The Treasury is collecting twice as much income tax as when Labour first came to power, according to new figures.

Last year alone the Treasury extracted a record £143 billion out of Britons' wage packets. This represents a 10 per cent increase on the previous year, and is more than twice the tax bill of ten years ago.

The figures come as economists warn that Chancellor Alistair Darling may have to raise the basic rate by a further 3p in the pound to top-up a hole in public finances caused by the recent credit crunch.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 67

A Daily Telegraph poll today shows Labour with an 11 point lead over the Conservatives as the party conference looms.

According to the poll, 45 per cent of voters think Gordon Brown is in touch with people's concerns, whereas only 18 per cent agree that David Cameron is.

But the Tories have vowed to fight back. "This is the week when the modern Conservative Party will show beyond doubt that we are the real change Britain needs," said George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 161

Britons are living longer than ever thanks to better healthcare and nutrition, with the number of people living to 100 hitting a record 9,000.

A boom in life expectancy means that the number of centenarians has increased 90-fold since 1911 and many young children are now expected to live to 100 or beyond.

Would you like to live to be 100? What are the advantages of a long life versus an earlier demise?

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 32

White British children are now a minority at one in 10 schools across England, official figures show, while a recent influx of immigrants has added to the strain of teaching pupils who lack English as a mother tongue.

The new figures were released on the same day that statistics showed the Government has been underestimating the number of immigrants set to come to Britain by a third.

At present, around one in eight pupils, or 800,000, do not speak English as a first language and numbers are thought to have doubled in the last decade.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 104

"Of course we are the successors of the Thatcher inheritance," George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, told the Telegraph today.

Dismissing claims that the Conservative Party had distanced itself from Lady Thatcher's legacy, Mr Osborne said: "She’s a Conservative and I’m a Conservative and Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are Labour politicians. We’re not dumping Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron’s first job in politics was working for Margaret Thatcher."

He also said the Prime Minister's recent meeting with Lady Thatcher at Downing Street showed him as a "fake". He said: "everyone knows he was there in the 1980s opposing every single thing the Conservative Government was doing."

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 114

Boris Johnson has pledged to be “a mayor for all Londoners” and bring “real change” to the city, after being picked to wrestle control of the capital from Ken Livingstone.

The Conservative MP for Henley has vowed to ensure every London taxpayer gets a good deal for their money, having easily beaten three rival contenders in a phone-in vote.

In the run-up to his mayoral campaign, Mr Johnson has railed against “cyclist-killing” bendy buses, declared war on London’s culture of “casual theft and incivility” and branded his rival Mr Livingstone a “ghastly, dehumanised moron.”

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Posted at: 11:01 | Permalink | Comments 99

Homeowners will be allowed to use more force to fend off intruders who break into their homes under a review of the law proposed by Jack Straw, the Justice Minister.

The reformed self defence laws will mean victims acting in a “proportionate” way to protect their property and family will not be taken to court.

What do you think of the proposal? Does condoning the use of force risk making burglaries escalate into violent confrontations? How far would you go to defend you home?

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 181

Ed Balls will scrap the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and replace it with a new, independent body, in a bid to stave off criticism that New Labour has ‘dumbed down’ the standards of GCSEs and A-levels.

The Children, Schools and Families Secretary will announce the changes at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth today.

"We have not managed to persuade the public, parents and employers about the standards of exams,” Mr Balls acknowledged in an interview, adding that creating an independent body along the same lines of the Bank of England would improve standards and credibility. “We aren’t yet delivering world class for all,” he said.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 123

Doctors and midwives should recommend natural child birth as part of an NHS drive to reduce the number of births using epidurals and caesarean sections, according to the Government’s health watchdog.

New guidelines, published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, advocate the use of birthing pools rather than giving women pain-relieving drugs. Midwives and obstetricians should only intervene if there are problems in labour and all women should be offered the choice of a home-birth.

What do you think is the best way to give birth? Is it better to have a baby in hospital or at home?

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 81

President George W Bush has announced that the United States will impose tougher sanctions on Burma and called on the international community to help end the country’s "19-year reign of fear". In Burma itself Buddhist monks and civilians have continued week-long protests against the ruling military regime.

Earlier at the Labour Party conference, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, urged the Burmese authorities to show restraint when dealing with the demonstrations and called for the release of the democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Do you agree with Mr Bush that more severe sanctions are needed? What should they be? How else could the international community exert pressure on the Burmese regime and prevent violence?

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Posted at: 18:01 | Permalink | Comments 138

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was granted a platform at one of the US's leading universities yesterday, provoking a hostile response from academic authorities and students alike.

Even the president of Columbia University, Mr Ahmadinejad's host, rebuked his guest for his views on the Holocaust and the persecution of women and homosexuals in Iran.

To the mirth of his audience, Mr Ahmadinejad responded to one question with the claim: "We don’t have homosexuals in our country like you have in the West. In Iran we do not have those people."

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Posted at: 10:01 | Permalink | Comments 132

Gordon Brown has promised to put plans to improve schools and hospitals at the heart of Labour's bid for a fourth term in power, in a speech which may chime with the middle ground of the electorate as well as with delegates at the Labour Party conference.

In his maiden address to the gathering as leader, Mr Brown pledged to build “a Britain of aspiration”, to get tough on gun crime and to help police officers cut down on paperwork so that they can spend more time on the beat. The key points of his speech can be found here.

What is your verdict on the Prime Minister's speech? Do you think he will succeed in persuading middle-ground voters to elect Labour for a fourth term, as recent opinion polls imply?

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Posted at: 16:03 | Permalink | Comments 206

Gordon Brown has outlined six key areas to be tackled in order to build a "stronger, fairer Britain" just as speculation that the Prime Minister is preparing to call an autumn election reaches new heights.

In a letter to Labour's National Executive Committee Mr Brown listed the key policy areas as: responding to rising public aspirations with a new standard of public services, meeting the challenges of globalisation, security and terrorism, the changing age profile of society, environmental issues and the pressure parents face raising children.

The challenges are likely to be the focus of Mr Brown's opening speech today at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.

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Posted at: 00:03 | Permalink | Comments 187

The nation’s farmers have suffered another blow after the deadly animal disease, Bluetongue, was detected in Britain.

The disease was discovered in a cow at the Baylham House Rare Breeds, near Ipswich, and comes just days after foot and mouth disease was confirmed on a sixth farm in Surrey.

Bluetongue has no known cure or vaccine and has killed 1.8 million animals in less than a decade across the European Union.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 15

Labour Cabinet minister Ed Balls has announced plans to publish guidelines for parents on the "safe" level of teenage drinking, in a bid to curb alcohol abuse.

Mr Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, told the Sunday Telegraph it was a huge concern that some supermarkets and off-licences have slashed the price of alcohol within range of teenage budgets.

The Government now intends to crack down on underage drinking in the home, as well as in clubs and pubs.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 32

The Chief of the General Staff has called for British soldiers to be honoured with homecoming parades on their return from battle as he lambasted the public's failure to appreciate their sacrifices.

Gen Sir Richard Dannatt warned that the apparent indifference to the risks taken by servicemen and women could undermine soldiers’ willingness to serve their country and advocated a more American approach to boosting the morale of troops.

Do you think homecoming parades and other popular demonstrations of support would improve the military's image?

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 49

Police Community Support Officers are a "failed experiment" and should be scrapped, a senior member of the Police Federation has claimed after two PCSOs declined to help a drowning boy because they were "not trained" to deal with the incident.

Ten-year-old Jordon Lyon drowned while trying to rescue his sister from a pond. Two PCSOs , nicknamed "Blunkett's bobbies", arrived at the scene but decided to wait for trained officers rather than attempt a rescue themselves.

"The public are being fooled. We are sending people out there who are dressed as police officers," commented Paul Kelly, chairman of the Manchester Police Federation.

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Posted at: 17:01 | Permalink | Comments 73

The lawyer who brought a case against the Government on behalf of Railtrack shareholders is working on a potential class-action suit against Northern Rock and its directors on the grounds that the company failed to disclose the threats to its business model soon enough.

Adam Applegarth, Northern Rock's chief executive, has admitted that the world changed for the company on August 9 when the markets it relies on to fund its mortgage business froze because of the financial turmoil.

Lawyers are now examining whether, in that case, the board of Northern Rock failed in its duty to make a timely statement to the Stock Exchange, outlining the risks to shareholders. Northern Rock says it kept the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, the City regulator, fully informed.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 27

Gordon Brown will wait until after Labour’s party conference next week to decide whether to call an early election, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

Senior figures in the Labour party are privately urging the Prime Minister to capitalise on his poll lead with a surprise vote, which could take place as soon as October 25.

If Mr Brown does call an election this autumn, which issues do you think are of the keenest concern to the electorate? Is the state of the economy of paramount importance after the Northern Rock debacle? Or are other issues such as health, immigration and crime equally - or more - important? What about the personal leadership qualities of Mr Brown or David Cameron?

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 133

Petrol prices are set to hit record levels within weeks because of a combination of higher tax and a shortage of market supply, the AA has predicted.

The imposition of a 2.35 pence per litre tax by the Government on October 1 will mean forecourt prices hit 97.5 pence – the highest level of the year, and only one penny short of the record hit in August last year. The AA has warned that prices could rise further this winter as a knock-on effect of low stocks in America.

Would record petrol prices convince you to use your car less? If petrol hits £1 a litre, could you still afford to drive? Can you afford not to drive?

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Posted at: 16:33 | Permalink | Comments 53

Jose Mourinho has resigned as manager of Chelsea after more than three years in the job, apparently because of a final breakdown in his relationship with chairman Roman Abramovich.

The Portuguese manager brought two Premier League titles to Stamford Bridge but failed to secure sufficient success in European competitions. A frustrating start to the new season proved to be the final straw.

A polarising and controversial figure, Mourinho entertained journalists with his belligerent and witty press conferences but his arrogance made him unpopular with referees and a hate figure for opposition fans.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 156

Victims of school bullies will be able to mete out their own justice under new guidelines which the Government claims mark a stronger focus on discipline.

Punishment for bullies may include picking up litter, removing graffiti or detentions, while a series of measures will be introduced to crack down on ‘cyber bullying’, or harassment using websites and mobile phones.

How do you think schools should tackle bullies? Has bullying always been with us at a similar level, or has it got worse? What were your experiences of bullying as a child?

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 52

Cherie Blair has signed a deal to publish her memoirs, promising to tell all about her working class childhood, her legal career and her life at 10 Downing Street with Tony Blair.

Cherie Blair: The Autobiography will be published in October 2008, but why wait until then? If you can contain your excitement just for a moment, please write either the first or last paragraph of her memoir, as you envisage it, in the comment box below.

To send a letter to the editor of The Daily Telegraph, email dtletters@telegraph.co.uk

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Posted at: 12:01 | Permalink | Comments 136

Popular BBC factual and documentary programmes could face budget cuts under proposals the corporation's director-general, Mark Thompson, is likely to put to the BBC Trust today.

He is under pressure to save £2 billion over the next six years following a lower licence fee settlement than the corporation had hoped for. The BBC Trust will scrutinise Mr Thompson’s proposals and a decision is expected on October 17.

Mr Thompson is thought to favour smaller cuts across the board over radical cuts like axing digital channels BBC3 or BBC4.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 145

One in five British children think not owning a mobile phone is a sign of being poor, according to new research commissioned by child poverty campaigners and Community Service Volunteers.

Other findings include the revelation that 44 per cent of children think not being able to afford to go on a school trip demonstrates poverty.

The official definition of the poverty line in Britain is any family living on less than 60 per cent of the median income, which is measured by halving the difference between the highest and lowest incomes.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 69

Swathes of anxious customers have withdrawn £2billion from Northern Rock after the beleaguered bank turned to emergency funding last week to avoid bankruptcy.

The development has raised concerns not only for Northern Rock’s 1.4 million savers, but for customers of other banks who are worried about the stability of Britain’s financial institutions.

Ian Cowie, The Daily Telegraph’s personal finance editor, answered questions live online from 2-2.45pm today (Tuesday). The question and answer session has now closed but please feel free to continue to submit your thoughts on this issue in the comment box below.

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Posted at: 13:03 | Permalink | Comments 47

The world should “prepare for war” with Iran, according to the French foreign minister.

Bernard Kouchner said “we must negotiate right to the end” with Iran but if Teheran developed an atomic weapon it would pose “a real danger for the whole world”.

His comments come as the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany prepare to meet to discuss a new draft UN resolution on sanctions against Iran this week.

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Posted at: 16:30 | Permalink | Comments 236

Financial experts have warned that the crisis at one of the UK’s top mortgage lenders, Northern Rock, may cause a sharp economic slowdown that will impact on homeowners, the High Street and the Government.

Many of Northern Rock’s 1.4 million savers spent the weekend attempting to withdraw their funds, after the lender was forced to seek an emergency bailout from the Bank of England.

Are you concerned about the Northern Rock crisis? Has it caused you to lose faith in British banks?

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 149

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, has today published his memoirs - The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.

The memoir, which is serialised exclusively in The Daily Telegraph this week, comes just in time for the veteran boss of the Fed to defend his reputation against his growing number of critics.

Feted while in office, many are now laying the blame for the current credit crisis firmly at Greenspan's door. By hacking rates down to a Japanese-style 1pc, say critics, Greespan gave the world far too much cheap money and fuelled the credit bubble that is now bursting all around us.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 24

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, has called for drastic changes in response to the problem of climate change ahead of the party’s annual conference in Brighton.

During an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Huhne proposed charging passengers an extra £10 or more on all domestic flights.

All proceeds, he said, would be ploughed into a “future transport fund” which would allow an overhaul of the rail network.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 54

Michael Parkinson has taken a swipe at the state of British chat shows ahead of his impending retirement.

The first episode of the veteran broadcaster’s final series will be aired tonight after a run that has spanned four decades and included interviews with the likes of Muhammed Ali and Orson Welles.

With a slew of larger-than-life hosts now invading our screen, Parkinson believes the classic chat show format has run its course.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 29

A dramatic rise in school fees has forced parents wishing to educate their children privately to sacrifice holidays and reduce the amount spent on hobbies, new research has found.

The cost of private education has risen by 41 per cent in five years according to a study by Halifax Financial Services. The average cost for day pupils is now £9,627 a year, with boarding schools charging an average of £20,970 annually.

Meanwhile, one in three families spend a fifth of their total income on schooling, according to research by JP Morgan Asset Management. More than half the parents questioned said they had forgone holidays and a third had ditched hobbies in order to meet higher school fees.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 29

A coroner has criticised online chatrooms after a man was goaded into committing suicide while dozens of users watched live on the internet.

Kevin Whitrick, who hanged himself with an electrical cord, is believed to be he first person in Britain to take his own life over the internet, an inquest heard yesterday.

The pop star, Prince, is also considering legal action for copyright infringement against a number of websites, including video sharing site YouTube.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 106

Motorists who buy environmentally unfriendly “gas guzzlers” will be hit by new “super taxes” that will add thousands of pounds to their final bill under plans to be announced by David Cameron’s advisors today.

High-emission vehicles will now be subject to a “showroom tax” that would add ten per cent to the cost of the biggest polluters, a new variable rate of VAT with the lowest charge for the greenest cars, and a new top band of Vehicle Excise Duty that would add £200 to the annual cost of licensing “super polluters”.

The ideas emerge the day after the Whitehall-funded Commission for Integrated Transport urged the Government to increase tax on “gas guzzlers” and take into account the environmental damage done by cars when drawing up road-pricing schemes.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 339

Planet earth's plants and animals are hurtling towards extinction at an unprecedented rate because of the impact of humans on fragile ecosystems, the World Conservation Union has warned.

One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world's assessed plants now appear on the widely-recognised Red List of endangered plants and animals.

Human activity causing loss of habitat through urbanisation, agriculture and deforestation combined with climate change are cited as the biggest threat to plants and animals.

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Posted at: 17:04 | Permalink | Comments 99

The branding of people as big spenders, floating voters or even potential trouble makers by analysing their postcode is “frighteningly accurate”, according to a leading sociologist.

Computer software based on postcodes is routinely used by market researchers, political parties and the police to predict people’s spending power, voting patterns and to target areas that pose a high risk of crime.

Professor Roger Burrows told the British Association Science Festival at York University that he tested the accuracy of postcode profiling by visiting four streets in the UK, including two postcodes in the East Yorkshire town of Howden.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 61

David Cameron answered questions from readers live on Telegraph.co.uk between 1 and 2:20 pm. Today's question and answer session has now closed but Mr Cameron will continue to read any comments or questions that you may wish to post below.

Q: "Dear Mr Cameron, Why aren't the Conservatives majoring on efficiency and value for money i.e. ensuring the additional money for NHS and Schools is spent well and effectively? Whilst the electorate want sensible investment in schools and hospitals they do also want to see the additional money well spent and to have Managers that can actually lose their jobs or be penalised if they fail (put them on 2-3 year term contracts renewed on performance being met). Same in Local Government. The Conservatives should be a confident part of business able to marry good management and practise to social investment in schools and hospitals i.e. efficiency with a conscience." (Posted by Somerset citizen. on September 11, 2007 1:00 PM)

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Posted at: 20:01 | Permalink | Comments 613

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, has criticised GPs for not keeping surgeries open at evenings and weekends.

The Government wants more worker-friendly opening hours but doctors say they lack the staff or the infrastructure to support the plan. Evening and weekend surgeries would force them to close during the day when children and the elderly need the service, the GPs argue.

Doctors point to a Government survey which found that eight out of ten people were happy with their GP surgery's opening hours.

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Posted at: 19:40 | Permalink | Comments 75

The turmoil in the money markets is seeping out the wider economy, the Federation of Small Businesses has warned.

It believes that some firms will not be able to afford the rising cost of their debts and be forced to close.

Your business has revealed to day that those firms using specialist money lenders will be the first hit, as these lenders raise their funds direct from the money markets.

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Posted at: 19:31 | Permalink | Comments 1

Kate and Gerry McCann have left Portugal with their two-year-old twins, to "consider their response" to the allegations against them.

Despite being declared suspects by the Portuguese police just 48 hours ago, the McCanns caught Sunday's early morning easyJet flight from Faro in the Algarve to East Midlands airport.

Portuguese police believe traces of Madeleine’s blood were found in their hire car, while other sources claim the DNA sample was too badly contaminated to get a proper match.

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Posted at: 11:00 | Permalink | Comments 468

Colleagues of the three British soldiers killed by an American bomb in Afghanistan, are demanding a swift, and open, public inquiry into the ‘friendly fire’ incident.

Soldiers Aaron McClure, Robert Foster and John Thrumble died when an American fighter dropped a bomb on their position, during a fight with Taliban forces in Helmand province.

Lieutenant George Seal-Coon told The Sunday Telegraph that the surviving members of the platoon had a right to know why they were targeted. “We want to find out what went wrong,” he said.

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Posted at: 10:00 | Permalink | Comments 50

The gap between rich and poor is at its widest for more than 60 years, new research has found.

The study by academics from Sheffield University analysed 641 parliamentary constituencies from across the UK and concluded that some children in them are condemned to a life of poverty from birth.

Dr Bethan Thomas, the co-author of the report said: “Britain is becoming increasingly segregated across all ages by class, education, occupation, home ownership, health status, disability and family type. People are left with no idea of how other people live.”

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 78

It is not just Steve McClaren's future that rests on the outcome of England’s next two football matches, starting with tomorrow's match against Israel .

Umbro, the maker of England football team's kit, yesterday warned that it will struggle next year if England do not manage to qualify for next summer's European Championships.

The manufacturer added that many retailers have so far failed to sell many of the current stock of existing English shirts. Indeed, analysts say failure by McClaren’s men to make it to the tournament will hit sports retailers across the board.

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Posted at: 07:30 | Permalink | Comments 29

A "national service" for the 21st century will be introduced for hundreds of thousands of school leavers under proposals unveiled by David Cameron.

The scheme will offer young people a grant – understood to be around £500 – to take part in a six-week programme of community work, outdoor pursuits and charitable activity, as well as the opportunity to undergo military training with the Royal Marines.

Mr Cameron said he was convinced the planned courses would foster a positive and ambitious attitude among young people, whilst boosting their levels of self-esteem. The scheme would, Mr Cameron argued, "[make] young people feel that British society is something they want to be part of."

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 37

The Government has published a draft Bill which would allow British researchers to create human-animal embryos using cloning techniques, after warnings that refusing to do so would be a major blow to science.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the Government’s fertility watchdog, agreed that scientists should be able to create hybrid embryos to extract stem cells for research. These embryos could help develop treatments for diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease.

Do you trust scientists to use hybrid embryos in an ethical manner? Should research be restricted, or should the Government allow scientists greater freedom in their work?

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Posted at: 08:42 | Permalink | Comments 100

A senior judge has called for everyone in the UK and anyone entering the country to be included in a national DNA database.

At the moment, suspects arrested for any imprisonable offence can have their DNA recorded even if they are not charged, or are acquitted.

Lord Justice Sedley described the current database, the biggest in the world, as "indefensible" because it effectively puts the innocent on a par with the guilty.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 329

The pay gap between men and women in managerial roles has increased for the first time in 11 years, with male managers earning an average of £6,076 more than their female counterparts, while male directors earn approximately £49,233 more.

Simultaneously, the number of women resigning from managerial positions has reached a 15-year high, with many citing gender inequality as the cause.

Jenny Watson, head of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said it was ‘alarming’ that the gender gap was widening almost 40 years after the introduction of the Equal Pay Act and accused employers of failing to address ‘systematic pay inequality’.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 58

The Conservative party needs to return to its core values and stop ‘trashing’ its Thatcherite past, according to former deputy leader Michael Ancram.

The Tory grandee has unveiled an alternative manifesto calling for David Cameron to ‘recapture the soul’ of the party by championing lower taxes and floating the prospect of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

Mr Ancram has praised Cameron for reviving interest in the Conservative brand but urged him not to be ashamed of the party’s history.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 281

Boris Johnson has launched his campaign to become the Conservative candidate in London's mayoral elections next year by calling for an end to the "culture of incivility".

Mr Johnson, who is the MP for Henley and a Daily Telegraph columnist, said the public should insist on "politeness and consideration".

How can we tackle incivility? Must politeness be learned young? How should we punish the inconsiderate?

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Posted at: 18:01 | Permalink | Comments 88

Towns in the North and Midlands offer the prospect of a luxury lifestyle at a lower cost than in the South, according to a survey.

Research by the Royal Bank of Scotland identified Beverley, Yorkshire, as top of its "affordable affluence index". The bank gave positive scores to areas with upmarket bars and restaurants, museums and galleries, gyms, schools and prestige car dealerships.

Towns scored badly for betting shops, budget supermarkets and fast-food restaurants.

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Posted at: 15:01 | Permalink | Comments 46

In an interview with the Telegraph, Gordon Brown has expressed his desire to further open up the centre ground and target traditional Tory voters.

Dismissing David Cameron’s latest forays into issues of immigration and crime as desperate gimmicks, Brown said he would like to draw support from those who have never identified with the Labour Party.

He also re-iterated that there would be no early exit from Iraq and said he will re-consider the de-classification of cannabis.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 311

Donald Rumsfeld, the former American defence secretary, was "intellectually bankrupt" and "one of those most responsible for the current situation in Iraq", General Sir Mike Jackson has said.

Gen Jackson, who took command of the British Army one month before the invasion of Iraq, said that the US "was very short-sighted" in disbanding the Iraqi army and did not properly plan for the post-war phase.

Writing in his autobiography, Soldier, which is serialised exclusively in the Daily Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk, Gen Jackson says the US approach to global terrorism is "inadequate" because it relies too heavily on military power and not enough on nation-building and diplomacy.

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Posted at: 00:01 | Permalink | Comments 242