Hugh Muir's Diary: Trouble behind the curtains in Green-land as members protest at EU selection

A question for parties everywhere: how Green was my election?• Cold realities afflict the Greens as critics from without and within attack the party for mooted pay cuts at its flagship Brighton council. But that isn't the only problem for the hierarchy and the activists. Behind the scenes there has been fear and loathing over the process used to select candidates in London for the next Europe

Judges give reasons for rejecting Bali Briton's appeal

Judges sympathise with Lindsay Sandiford, who faces death penalty, but say denying her legal representation is 'not irrational'Three leading judges have expressed "great sympathy" for a British grandmother facing the death penalty in Indonesia as they announced their reasons for rejecting her appeal against a refusal by the UK government to pay for her legal representation.Giving their cou

Oklahoma: the clear-up begins, glamour from Cannes: the news in pictures

Our photo coverage of the day's events in the UK and around the world

April Jones case: accused has new memory of seeing body

Mark Bridger recalls placing dead girl's body in his living room and tells court: 'I thought I'd had a nightmare'The man accused of abducting and murdering April Jones has told a jury that a memory of laying the five-year-old's body down on his living room floor on the night she vanished has recently returned to him.Mark Bridger claimed the next thing he recalls is waking up in the early h

Woolwich attack: meat cleaver, knife and jihadist claims filmed on mobile

• British soldier dead in suspected terror attack in London• Knife attack near barracks 'an eye for an eye', says suspect • Killing in street is 'absolutely sickening' says prime ministerA man suspected of staging a terrorist attack that left a British soldier dead near a military barracks in London, was caught on camera clutching a meat cleaver and knife in hands apparently covered in the

Woolwich killing: horror on John Wilson Street

Eyewitnesses in shock as two men hack man to death in full public view, then ask for passersby to take photographs of themA meat cleaver is clasped in his blood-smeared left hand; the other – also stained red with human blood – waves manically as he shouts at the camera, ranting his justification for the atrocity on the streets of south-east London.At about the same time, in the nearby Mus

Letters: Tube ownership

Dave Welsh (Letters, 21 May) says the London underground has been publicly owned for 80 years; it was actually nationalised, along with the rest of the railways, by the Attlee government in 1948. The London Passenger Transport Board of 1933 had a complex structure. A small proportion of its stock was held by the London county council and other local authorities by way of payment for their tramwa

Letters: Paying tax is absolutely a moral issue

CBI president Sir Roger Carr's claim that there can be no moral basis to concerns about tax avoidance is a grave misjudgment (Never mind morals, tax is all about the rules, 21 May). A great many ordinary people see payment – or rather non-payment – of tax as fundamentally a moral question. Perhaps it might be talked about as justice or fairness, but it boils down to the same thing. Christian Aid

Country diary: Crook, County Durham: I've often seen bees infested with mites, but rarely one so heavily laden

Crook, County Durham: I was tempted to relieve it of its burden with a fine brush. But perhaps that would have been a mistakeBumblebees still foraged on the blackcurrant blossom, even though the afterglow of sunset was beginning to fade. One, a queen _Bombus pratorum_, fell from a truss of flowers and landed almost at my feet, brushing her legs over her furry back as if to rid herself of some

Google's Eric Schmidt believes one company is an island

A slip of the tongue by Google's executive chairman speaks volumes about his perception of the company's tax obligationsA week or so ago, Google's chief executive, Larry Page, caused ripples when he suggested at a public event that laws older than 50 years or so shouldn't apply to internet companies, and that it might be fun to have an island where Google could dabble in new ideas without all

Woolwich attack: lone wolf and jihadist theories will occupy security forces

Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre will convene, in wake of killing and al-Qaida martyrdom video rhetoric heard on London streetCounter-terrorism officers and security officials will doubtless fear that Woolwich fits into the category of crime that they can do little to thwart; random, lone-wolf, unsophisticated attacks, conducted by people who are not on the radar of the police or MI5.The sp

Man jailed for smothering mother

Robert Archbold, 49, found guilty of manslaughter of 77-year-old Jane after putting hand over her mouth 'to shut her up'A man who smothered and strangled his mother has been jailed for 13 years, police said today.Robert Archbold, 49, said he got into a row with retired vet Jane Archbold, 77, at their home in Ambleside, Cumbria, and put his hand over her mouth "to shut her up".He admitte

Google boss calls for a 'rational and predictable international tax system'

Eric Schmidt rejects Ed Miliband's criticisms of tax affairs, saying firm fears being 'double or quadruple taxed' under any changesThe Google chairman, Eric Schmidt, has told political leaders to sort out a rational and predictable international tax system, as he faced a wave of criticism over the firm's failure to pay more tax.Ed Miliband attempted to deliver his rebuke direct to Schmidt

Afghan interpreters 'risk being failed by bureaucracy'

David Davis says government is failing in its duty to 600 Afghans if too many restrictions are placed on granting of visasThe government was accused of taking an overly bureaucratic approach after a series of loopholes were identified in the government scheme to allow about 600 Afghan interpreters to be given five-year British visas.David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, challenged

Woolwich: Met police issue statement on attack - video

Metropolitan police detective chief superintendent Simon Letchford issues a statement to the press in the wake of an attack in Woolwich, south London, which has left one person dead and two others injured

Woolwich attack: two suspects shot after man killed near barracks – live

• Soldier killed, according to local MP Nick Raynsford• Armed police shot two men 'carrying weapons'• Terrorist attack feared as Cobra emergency committee meetsPaul OwenConal Urquhart

Sharon Osbourne returns to X Factor panel

Osbourne, who was last a judge on the show six years ago, will replace Tulisa ContostavlosSharon Osbourne will return to The X Factor judging panel to replace Tulisa Contostavlos, ITV has confirmed.She will join Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger – who have all signed up – on the ITV series when it comes back to screens later this year.Osbourne, last on the show as a judge

I am the beneficiary of the house-price boom. My children are its victims | Suzanne Moore

When the haves get worried not only about their futures but also those of their kids, the have-nots are really doomedIf all property is theft then I am a colossal thief. I sold my house via Foxtons. Thanks, Nick! See, I know how to get you onside; boasting of my palatial Hackney residence! The truth is that like anyone who bought property 20 years ago in London and tarted it up and just kind

Austerity is a task for another day, IMF tells George Osborne

International Monetary Fund advises chancellor to defer cuts programme and instead stimulate faltering economyHit the austerity pause button. Invest more in social housing, schools and road repairs. Growth is more important in the short term than deficit reduction. Couched in suitably polite language, that was the uncomfortable message from the International Monetary Fund to George Osborne .

George Osborne warned by IMF that cuts 'pose headwinds' to growth

Washington lender advises chancellor to bring on infrastructure spending plans to avoid jeopardising tepid recoveryGeorge Osborne was on Wednesday urged by the International Monetary Fund to rethink his plans for a £10bn tax-and-spending squeeze this year, as part of a broad based attack on the coalition's economic policies.After a fortnight's fact-finding mission in London, the Washington

Man killed in deadly terror attack in London street

• Alleged attacker is filmed brandishing knife and cleaver• Two suspects shot by armed police• Ministers holding emergency Cobra meetingFollow the latest on the Woolwich attack hereDramatic footage has emerged of the suspected terrorist attack near the London barracks that left one man dead, showing a suspect with blood-covered hands using jihadist rhetoric to justify the violence.On W

Who dares to dodge Google's information tax? | McKenzie Wark

In exchange for giving up our personal data, we get to watch each other's cat videos, while Google becomes the new stateOf course Google doesn't want to pay its taxes to the British crown, like a loyal corporate subject. In Google's mind it secretly thinks that it is now something like a state, and we are all its subjects. It is we who should pay tribute to it – and we do.We pay it a sort

Woolwich: suspect believed to be involved in attack - video

Footage obtained by ITV which purports to show two men believed to be involved in a 'serious incident' in Woolwich, south east London, on Wednesday which has left one person dead and two others injured

Man appears in court over IRA bombing of Hyde Park

John Anthony Downey, 61, charged with the murder of four members of the Royal Household Cavalry in 1982 bombingA 61-year-old man has appeared in court accused of murdering four soldiers who died in the IRAbombing of Hyde Park in 1982.On Wednesday morning, John Anthony Downey, of County Donegal, Ireland, was charged with the murder of four members of the Royal Household Cavalry who were kil

RBS bankers receive £2.7m in shares as bonus

Four top bankers share bonus pot, but chief executive and finance director miss performance targetsFour top bankers at Royal Bank of Scotland have been handed £2.7m in shares from bonuses that were awarded to them by the bailed-out bank three years ago.The largest award was handed to Ellen Alemany, the outgoing head of the US arm Citizens, who received just under £1m. Nathan Bostock, the c

EU tax summit backs US-led drive to tackle banking secrecy

David Cameron says momentum growing as European leaders pledge to clamp down through sharing of informationEuropean leaders have thrown their weight behind a gathering international crackdown on tax evasion, backing US-led efforts to develop a new global template to combat banking secrecy.Amid mounting public outrage in Britain, France, Germany and Ireland over individual and corporate tax

Beatle droppings not for sale

Collection owned by biographer Hunter Davies, which includes early versions of classic tunes, handed to British LibraryA collection of tattered scraps of paper, some picked up half a century ago from the floor of the Abbey Road recording studios before they were thrown away as rubbish, now valued at just under £1m, have been presented to the nation by the Beatles biographer Hunter Davies."

Banned driver who mowed down cyclists is jailed for 10 years

Nicky Lovell, who has 69 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to causing deaths of husband and wife Ross and Clare SimonsA disqualified driver fleeing police was jailed for 10 years and six months on Wednesday for killing a couple he mowed down in a car as they rode their tandem bike.Nicky Lovell, 38, pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of "perfect couple" Ross Simons, 34, and wife Clare,

David Cameron stands firm on EU referendum date

Prime minister rejects calls from Eurosceptics to hold vote before planned date of 2017, or even to hold two votesDavid Cameron has issued a blunt warning to Conservative Eurosceptics that his "very clear, very decisive policy" to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership by the end of 2017 is not up for renegotiation.In an attempt to draw a line under a bumpy few weeks in which Eurosce

Osborne prepares ground for RBS and Lloyds sell-off

IMF calls on chancellor to devise a 'clear strategy' for bailed-out banks and pour more taxpayer funds into them if necessaryGeorge Osborne is preparing to set out his plans to return bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to the private sector after the International Monetary Fundcalled on him to devise a "clear strategy" for the two banks.The Washington-based body, in