Sarah Palin: my life with a Down's child

In her memoir, US vice-presidential candidate tells of the problems and the joy of living with her special needs son

Tory tells of communist past as Eric the Red

Eric Pickles has revealed for the first time his passion for Leon Trotsky and Karl Marx as a teenager growing up in Yorkshire

Palin: We’re losing – eat some carbs

The US vice-presidential candidate tells how she got a shock when campaign chiefs proposed a new strategy - a nutritionist

Calman falls short on Scots' power to tax

James Aitken and Graeme Blackett say Holyrood must be allowed to raise all the money it spends to be financially accountable

My shopping list – by the first lady of business

The new CBI chief knows what she wants from the politicians

Straw pledges action to end libel tourism

Justice secretary says the large legal fees involved in defamation cases in English courts are jeopardising freedom of speech

Lord Mandelson: 'Make me foreign secretary'

Business secretary is pressing the PM to reshuffle the cabinet so he can achieve his ambition of running the Foreign Office

Afghan pullout is ‘election ploy’ by Brown

Defence sources say PM wants to tell voters pre-election that a partial troop withdrawal will begin by Christmas next year

Bickering parents to get state therapy

Couples who squabble outside the school gates could be advised to take relationship counselling under a government initiative

Baroness Ashton: EU couldn’t make it up

The plotting that led to an obscure bureaucrat heading the EU’s foreign service were even greater than first thought

Colleges rig immigrants’ English tests

Home Office approved certificates are awarded to candidates who can’t speak the language but want to stay in the UK

Minister claimed £12,000 for fourth office

Ann Keen, dubbed ‘Mrs Expenses’, has refused to say how the money was used or which of her two homes the office is located in

Citizenship language scam exposed

Immigrants who don’t understand English have been able to buy certificates that give them the right to settle in Britain

Tories to demand: are you married?

Shadow home secretary pledges that a Conservative government would make it a priority to raise the status of married life

UK envoys called back to calm Muslim hotspots

At 'outreach' meetings, Muslims can talk to the diplomats directly about British foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan

Brown blasted for weakness on youth unemployment

Measures to tackle youth unemployment have been blasted as inadequate by the economist David Blanchflower

Home Secretary: Police should visit every victim

Alan Johnson says everyone who suffers as a result of crime should be seen and spoken to by their local force