A most cheerful twister of the knife

Queen of crime fiction PD James may be amiable but her forensic mind can be deadly – as the BBC head has found to his cost

Boomerang children: Flying back to the nest

Instead of saving for retirement, many parents are having to support adult offspring who have nowhere else to live

Captors barter over the body of last Briton

Peter Moore’s kidnappers are refusing to hand over the remains of his bodyguard until a hardline cleric is released

Bomb expert remembered as a ‘Superman’

Sapper David Watson, a bomb disposal expert killed by a Taliban bomb on New Year’s Eve, was described as 'a true hero'

Hello, we’re the humans of the sea

Researchers say it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food

A smacked child ‘is a successful child’

Study finds young children smacked by their parents may grow up to be more successful than those who have never been hit

Labour hints at Liberal Democrat pact

Lord Adonis has lavished praise on Nick Clegg, suggesting Labour is ready to enter a post-election pact with the Lib Dems

By ’eck, Hague takes class war to Brown

The shadow foreign secretary tells The Sunday Times that he is to lead his party’s fightback against Labour’s ‘toff’ jibes

Navy set to lift ban on women in submarines

Women may be allowed to serve on submarines for the first time in the Royal Navy’s history under plans being drawn up

Police ignored trail of skier in death fall

The family of the missing Briton found dead in Switzerland last week says searchers failed to follow up a clear clue

Career switchers shake up teaching

Bankers, lawyers and other career-changing professionals are flooding into the classroom, outnumbering new graduates

Pupils to be given lessons on debt

Schools are to be required to teach children how to spend with restraint, borrow within sensible limits and save prudently

Sun, surf and sexuality – a whole new cult

August 16, 1964: Nicholas Tomalin dives into a strange language and fashion as surfing is born in Britain

Bovey ordered to pay £1m to creditors

Grant Bovey, the husband of Anthea Turner, has been ordered to pay back the creditors of his failed buy-to-let empire

Seats to delay general election count

New figures suggest the results of one in three of the 650 constituencies may not be declared until the day after the election

BBC leaves French and Saunders on the shelf

The pair, who found fame in 1985 in the ITV series Girls on Top, took their final bow as a double act on stage in November 2008

Leather sofas are cushion against recession

From high-end homes to the high street, the leather sofa is the hottest trend in interiors, with sales up 87 per cent