it has emerged that the torches they will carry have a street value of more than £100,000.

Politicians are wooing the upwardly mobile children of the working class again

Hundreds of pall bearers, wearing black clothes and traditional woven skirts, carry the flag-draped casket of King George Tupou V on a black and gold catafalque from Tonga's Royal Palace at the start of the funeral procession through the capital, Nuku'alofa, yesterday.

An Afghan soldier shot and killed two Nato soldiers at a base in southern Afghanistan today.

He can be perceived as arrogant but West Ham's manager has worked hard to get from his days knocking down walls and mowing lawns to the top of the game – and he's proud of his achievements

The US military is to probe an online video purportedly showing soldiers urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

This is the first time I have heard a version of "The Girl from Ipanema" in which the percussionist sports goggles and paint-spattered white overalls and provides a beat by sawing at a plank of wood. But then this is the first time the National has opened its Paintframe, a hangar of a workshop next to the Cottesloe, for a sort of mini-Fringe comprised of two double bills of hour-long plays by young dramatists.

Having exchanged 536 emails and 72 jpegs, Lin Han and Jie Hui finally meet. Their first date is in Edinburgh's Meadows, when the cherry trees are in blossom. Unfortunately, this does not bring the required romance to the occasion. She is adamant that they should fall in love, right now, because they are at the optimum age and share a compatible level of attractiveness. He is reluctant to make a life-changing commitment just before an important meeting.

New combat gear is specially designed for women soldiers

The warrior queen of the Ancient Briton, Boudicca, according to Roman authors, led her forces into battle in full armour. So did Joan of Arc in the 15th century and Isabella of Spain in the 16th century.

"What do you think of dungarees?" I ask my friend Lucy – we are both in the throes of last month's Paris collections and it's a loaded question, obviously. In between shows, I seek the euphoria (fake) that only shopping can induce and order a pair I've been eyeing up online for a few days – the label is Coming Soon, a Yohji Yamamoto spin-off – from theoutnet.com. And, no, they're not denim. I might, on occasion, be overly audacious in my shopping habits, but I'm not insane.

Do I know him?

In 1998, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Proceedings of the House had to reverse its decision to tell peers not to speak with their hands in their pockets, and look where it got us: a Speaker of the Commons in a lounge suit, correctly condemned over the weekend by Baroness Boothroyd (a former incumbent of the post) for losing respect.

School uniforms: garments of oppression or liberation? It's a tricky one. What, many will ask, could be more effacing of an individual's character than requiring them to dress in an identical way? Uniforms are for the armed forces, or the police. What business do we have imposing such stifling conformity on children? Some young people agree with this.