Few, of course, were prepared to put their names to their individual and collective votes of no confidence. Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, was an honourable exception. Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB union, was another who dared to put his head above ...

Perhaps. But it is doubtful. By then, the United States will be in the full swing of an election which could produce a more protectionist president. But the current economic slowdown will still be under way, changing the politics as well as the econo...

A global economy facing recession desperately needs the boost that trade can bring. The abolition of tariffs proposed in Geneva would have been a massive tax cut for the world – about $100bn per annum. The scale of the even greater boost to growth is...

The plain fact is that the better independent schools provide a far superior preparation for aspiring Oxbridge entrants to that available at most comprehensive schools. If you want top academic grades together with a well-rounded portfolio of activit...

Not quite every author has welcomed this perk of victory. The anti-monarchist Mark Haddon declined his royal tête-à-tête as a curious incident too far. But a line of quizzically post-imperial Indians, defiantly republican Aussies and charmingly bemus...

After all, the potential for errors is vast. I know a woman who won't date a man if he has an apostrophe in the wrong place, and we all know that the sweetest sentiment whispered in your ear in a romantic moment can look somewhat trite written down. ...

In democratic nation-states, the criminal justice system is embedded within the other structures of statehood, especially the legislature. Rules of procedure in British courts are rightly a matter for solemn debate in Parliament. Not so the existing ...