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Hugo Chávez pardons 141 prisoners for Christmas – but leaves judge in jail
Venezuelan president ignores calls from political campaigners to release former judge, arrested after bailing bankerHugo Chávez has announced Christmas pardons for 141 prisoners, but ignored fresh...
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School budget cuts: careers advice, music and art among first casualties
Extra tuition also affected as teachers are made redundant, lessons are axed and local authorities cut servicesIn the current economic crisis, teenagers need more careers help than ever, but schools...
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Call it the Tracey Emin effect: art overcoming austerity outside London |...
Turner, Hepworth, FirstSite – the success of new galleries is making the case for culture-led regenerationAcross the UK, 2012 will be the year where art meets sport in hundreds of towns and villages....
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Three churchgoers held after midnight mass brawl on Christmas Eve
Vicar frightened for parishioners' lives after men threw chairs and punches during sermon at St Edmund's church in SouthamptonA vicar has said he feared for his parishioners' lives after a brawl broke...
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Boxing Day sales unlikely to save troubled retailers
Blacks Leisure heads for administration, La Senza has brought in administrators and HMV's future hangs in balanceThe Boxing Day sales are unlikely to be enough to save troubled retailers such as Blacks...
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Careers service and literacy hit by schools funding cuts
Research challenges Michael Gove's claim that savings will help the government in 'protecting the frontline'Pupils are being denied careers advice at a time of record youth unemployment, schools are...
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How spending cuts are hitting schools – despite coalition vow to protect them
David Cameron pledged to shelter education from the worst of the cuts, yet some heads are struggling to fund basic resourcesAt Richard Lee primary school, the building is in such dire condition that...
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Bailiffs to increase debtors' fees as councils seek cut of profit
Councils under pressure from cuts are considering taking a share of bailiffs' fees, increasing the burden on debtorsIncreasing numbers of households struggling with debts such as unpaid council tax...
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Christmas Day stabbing in West Sussex
Police question 12 people on suspicion of murder after man stabbed to death in LittlehamptonPolice were questioning 12 people on suspicion of murder after a man in his 30s was stabbed to death at a...
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Country diary: Windsor Hill, Somerset
They used to quarry Mendip stone at Windsor Hill, north-west of Shepton Mallet, but when the work stopped, the quarry reverted to the wild, and the random growth of trees and scrub created an enclosed...
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Letters: Privatisation deaths
Neil Clark (Vaclav Havel: another side to the story, 18 December) cites a 2009 study in the Lancet that purports to show that mass privatisation in post-communist countries was responsible for "as many...
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Supermarkets and the struggle for the high street
At a time when our struggling town centres need all the help they can get, expanding out-of-town supermarkets would risk turning a downturn into a death-knell (Revealed: how supermarkets plan to build...
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Letters: Bringer of division and bitterness
Margaret Thatcher seems likely to receive a state funeral and her place in Westminster Abbey (Report, 22 December). There are objections to this. Churchill and Gladstone, similarly honoured, readily...
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Letters: Prison sentences
With more people than ever spending Christmas behind bars this year, there is an opportunity early in the new year to do something about it. The House of Lords committee stage of the legal aid,...
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Letters: Civil service role in forming the coalition government
It will no doubt be many years before we know the precise role of the senior civil service in helping to prepare the ground for the coalition before the 2010 election, but, as Martin Kettle says, some...
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Letters: Sport for women
As someone who tuned out to support my local Boxing day hunt (Report, 26 December), I can testify not just to the large number of supporters, but also to their cross-section: the comararderie was...
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Philippines floods: an expected shock
Even when we do know about climate-related hazards, we still fail to actThe typhoon that hit Mindanao in the Philippines before Christmas to claim 1,000 lives and leave nearly 50,000 homeless was a...
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Tube strikes: compounding the slump
A hysterical call to industrial warfare meant the Boxing Day stoppages deflated a much-needed retail boostFor all Michael Gove's hysteria about trade unionists itching for a fight, the dispute over...
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In praise of ... leaving the lights on
Street-lighting is an important aspect of keeping citizens safe. The government should research the impact of turning it off before doing soLeft or right, both ends of the political spectrum agree that...
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Suspect breast implants rebranded before sale to 1,000 Dutch women
Netherlands health authority says a Dutch firm bought implants made by PIP, the French company at centre of health scareAround 1,000 Dutch women have breast implants of the suspect kind made by a...
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