UK inflation defied forecasts last month to hold at its highest rate since May, reducing the scope for the Bank of England to inject more cash into the struggling economy.

HAVE you encountered the latest social phenomenon? The Celtic Cubs are voting with their feet. They’ve heard all the propaganda about recovery and positivity. Their real choice is Canada, Australia or Britain. Emigration parties are now commonplace as well wishers offer their best for a bright new future.

John Bercow pledged to heal public “anger and disappointment” over the expenses scandal as he was installed as the UK's House of Commons’ 157th Speaker.

NEVER having watched British prime minister’s questions in its entirety before, I was struck by the amount of background noise throughout Tony Blair’s final appearance at the House of Commons’ dispatch box.

A committee of MPs will hear directly from neighbourhood justice schemes in the North today why they want state funding despite concerns about how they operate.

British government plans for neighbourhood justice schemes in the North could condemn nationalist communities to rough justice and one sided political policing, it was claimed today.

The British Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, today denied there was any political interference in the decision by prosecutors in Northern Ireland to drop charges against three men accused of spying at Stormont.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain will hold crisis talks with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams today following the unmasking of a trusted aide to the West Belfast MP as a British spy.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams will today round off his visit to Cuba with a meeting with the country’s foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque.

Northern Ireland risks sliding into a society marked by ‘‘gangsterism’’ unless the control that paramilitaries exert over neighbourhoods is tackled, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble claimed today.