The figures for bugs in train compartments sound a little bit on the high side. Where did they come from?The figures were all very specific and very frightening. "Two thousand bugs taking a ride in every train compartment," said the Daily Mail. "Cockroaches cluster on trains," groaned the Telegraph. "Commuters share trains with 1,000 cockroach

By refusing to bar BNP members from the classroom, the government is allowing these vile people to spread their hatredThe BNP's march into the mainstream moves forward. Fresh from their top-table seat on the BBC's Question Time (which marked International Women's Day with an all-female audience; it marked last year's Black History Month with an

Terry Sanderson paints the Catholic bishops' pre-election statement as a cliche-ridden 'damp squib'. Judge for yourselfThe question: Should religious leaders tell us how to vote?The National Secular Society's Terry Sanderson thought the Catholic bishops' pre-election document a "damp squib ... an extended and more than usually platitudinous T

Recent incidents do not bother the midfielder as he concentrates on getting fully fit and keeping his side in the Premier LeagueWatch Jimmy Bullard's new advert for Wash & Go hereOn recent form – which is for the avoidance of doubt, geezerish, prankishly good-humoured and lads-mag-ubiquitous – Jimmy Bullard is a contender for the title of most

Children's commissioner Maggie Atkinson intervenes over Jon Venables, arguing that 10 is too young to be branded a criminalThe killers of James Bulger should not have been prosecuted for his murder, the children's commissioner for England has said in a call to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12.Maggie Atkinson, who was appoint

More than half a million travellers to be hit by strikes on successive weekends from 20 March Martin Rowson

Commission of inquiry calls for levies to promote new media, warning that too few interests control too many outletsGoogle and other websites that carry news they do not produce should be taxed and the money generated used to prop up local newspapers, says a report which warns control of the media is concentrated in too few hands.The Commission of

Everyone but the rich is outraged by the financiers' billowing wealth. At the budget, Labour can tip the balance back to the peopleThe budget is 10 days away and yet already the chief secretary, Liam Byrne, appears to have ruled out any new tax rises to deal with the deficit. That is a deeply alarming prospect – and as a political stand, a blund

Tracy Allisonn quits following critical reports about 'patently flawed' formation of government watchdogAnother senior member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission quit this week as turmoil in the organisation intensified ahead of what is expected to be a devastating parliamentary report on it, to be published next week.Tracy Allison, the c

Suzie Mackenzie shadowed PM for most of his period in No 10 but believed her book should also cover electionAn in-depth and intimate study of Gordon Brown during the past two and a half years was this week shelved by its publishers, Bloomsbury.After shadowing the prime minister for most of his period in No 10, the journalist Suzie Mackenzie told th

Joblessness, drugs and now deaths – the history of Glasgow's Red Road has been defined by declineJust inside the reach of living memory, the Red Road was a rough, red-cinder track that led through the cabbage fields which once furrowed the high ground on Glasgow's northern outskirts. By the 1930s, the track had been widened, straightened and re

Supermarket suppliers under fire as one-fifth of workers interviewed for inquiry report being pushed or hitThousands of workers in Britain's lucrative food industry are being subjected to widespread mistreatment and exploitation, including physical and verbal abuse and degrading working conditions, according to an inquiry published today.The Equal

In light of the articles by Simon Jenkins (The bankers lied. And Darling, merely a puppet on their string, knows it, 12 March) and Mehdi Hasan (It's defeatist nonsense to talk of a crisis of leftwing thinking, 12 March), it seems evident that there is the need for a rearticulating of the political discourse. The hegemony of neoliberal thinking has

Postal watchdog says some managers may have received bonuses based on phoney mail delivery timesThe postal watchdog is considering taking action against Royal Mail after allegations that service quality tests were rigged by workers.Postcomm received an insider tip-off last year that the names and addresses of recipients of test deliveries were circ

This week saw the first three-way kidney transplant, in which living donors gave to a stranger in return for an organ for a loved one. Peter Martin, who donated a kidney to his sister, describes how it feelsFour years ago I gave my sister Paula a kidney. It was just before Christmas and I'm sure we exchanged books, or knitwear or something too, bu

That such conditions exist is a scandal, and all the more appalling for having happened under Labour's watchWe are where we were: that's the insiders' view. The EHRC report has simply put an official stamp on what many of us have known – and been deeply worried about – since early 2000. A combination of factors – deregulation, globalisatio

Even Ukip does not deserve to be punished for knockabout abuse• Like most people – or at least most Guardian readers – I have little time for Nigel Farage, the once and future leader of Ukip. I suspect he is one of those people who wakes up sweating every morning in case he isn't mentioned anywhere in the newspapers.As for their other MEP, W

Report revealing 'mistreatment and exploitation' of workers could be describing conditions in developing countriesThe examples are many and varied, but appalling all the same.Pregnant women being forced to stand for long hours in factory production lines without breaks, or perform heavy lifting under threat of the sack; meat factory workers havin

Whether you're after backpacker hangouts or barefoot chic on a budget, life really is a beach – and not much else – on all of these Thai islandsKoh SichangTiny Sichang, a short boat hop from the town of Si Racha, an hour east of the Thai capital, is the nearest island to Bangkok yet has never made it onto the travellers' circuit. There's dec

Neighbours were oblivious that recluse who froze to death in her home was first black woman on South Carolina legislatureThe neighbours knew Juanita Goggins only as an elderly recluse with no friends and a family that was rarely seen.Goggins was so private that she instructed a neighbour who delivered groceries to leave them at the door, ring the b

They may look easy to wear, but don't be fooledShirtdresses look seductively easy in shop windows. Not too feminine, not too androgynous; crisp and neat, but not overly formal.Don't be fooled. There is a huge gulf between what looks easy to wear and what is, in fact, easy to wear. Just ask anyone who has ever tried on a cotton T-shirt dress and i

A former Labour stronghold has become home to one of the ugliest fights in politics. In one corner, a long-standing minister. In the other, the leader of the BNP. John Harris joins them on the frontlineThe tube heads east, through Whitechapel, Stepney Green, Mile End, Bow Road. Canary Wharf is there in the near distance, but seems like another worl

Lucy Mangan on the people hitting the headlines this weekNaked rage Rahm EmanuelCome in, Malcolm Tucker, your time is up. This year Frothing Politico award goes to the White House chief of staff who was accused by Democratic congressman Eric Massa this week of "inappropriate behaviour". Massa, an opponent of healthcare reform, claims he was showe

Report revealing 'mistreatment and exploitation' of workers could be describing conditions in developing countriesThe examples are many and varied, but appalling all the same.Pregnant women being forced to stand for long hours in factory production lines without breaks, or perform heavy lifting under threat of the sack; meat factory workers havin

Our favourite foods are making us fat, yet we can't resist, because eating them is changing our minds as well as bodiesFor years I wondered why I was fat. I lost weight, gained it back, and lost it again – over and over and over. I owned suits in every size. As a former commissioner of the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration), sur

From a major V&A exhibition to the look of Mad Men's leading ladies, Grace Kelly is everywhere this spring. Actor Rosamund Pike pulls on her white gloves and travels to Monaco to recreate her timeless styleThe chemistry of being a movie star is about maintaining the perfect temperature. From the screen, you need to radiate enough heat to keep the

Most tourists head straight for the Uffizi, but Florence has dozens of smaller museums full of world-class art. The curator of the V&A's new Renaissance galleries was our guideStendhal syndrome is a sickness known to afflict those of a sensitive nature who visit Florence. It's named after the French author, who was left sick and dizzy by the vast

As a celebration of wisdom and experience, and of their role in shaping poetry in this country, the poet laureate invited some of our most eminent poets to contribute original work on the theme of ageingThis remarkable gathering of new work by senior British poets has been some months in the planning, but it seems appropriate to publish the poems o

The Chelsea midfielder still respects his former manager but has no intention of losing to him in the Champions LeagueFrank Lampard has already staved off two potential indignities of late. Unlike Gary Lineker, he has avoided having to dress up as a sandwich, his face peering out between plastic tranches of ham and foam tomatoes, when filming the l

Consumers with excellent credit histories are seeing their card limits slashed, often without warning. Miles Brignall reportsAre you one of the growing band of Britons to have mysteriously had their credit card limit cut in recent months? Despite signs the economy is improving, and with huge sums of money being pumped into the banking system, it ap

'I had no way of reaching him, and had to face the truth – if Getu was alive, he'd have found me'Ten years ago, we landed at Heathrow on a grey morning. Just months earlier, our lives had been so different. My father had a successful business in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, we had a lovely home and went to a good school. I was 16,

Millions flock to Thailand each year, but you can still find quiet, unspoilt beaches on which to do absolutely nothing, as Laura Barton discovers, while Gemma Bowes finds an island escape in the heart of touristy Phang NgaIt's not that I don't like other people – indeed I would go so far as to lay claim to a rich and varied social life. It's j

Catholic church investigates 170 allegations in Germany; justice minister cites Vatican 'wall of silence' set up by BenedictPope Benedict XVI has for the first time been drawn into the Catholic sex abuse scandal in his home country of Germany.His former archdiocese of Munich has acknowledged that, while he was in charge, it dealt with a suspected

Records compiled from investigations after golfer's car crash raise fresh questions about his account to journalistsFresh questions have been raised about Tiger Woods' account of the car crash outside his home that led to the unravelling of his private and sporting life, after revelations that the ambulance crew refused to allow his wife, Elin No

The figures for bugs on train compartments all sound a little bit on the high side. Where did they come from?The figures were all very specific and very frightening. "Two thousand bugs taking a ride in every train compartment," said the Daily Mail. "Cockroaches cluster on trains," groaned the Telegraph. "Commuters share trains with 1,000 cockr

French president says Britain needed 'bang in heart of Europe' and tells Cameron he doesn't understand Tory euroscepticismComing from opposing ends of the ideological spectrum, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown aren't supposed to be political brothers in arms.However, at a Downing Street press conference yesterday the French president chose to l

New clothes, new hairdo - How others see Robinson"She stood at the dangerous cross-roads of sex, politics and religion for two decades and emerged not merely unscathed but with the respect of even her most ferocious enemies."Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole, in 1996, when Robinson was briefly touted as a successor to Boutros Boutro

• Six weeks out at least for former England striker• 'It's all about his rehab now,' admits Tony PulisJames Beattie looks to have played his last game for Stoke City after injury appeared to bring the striker's unhappy season to a premature end yesterday.The 32-year-old former England striker has had an operation to resolve a knee cartilage

They were unfaithful, Julie Powell says, and so was I. But is infidelity always a bad thing, or can cheating be the making of a marriage?It's a familiar story by now. Lurid headlines, a disgraced sports star, a wronged wife, and then the mistresses start to appear. In the case of Tiger Woods it was one, two, three, fo

• Strikers came face-to-face at Old Trafford on Sunday• Fulham man resigned to not making England World Cup squadFulham head to Old Trafford tomorrow for the next stop in their relentless season with Bobby Zamora claiming that England can win the World Cup if Wayne Rooney maintains the "unbelievable" form he has shown in a Manchester United s