Parliament’s attempt to block disclosure of the expenses that MPs claim for their second homes has been thrown out by the High Court in a damning judgment that dismissed the Speaker’s case as unrealistic.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has levied a record £900,000 fine on one of the biggest independent financial adviser (IFA) groups for serious failures in selling sub-prime mortgages.

Fathers have been urged to make use of new rights to work part-time when the Government extends the law on flexible employment in April.

Prison staff bugged conversations between a convicted killer and his solicitor without authorisation, Jack Straw admitted yesterday.

Cherie Blair has expressed her disappointment at her former mentor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, for his drunken antics and attitudes to women.

Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is likely to be told that he will never be freed when he is given the minimum term he must serve for the murder of 13 women. He has instructed lawyers to apply to the High Court for a tariff – the minimum term – to be set for the first time since he was jailed in 1981.