If John’s record is so strong, and potential contribution so significant, how come he’s not being paid? Is he being punished for something? What can poor John have done wrong? Or does the party no longer value defence? Maybe it didn’t want an armed forces minister at all but felt bound by a manifesto commitment. [...]

Thank god I’m too old for that,” snorted Ray Cousins of the Greeting Card Association when asked about whether New Dad is getting any Hallmark moments these days. If he is, it is only a second or two – a percentage of a percentage of the 25 million Father’s Day cards sold.My own perusal of [...]

It might seem casual, but the ritual has a technical significance. “This is your bread-and-butter,” Ilott says, gesturing across the field where the Sussex batsmen are struggling against a moving ball, the Essex fielders against a chill wind. (Ilott himself had a thigh strain and was on temporary 12th man duty.) “Nas is safe in [...]

I won’t bore you with the conversation, which to anyone other than a shaddict was undeniably dull.Still, it was revealing to discover that even the shad man didn’t know much about their activities when at sea, or why they choose to swim 190km upriver to spawn, or why their populations have plummeted over the past [...]

The second involves employer and employee contributing to a “personal parental plan” (comparable to a personal pension plan) and the third has the employer picking up the bill. The most realistic is the fourth in which employer, employee and the taxpayer share the cost.This will have companies across Britain reaching for the bottom line, but [...]

Flanked fore and aft by army escort vehicles – the Welsh Guards, Royal Welch Fusiliers, and local Territorial Army units such as the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry are taking turns to accompany them all the way – they do not end their efforts at their daily destination. It is difficult to resist forking out when you see [...]