The justification given by the Environment Agency for the bonuses taken by their managers is that they had achieved 42 of their 45 performance-related targets. There has been much debate about whether the bonuses were appropriate in the…

It seems Picking Losers has an overwhelming readership that are either staunch believers in the right for the individual to choose or you are a bunch of hippies. 61% of you voted to legalise cannabis regardless of the harm both physically…

Government   Unmarried couples who split up will be given the right to make divorce-style claims for financial support from their partners, under final recommendations unveiled today. The Law Commission has concluded that couples with…

T minus one day until the HIPs story continues and it looks like the Labour Party and its members themselves will be cashing in from the chaos. The Telegraph reports that they are set to make thousands of pounds after the party teamed up…

**Conservatives  ** David Cameron has set out his party's ideas on improving school discipline in a bid to refocus the Tories on policy. In the speech to the Policy Exchange think-tank on Tuesday, the Conservative leader was attempting to…

Following up another long running story that will go "live" tomorrow is the big doctor change over.  Thanks to some brilliant planning at the DoH, 30,000 junior doctors will all change jobs at once tomorrow.  It will mean that many patients…

You didn't think I'd forgotten had you?  In two days it will be the belated launch of the Home Information Packs.  The watered down, meaningless, poorly thought out, incompetently implemented scheme will going live on 1st August for all…

The going rate for a serving soldier who comes home from war suffering from "permanent severely impaired grip in both hands" is a £16,500 one-off compensation payment.  Probably just as well for the tax payer given the thirst for war…

Government The former head of the Environment Agency has said he would have given up his bonus if he had been in charge during this month's floods, increasing pressure on the current directors. The management were already facing growing…

**International  ** US President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown have pledged to forge a strategic relationship based on values shared between both nations. They met at Camp David, near Washington, their first meeting since…

An eco-house in Pembrokeshre with a minimal carbon footprint is to be demolished because planners judged that it "failed to make a positive environmental impact", The Times reports. Of course, carbon footprints are a lousy way of measuring…

Changes to EU rules may put many British winemakers out of business, The Observer reported yesterday. Britain being an inhospitable country in which to ripen grapes to their full sugary concentration, British winemakers often add sucrose or…