NO-HEADLINE

Ruth Picardie, a contributor and former staff member at The Independent died yesterday at Trinity Hospice in south London. She was 33 and had been diagnosed as suffering from stage three breast cancer in October last year.

Ruth joined the features department in 1993 and worked for the paper until this summer. As well as her pieces on style, culture and family life, she wrote about the indignities of IVF treatment and, latterly, in "Before I say Goodbye," a column for the Observer, about her battle with cancer. She leaves a husband and two-year-old twins.