Jacques Delors, former European Commission president, and José Manuel Barroso, the current chief of the EU executive, both regretted the national "resistance" and "lack of spirit of cooperation" amongst the leaders of the 27 EU countries in dealing with the bloc's debt crises. More »

Jeb Bush’s reference to his is father indicative of a growing arrogance among society’s elite, writes Gary Silverman

A discussion on the Better Nation Blog about proposals for the Scottish Parliament to make smacking children illegal reminded me of this poignant poem by Stan Kelly. It is about an abused child who is likely to grow up to become a replica of his abusive father, but his Ma' still loves him to bits because he is her baby. A fantastic poem, made into a fantastic song by Cilla Black: Oh you are a

Remember when I suggested that Father Ted could be remade in China? I think we've found our Craggy Island: A remote mountain village in southwestern Guizhou Province, called Goushi, meaning dog shit in English, adopted a new auspicious name at...

Journalist Rosie Boycott called for a reform of social care for older adults as she explained what happened when her father developed dementia and ended up going into a home.

Louise Devine, the hunger-striker's daughter talks about her heartbreaking visits to see her dad in the Maze Prison. The daughter of a H-Block hunger-striker has slammed the Sinn Féin leadership claiming they let her father "die for nothing." Louise Devine says she's "sickened" that the party top brass allegedly rejected a secret British offer which could have saved the last six h...

Robin Walker, the Conservative MP for Worcester, is this week’s bookbencher. He tells us about the influence that his father (Peter Walker) had on his reading, and his love of Elgar. Which book’s on your bedside table at the moment? When Christ and his Saints Slept, a historical novel about Stephen and Matilda by Sharon Penman and The Arabs, a History by Eugene Rogan. Neither is an ent...

The government's high-speed rail plans will ruin thousands of lives, according to Lord Astor - David Cameron's father-in-law.

Now, this story made me smile.. A young 18-year-old teen mother in Oklahoma City took out an intruder to protect herself and her 3-month-old baby on New Year's Eve, less than a week after the baby's father died of cancer. Sarah McKinley said that on Christmas Day, the same day of her husband's funeral, a man later identified as Justin Martin dropped by, claiming that he was a neighb...

Now there's going to be trouble - the govt want to take away Father Jack's bottle ( and everyone else's ). So the inevitable bun fight between the libertarians and the modernisers on the centre right has started. Normally I lean to the libertarian side of the argument and away from the dark road to soclialism that regulation and restrictions bring. But there's no denying we hav...