He said he had not benefited from his wrongdoing as the sum he had stolen from JC Flowers was less than the bonus, or profit share, he had forfeited when he was sacked. Didn’t work but interesting argument all the same.

MP Peter Lilley condemns plans to lay flowers in memory of an IRA bomber blown up in St Albans 20 years ago.

Vernon Scannell, a poet who fought in North Africa in the Second World War, observed in his poem 'The Great War': 'Whenever the November sky Quivers with a bugle's hoarse, sweet cry The reason darkens; in its evening gleam Crosses and flares, tormented wire, grey earth Spattered with crimson flowers, And I remember, Not the war I fought in But the one called Great Which ended i...

Nicolas Sarkozy's appeal to Carla Bruni lay not with his power but with his plant appeal, says Rowan Pelling.

Family of one of the four miners lay cards and flowers at the spot where men last saw the light of day.

Family of one of the four miners killed in flooded colliery lay cards and flowers at the spot where men last saw the light of day.

Nominations for the Liberal Democrats’ Blog of the Year Awards 2011 closed on 2 September. Since then, the judges Helen Duffett (that’s me), Richard Flowers, Olly Grender, Katie Razzall, Stephen Tall and Martin Tod have been poring over the entries for the six categories. It’s been a big task, and a fun one, to distil

Richard Flowers reported here on Lib Dem Voice last week Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock’s grave concerns for a Portsmouth constituent facing deportation back to Uganda — Robert Segwanyi is gay, and argues he was imprisoned and tortured in his home country, where homosexuality is illegal. (Michael Andrewes, Mr Hancock’s constituency researcher offered further background

Audit Commission owns up to a £6,500 flower bill

“Flowers begin arriving past night and bidding starts before dawn. To ensure their lilies and hyacinths are ready for the auction block, growers move them from cold storage onto carts in the early morning, or else rush them from Schiphol after overnight flights from Quito, Nairobi, and Tel Aviv. It’s impossible to see, much less make sense of, the Aalsmeer at eye level, as the ...