Nick Clegg, this morning, advocating closing loopholes for the rich to pay for raising the income tax threshold: ‘Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households.  Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.’ Oh, all right, that wasn't Clegg. That w...

Slovak politicians head into March elections embroiled in a massive corruption probe prompted by the publication of an alleged intelligence file code-named 'Gorilla'. It suggests that members of leading political parties colluded with financiers in privatisation and public procurement projects. EurActiv Slovakia reports. More »

The US and Israel have postponed the joint military exercises they had scheduled for April under the code name "Austere Challenge". The official reason given was to avoid exacerbating tensions with Iran. The exercise as it was originally planned would have include more than 5,000 U.S. personnel and simulated Israel's ballistic missile defense. In the midst of all this, the US is strongly pres...

After ten pubs closed in South Hampshire in 2011, John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, is calling for Government action to slow the tide of pub closures by supporting a resolution to be debated on Thursday, 12 January. The resolution calls on the Government to introduce a statutory code of practice and adjudicator for the industry. Mr Denham's call for action comes following his sup...

Maurice Glasman’s article yesterday caused some stir on Twitter and spurred Westminster hacks to say he was critical of Ed’s leadership. But the interesting policy bit of the article was his coded attack on Ed Balls: Endogenous growth, flexible labour-market reform, free movement of labour, the dominance of the City of London – it was

In October I made my first ever complaint to the Press Complaints Commission over a xenophobic piece in the Daily Mail blaming foreigners for the summer riots. I have just had the response from the PCC, which has backed the Daily Mail in saying the code was not breached. The ruling is below but my

A group of European privacy watchdogs has called for a stricter interpretation of rules on behavioural advertising, condemning the industry's self-regulation code as giving users a “wrong presumption” of how their online browsing habits are being tracked by advertisers using web 'cookies'. More »

Parents will be stripped of the right to object to the expansion of grammar schools, under a new school admissions code laid before parliament. Campaigners against academic selection say this could force some schools into a battle for survival as grammars expand to take on their neighbours’ best-performing pupils. The education secretary, Michael Gove, is

One doesn’t want to be ungallant but 33 is fairly long in the tooth for a chorus ballerina*. If you’ve not collected the rich businessman by that point one is going to have to think about working as a second career. Mariafrancesca Garritano, 33, has broken the unwritten code of silence – which she fears

The Old Etonian mercenary behind a failed coup d'état in Equatorial Guinea has been accused of breaching the "warrior's code" by insulting a distinguished officer and clan chief in his new book on the ill-fated venture.