The Sunday edition of the London-based The Mail newspaper. Articles cover current events, news, business, politics, sports, arts, and entertainment around the UK and the rest of the world.
HERE is the final week of our brilliant series of FREE gardening offers,which has given you the chance to fill your garden with plants worth more than[pounds sterling]100. Today's FREE collection is TEN classic cottage garden perennial plants, worthmore...
Byline: Jane Simpson MORE than 30 people have been stabbed or slashed on Scotland's streetsover the past week in a horrific illustration of the country's soaring knifeculture. Last weekend alone, 17 people were victims of blade crime in a spate...
Byline: Ross Clark Last year while she was Housing Minister Yvette Cooper proudly said that74 per cent of new homes in 2005 had been built on brownfield sites, declaring:'More homes need not be at the expense of environmental protection.' This...
Byline: Graeme Croser HUNGARIAN internationalist Denes Rosa last night urged mentor CsabaLaszlo to hand him the chance to play for Hearts. Rosa believes the Gorgieoutfit have pulled off a major coup in securing the services of the formerUgandan...
Byline: Simon Garfield The National Health Service has just turned 60, and Radio 4 - that othergreat British envy of the world - has been marking the anniversary withdebates, plays and personal histories considering the institution's past andfuture....
Byline: Hilary Freeman Last week my 18-month-old nephew Eytan said his very first word. He wassitting in the conservatory eating his lunch when, as a flock of seagullspassed overhead, he pointed up and said 'ird'. It was a moment of overwhelmingjoy...
Byline: Caroline Bellamy Think of liquorice and images of brightly coloured chews or the black'shoelaces' you used to eat at school are likely to spring to mind. Butliquorice comes in all kinds of medicinal forms too - pills, powder, tincture,syrups...
Byline: DAN ATKINSON EMPLOYERS are likely to use the economic downturn as an excuse to clearout underperforming workers without fear of being taken to an employmenttribunal, experts have warned. 'Once a firm has decided on redundancies for economic...
Byline: Mike Merritt SHE has been obsessed with them ever since she was a little girl - andover the past few decades has managed to 'bag' more than 100. But with at least the same number left to go, Princess Anne seems to haveaccelerated her...
Byline: Eve McGowan Former model Lisa Butcher has put her maisonette in Parsons Green, WestLondon, on the market for [pounds sterling]640,000. Lisa, who presents What Not To Wear onBBC1, has upsized to a bigger property nearby - she is renting it...
Byline: Rob Robertson HIBERNIAN'S defensive frailties resurfaced here in Sweden as yet anothergoalkeeping error by Scotland Under-21 international Andy McNeil contributed totheir Intertoto Cup exit. In truth, even without McNeil's first-half...
Byline: Vic Rodrick JK ROWLING'S Harry Potter stories have proved to be so 'wizard' atencouraging schoolchildren to take an interest in lessons that they are nowofficially part of the Scottish curriculum. The goings-on at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft...
Byline: Craig Brown The Oxford Guide To Literary Britain & Ireland edited by Daniel Hahn andNicholas Robins OUP [pounds sterling] 30 . [pounds sterling]27 inc p& p (0845 155 0713) Tourists arriving in London for the very first time sometimes...
Byline: Sharon Churcher TENS of thousands of newly-born penguins are freezing to death asAntarctica is lashed by freak rain storms. Scientists believe the numbers of Adelie penguins may have fallen by as much as80 per cent - and, if the downpours...
Byline: JEFF PRESTRIDGE BRADFORD & Bingley is confident of overwhelming shareholder approval atan extraordinary general meeting on Thursday to proceed with its [pounds sterling]400 millionrights issue. Major shareholders are backing the bank's...
Byline: Malcolm Folley ROGER FEDERER, removed from his Wimbledon throne by Rafael Nadal lastweekend, is likely to be honoured with the task of carrying Switzerland's flagat the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing next month. His...
Byline: FRASER MACKIE THERE was just one acceptable way to break the sullen silence on theRangers team bus and, for once, a wisecrack from Ally McCoist or Ian Durranthad no place here. Devastation, disappointment and no small amount of anger...
Byline: Brendan Carlin LABOUR MPs told yesterday how Gordon Brown banged the table after anex-Minister confronted him over the party's plummeting ratings at DowningStreet and told him: 'It's your fault.' During a showdown between Mr Brown andMPs,...
Byline: Liz Todd WITH his rakish good looks and Hollywood heart-throb status, it was onlya matter of time before George Clooney stepped on to our screens dressed asscreen legend Clark Gable. The Oscar-winning 47-year-old has adopted Gable's Gone...
Byline: Joe Bernstein HE coined the phrase The Beautiful Game and as football's greatest-everplayer and best-loved ambassador, Pele has sometimes felt the need to tell hisadoring public what they want to hear, rather than how it really is. Not...
Byline: Lucy Moore Casanova: Actor, Spy, Lover, Priest by Ian Kelly Hodder & Stoughton [pounds sterling]20[pounds sterling]18 inc p&p (0845 155 0713) It may come as a surprise to learn that the celebrated lover Giacomo Casanovaembarked...
Byline: Michael Tait A SCATHING report has exposed the appalling conditions at a hospital hitby a superbug which would eventually kill 18 people. An infection control team sent into the Vale of Leven Hospital in the wake ofan outbreak of the...
Byline: Rob Draper DWAIN CHAMBERS last night delivered an extraordinary sprint performanceunder immense pressure, setting the scene for what could be the mostcontroversial selection in British Olympic history this week. Chambers ran the 100 metres...
Byline: Patrick Collins DWAIN Anthony Chambers ran strongly, confidently and successfullythrough a raw and blustery Birmingham evening. And British athletics wasplunged into bitterness and chaos in the space of 10 seconds flat. By winning the...
Byline: Dominic Carman IN Cherie Blair's autobiography, he warrants only a brief mention. But'Gorgeous' George Carman, the rottweiler barrister who died aged 71 in 2001,was actually her head of chambers for nearly ten years. Here his son Dominicreveals...
We all know that high cholesterol is undesirable, but did you know thattwo out of three adults in Britain have a higher than recommended level? That'saccording to the NHS, which warns that too much cholesterol - the fat made bythe liver - in the blood...
D. H. writes: I am 63 and have five private pension plans, two of whichoffer guaranteed annuities. When should I contact various pension providers toget annuity quotes? A. E. replies: Policies offering guaranteed annuitiesusually pay a predetermined...
Lady T, a legend who deserves the ultimate salute A STATE funeral is the greatest honour this country can bestow. Such ceremoniesare, rightly, rare. Millions are now far too young to remember the majesticspectacle that marked the passing of Sir...
Byline: Peter Hitchens HERE is the news, 20 years from now: 'Government experts are urging thatmurderers should be given community service where possible, rather than jailterms. 'The panel pointed out that there was little evidence that prison...
Byline: JOANNE HART LIFE has become much more costly in recent months and nowhere is thechange more pronounced than in basic household expenses. Bills have shotthrough the roof and most people are feeling the pinch. Against this backdrop, any...
Byline: FRANCO CAPALDO COMPETITION between BP and Shell is set to intensify next year if LindaCook, an American mother of three, is appointed to the top job at theAnglo-Dutch energy group. Cook, who earns nearly [pounds sterling]2 million a year...
Byline: Dan Atkinson GORDON Brown is not the first leader in modern times to tell people tostop wasting food. His call last week echoed that of America's President Fordat the end of 1974, during the last explosion in agricultural prices. Like...
Byline: Simon Fluendy CHIEF executives are skittish creatures. Not shy, for sure, but they areeasily startled. So moving from a tumultuous results season into the time of annual meetings,when the greyhaired chairmen take charge of a worried investor...
Byline: Fraser Mackie DANNY SHITTU is expected to be confirmed as Rangers' latest signingtomorrow in a deal that will take Walter Smith's summer spending through the[pounds sterling]8million barrier. If Watford and Rangers can fine-tune the details...
Byline: SAM FREEDMAN EVERY parent knows there aren't enough good State schools. Familiesacross the country are resorting to any means necessary to win one of the fewgood school places available for their children. They scrimp and save for aprivate...
Byline: HELIA EBRAHIMI, DAN ATKINSON ALL shoppers love a discount and traders in the Square Mile are noexception, which is why they are embarking on a huge spending spree, snappingup company debt at what they hope are bargain prices. With few...
Byline: Daniel Boffey IT IS normally a place to swap recipes and discuss the perfect poachedegg, but TV cook Delia Smith's website has been hijacked by simmering soccersupporters. The veteran culinary writer has been forced to wipe clean the...
Byline: Alastair Robertson WHEN the giant eagle owl paid a flying visit to their garden lastweekend, the Robertson family were amazed by its size and beauty. But the following day, the elegant predator had disappeared - and so had theirbeloved...
Byline: NORMAN FOWLER The place was the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street. The date was June1993. John Major was Prime Minister and I was the Conservative Party chairman.Major leant back in his chair and told me: 'Your job is to advise me if theposition...
Byline: Neil Simpson Taking a summer holiday could prove costly for hopeful first-time buyersor remortgage customers as dozens of good deals are withdrawn every week andreplaced by costlier options. 'A year ago the average mortgage deal was available...
Byline: Peter Hayter GILES CLARKE could be ousted as chairman of the England and WalesCricket Board when his two-year term ends next spring. Just when English cricket is in need of clear leadership, with problems overthe growing influence of...
Byline: Peter Hayter ENGLAND continued to force-feed South Africa an unpalatable menu oftheir own words in the first Test here yesterday. In the week leading up to the start of a fourmatch series Michael Vaughandescribed as almost on a par with...
Byline: WILLIAM REES-MOGG George Orwell's novel, 1984, forecast the birth of the Big BrotherState. In the mid-Eighties, when Margaret Thatcher was privatising Stateindustries and tearing up State regulations, we could breathe a sigh of relief;it...
Byline: Sinclair McKay The pop-star wife of the French President demands to be judged on hertalent, not her looks - or so we'd like to believe . . Tuesday, 7.32am Quick, where is my guitar? Lyrics and melody are coupling in a fever! And Ising:...
Byline: Jane Simpson SCOTS patients were put at risk when a steriliser used to clean invasivetesting probes developed a fault. A health board has contacted people who recently underwent endoscopy andcolonoscopy procedures after it emerged the...
Byline: Jane Simpson SCOTS patients were put at risk when a steriliser used to clean invasive testing probes developed a fault. A health board has contacted people who recently underwent endoscopy and colonoscopy procedures after it emerged the...
Byline: VIV CREEGOR I CAN tell your holiday's not begun, said the man next to me in ThaiAirways' business class. He was on his fourth glass of champagne, I was sippingsparkling water. OK, it was a minor sacrifice but I knew some of theaccommodation...
Byline: Bob Cass MANCHESTER UNITED manager Sir Alex Ferguson has pulled out of a plannedshowdown with Cristiano Ronaldo in Lisbon tomorrow. Ferguson was angered and disappointed by Portuguese superstar Ronaldo'scomments on television when he...
Byline: Duncan Farmer Running a thriving advertising agency and bringing up five daughtersshould leave a man with little time to himself. But Tim Petherbridge manages to combine the roles of father and businessmanwith a lucrative sideline as...
Byline: Peter Hayter ENGLAND continued to forcefeed South Africa an unpalatable menu of theirown words in the first Test here yesterday. In the week leading up to the start of a four-match series, which Englandcaptain Michael Vaughan described...
Byline: Jim Black ALASTAIR FORSYTH'S frustration threatened to boil over into a full-blownrant yesterday after the big Scot failed to put pressure on the leaders at LochLomond. Forsyth shed a shot in the third round to slip back to one under...
FREE with your Mail on Sunday today is the fantastic Barry Manilow CDCan't Smile Without You, a compilation of studio and live versions of hisclassic hits: Can't Smile Without You was released as a single in 1978, when it reached No1in the US. Taken...
Byline: James Melville HAVING defected from communist Romania at the age of 20 to build a newlife in the west, Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo has been able to call many placeshome on his extensive travels. Now the 44-year-old is planning to add Scotland...
Byline: Jason Solomons Despite being the two most internationally famous movie martial artists,Jackie Chan and Jet Li have never starred in a picture together until TheForbidden Kingdom (12A) **. They team up to help out an American teenager...
Byline: Roger Lewis Alastair Sim: The Real Belle Of St Trinians by Mark Simpson HistoryPress [pounds sterling]18.99 [pounds sterling]17.10 inc p&p (0845 155 0713) There's a ghoulishness about Alastair Sim that's very Edinburgh. Born in...
Byline: David Bennun Tricky's first album was acclaimed, in an appraisal that time has borneout, as a masterpiece; a breathtaking reinvention of British hip-hop. Wannabessprung up out of nowhere in what seemed like a matter of days. Perhaps, undersuch...
Byline: HELEN LOVELESS IERCE competition in the job market means that making your CV stand outfrom the crowd is essential. It is no longer enough to type a one-page resume. Growing numbers of jobseekersare turning to the internet to build multimedia...
Byline: CLAUDIA JOSEPH MYSTERY BOY: Robin Gunningham, circled, in 1989 he was a pupil at Bristol Cathedral School, above Banksy's sandwich board-wearing monkey sold for [pounds sterling]228,000 this year. He has also painted murals - a Mona Lisa...
Byline: MARTYN COX Let me challenge you to a game of word association. If I were to sayhosta, what's the first thing that springs to mind? While there might be a fewunpredictable answers, most gardeners will immediately have thought of a majorpest...
Byline: Carole Caplin Holiday time is an obstacle course for wellbeing. Take flying, for example. The average level of humidity in the UK is 65 percent while in the cabin of an airliner cruising at 35,000ft, it is just one percent. Then there's...
Byline: Benedict Allen RAGGED children fell back, the bearded soothsayers were silenced. Thesnakecharmers fell, too, under her spell and the flinty eyes of toothlesspedlars softened as she passed. She was curvaceous, she was leggy and her skin-...
Byline: Antonia Hoyle WHEN Tariq Al Habtoor asked his father in February if he could go to arock festival with his friends, he already knew the answer. Deprived ofindependence throughout his adolescence, if he wasn't surrounded by four burlybodyguards...
Byline: Neil Barraclough HULL scored four second-half tries to claim a well-deserved victory atBelle Vue that puts them above Hudders-field and only two points away fromneighbours Hull KR despite a disastrous start to the season. Richard Agars...
Byline: Peter Higgs WHEN Justin Rose, then an unknown 17-year-old amateur, finished fourthin the 1998 Open Championship, the sport acclaimed the arrival of a star in themaking. The headlines were on the Laura Robson scale as the nation followed...
Byline: Jeff Prestridge TWO bits of good news - and how we need it - for those looking to turntheir pension funds into lifetime income. First, annuity rates are rising,which means those prepared to shop around can buy more annuity with theirpension...
Byline: PETER HIGGS ERNIE ELS knows just what Tiger Woodsisgoingthrough.Asthe world No1 rests at home in Florida with his left leg strapped, stiff andbeing supported through the early stages of recovery from cruciate ligamentsurgery the South African...
Byline: Tony Hetherington Mrs C. M. F. writes: I bought a house for [pounds sterling]45,000 in 1997 with my thenhusband. His continual violence towards me led me to get a court injunctionagainst him and I left the property. The house was repossessed...
Byline: DAN ATKINSON INFLATION is running at its highest rate for 16 years as a result ofsoaring food and fuel prices, official figures for June will show this week. Despite last week's decision by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committeenot...
REVIEW Pages 1-10 Stalin turned to Sophia: We tortured you too much, he grinned The bizarre story of the night Stalin invited himself to dinner with thefriends he had imprisoned and sentenced to death Page 6 We faced the bile of sacked Ministers....
Byline: TOBY WALNE WAR veteran Kenneth Brown was stunned when he was repeatedly refusedtravel insurance for a cruise to Spain - despite the fact that he pilots hisown cabin cruiser, Carlos III, on the Thames. Nowadays the 91-year-old widower...
Byline: Lisa Buckingham THE dividend yield on bank shares is looking so juicy that surely onlythe most ascetic could resist. HBoS, which is finalising a [pounds sterling]4 billionfundraising, is yielding in the high teens and the altogether more...
Byline: Rob Draper ENGLISHMAN Simon Khan last night vowed not to crack under the strain ofjoint leadership of the Barclays Scottish Open. Khan and Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell will go head to head in the finalround of the [pounds sterling]3million...
Byline: Peter Higgs DURING the course of a career that has made him arguably the greatestsportsman of his era, Tiger Woods has provoked a multitude of reactions, mostlyconnected with awe and wonder. Yet rarely has the 32-year-old caused such...
Byline: Peter Higgs PADRAIG HARRINGTON has turned down a fortune and refused to cash in onlast years Open Championship triumph at Carnoustie because he does not want toruin his game and risk burn-out. Ive turned down some serious, serious money,...
Byline: STEPHEN WOMACK A VILLAGE in Herefordshire could become a symbol of hope for communitiesthreatened with the loss of their post office. Colwall, which sits in a spectacular position at the foot of the Malvern Hills,refused to accept the...
Byline: JO THORNHILL WOULDN'T it be great if you could get a leaky tap fixed for free by aplumber simply by looking after his children for an hour or weeding his garden?For members of local exchange trading systems - known as Lets - this type offormal...
Byline: SAM TORRANCE ONE OF the reasons Im looking forward to what should be a memorable OpenChampionship at Royal Birkdale is the crop of talented twentysomethings who arethreatening to emerge as challengers to Tiger Woods when the great man returnsand...
Byline: Duncan Farmer Welcome to the [pounds sterling]1.5 million tip Kirstie Allsopp tried to buy. LastAugust, the presenter of Channel4's Location, Location, Location came close tosigning contracts for Blackborough House, a derelict Georgian stately...
BEST LUXURY BOOK by August 1 for travel between September 1 and October 15 and get two freeflights thrown in on a seven-night holiday to Barbados with ITC Classics (01244355 527, www.itcclassics.co.uk). You will stay at the luxury Fairmont RoyalPavilion...
Byline: Fraser Mackie DUNDEE UNITED boss Craig Levein expects the Scottish Premier League toserve up a more exciting product than much of what will be on offer in theEnglish top flight this season. Asserting that the standard of football in Scotland...
Byline: Fraser Mackie PETER LOVENKRANDS had already seen his hopes of a transfer back toRangers fade in the last couple of months and now even the meagre consolationof playing against his former club next weekend hangs in the balance. The Danish...
Byline: Simon McGee MILITARY equipment and weapons made in China are being used againstcivilians in Darfur in violation of a United Nations arms embargo in thetroubled region of Sudan. One Chinese-built army truck is understood to have taken...
Byline: Rob Draper DWAIN CHAMBERS last night delivered an extraordinary sprint performanceunder immense pressure, setting the scene for what could be the mostcontroversial selection in British Olympic history this week. Chambers ran 10.00secs,...
Byline: Stephen Davies BRITAIN'S Mark Cavendish underlined his status as the fastest finisherin world cycling by storming to a second stage victory in four days in the Tourde France yesterday. The Isle of Man rider became only the second Briton...
Byline: Bill Day SECURITY was stepped up at Lord's yesterday after the MCC apologised toSouth Africa for alleged abuse by club members on the second day of the Test. MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw launched an inquiry and increased thenumbers...
Byline: JIM BLACK GRAEME McDOWELL and Simon Khan will go head to head in the final roundof the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond today. They are locked at 10-under-par after rounds of 66 and 68 respectively gavethem a two-shot lead over the...
Byline: Graeme Croser AS AUTOMATIC picks in a titlewinning team, Aiden McGeady and StephenMcManus represent two first-class adverts for Celtic's youth policy. Examinetheir careers in closer detail and you will see two individuals whose pathsveered...
Byline: Jason Lewis MI6 HAS been accused of a blunder that might have cost the chance of anearly rescue for Britain's so-called forgotten hostages in Iraq. The Secret Intelligence Service failed to track a mobile phone carried by oneof the men...
Byline: Ian Gallagher THE first detailed account of businesswoman Michelle Palmer's night ofshame in Dubai was revealed yesterday, as she insisted she did not have sex ona beach. She told one of her closest friends she was simply 'messing around...
Byline: Nick Brownlee A CHURCH minister is at the centre of an unholy row after expelling 40people from her congregation for non-attendance. Rev Connie Bonner and her elders have sent letters to parishioners who have notturned up for worship...
Byline: Rob Robertson MIXU PAATELAINEN last night revealed he is actively seeking at leastfour new players to strengthen his Hibs squad for the start of the SPL season. The Easter Road manager was disappointed at the manner of their Intertoto...
Byline: Lauren Booth SOME days ago, I was walking through Alexandra Park in North London at4.30pm. Suddenly, a man appeared holding something in his right hand. He wavedit at me, a mad gleam in his eye. The relief I felt that he wasn't holding...
Byline: Will Stewart, Glen Owen A LABOUR MP who infuriated Downing Street by meeting a Russian spy fortea in the Commons has been praised by the Kremlin for attacking MI5. Andrew MacKinlay - who was carpeted by Labour Chief Whip Geoff Hoon for...
Byline: Michael Tait AN MSP on the Holyrood committee calling for former Labour leader WendyAlexander to be banned from the Scottish parliament has warned fellowpoliticians to back the decision - or risk undermining future investigations. Liberal...
Byline: Giles Milton THE German tourist lady seemed irritated by the reason for my visit. 'Hitler's Munich?' she said. 'Can't you write about something else? There arelots of other things to see.' That's certainly true, but to see Munich throughthe...
Byline: Polly Dunbar, Martin Delgado TAKING A STAND: Lilian Ladele hopes her tribunal victory will stop workers being bullied for their beliefs THE devout Christian registrar who won a landmark legal battle over her refusal to carry out gay 'weddings'...
Byline: Eileen Fairweather A SENIOR executive at Britain's biggest drug firm has resigned fromOfsted at the watchdog's request after The Mail on Sunday highlighted fears ofa potential conflict of interest. Paul Blackburn, senior vice-president...
Byline: Malcolm Folley THE sight of Marion Jones walking free from prison in Fort Worth, Texas,in September will force the Olympic movement to face an uncomfortable question. For even the most optimistic observers are wondering how many of the...
Byline: LOWRI TURNER Walk past the window of a top-end kitchen-design emporium, the kindwhere a kitchen can cost the price of a terrace house in a less chichi part ofthe country, and it is tempting to sigh and fantasise what your home would looklike...
Byline: Rob Draper PAULA RADCLIFFE flies into London today for a make-or-break scan todetermine whether she can continue with her unlikely bid to make the Olympicmarathon next month. The world record holder and 2005 world champion is battling...