It was one of last year’s most controversial pictures. And now it has emerged British prime minister David Cameron "muscled in" to be part of the infamous shot.

LAST Sunday’s YouGov opinion poll showing a lead for the yes side in the Scottish independence referendum, was a bowel- loosening moment for the British establishment. 

SAINTS and sinners dominated a week that left more losers than winners.

JOE Biden was a no-show last year, so US president Barack Obama’s confirmation last week that his vice-president plans to visit Ireland may not have set the political world on fire.

Democracy Under Attack: How the Media distort policy and politics

I met Margaret Thatcher half-a-dozen times in the fraught 1980s. She was inquisitive, formidable, and indifferent to opinion of her,says Allan Prosser

Labour leader Ed Miliband tonight laid out his “five easy steps” to winning the next General Election as he claimed the party had the “wind in its sails”.

SOMETIMES sorry is insufficient. An apology has to be accepted to be complete.

IT’S a bit rich hearing that the EU Court of Auditors finds Kevin Cardiff possibly inappropriate as a new member of the team.

Danish voters appeared set to elect their first female prime minister today and end 10 years of pro-market reforms and a hardening of immigration laws.

Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals, edited by Niall Ferguson. Penguin Books, £12.99.

THREE weeks from today it will be all over bar the counting. The country will have voted and unless our pollsters are as divorced from reality as Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s Government seemed to be a Fine Gael/Labour coalition will assume power.

Efforts to mould Enda Kenny in a certain image are a mistake. Voters are not expecting miracles, he should just be himself, warts and all, writes Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly

Former British Labour leader Michael Foot has died, aged 96, Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced today.

GORDON Brown yesterday tried to brush off the impact of losing the support of The Sun, insisting that it is the British public, and not newspapers, who will decide the result of the coming general election.

The president of the European Commission threw his hat into the ring for a second term in office today – and national government lobbying for top jobs in his new team has already begun.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s hopes of political survival suffered a fresh blow tonight as a poll of Labour activists found fewer than half wanted him to carry on to the next general election.

Caroline Flint has left the Government after resigning as Europe Minister, Gordon Brown announced tonight.

A veteran politician with a wealth of foreign policy experience, Joe Biden’s habit of making gaffes has drawn critical attention on the campaign trail.

SOME have predicted that Barack Obama could turn out to be another George McGovern.

SENATOR Joe Biden ran for the presidential nomination against Barack Obama, but dropped out when it became clear he could not win.

Barack Obama's newly-minted vice presidential candidate turned his campaign debut into a scathing attack on Republicans seeking four more years in the White House.

US Senator Joe Biden faced immediate controversy as he officially entered the presidential race today, after describing Democratic rival Barack Obama as the “first mainstream African-American” who was articulate, bright, clean and good-looking.

Screen legend Sean Connery is to attend a special party to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Film Festival tonight.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern and Tánaiste Mary Harney came to the defence of ousted Government chief science adviser Barry McSweeney yesterday amid mounting criticism of the decision to move him sideways to a new position.

GREEN leader Trevor Sargent yesterday called for an audit of the qualifications of all Government appointees as the controversy over science adviser Barry McSweeney continues.

BY dropping his two-letter title and moving the embattled chief science adviser swiftly sideways last night, the Government attempted to dodge mounting criticism over his dubious academic credentials.

Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin’s announcement on behalf of the Government raises even more questions than it answers.

Fresh questions have been raised as a result of a probe by the Department of Enterprise into the status of the American doctoral degree obtained by the Government’s Chief Science Adviser, Dr Barry McSweeney.

A DEPARTMENT of Enterprise probe has raised fresh questions about the status of a PhD received in America by the Government’s top scientific adviser.

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam died today in a hospice, a family spokesman said.

Fergus Finlay

JIM McDAID has character. Perhaps not every ingredient that goes into that elusive characteristic, but he has a lot.

A top EC whistleblower and a Eurosceptic MEP joined forces today to call for an investigation into the alleged misuse of British taxpayers’ money in Europe.

The European Commission “whistle-blower” who plagued Neil Kinnock for more than two years was sacked today for disloyalty and breach of trust.

Incoming European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has reportedly expressed his support for the appointment of former Taoiseach John Bruton as EU Ambassador to Washington.

Britain’s contributions to the European Union would virtually double under spending plans unveiled today.

British Euro-MP Robert Kilroy-Silk today urged Tony Blair to use his veto to stop “our money from being spent in eastern Europe“.

European Parliament President Pat Cox today bid an emotional farewell to his fellow MEPs as he announced he would not be standing for re-election in the June 10 poll.

Alastair Campbell has revealed the British Prime Minister’s most annoying habit - playing his guitar while on the phone.

David Trimble today faced demands from MP David Burnside to step down as Ulster Unionist leader next month.

CLARE SHORT has never shied away from voicing her blunt opinions — even at the cost of her own career.

THE EU Commission is expected to rule today that Ryanair’s deal with Charleroi airport is illegal.

European Commissioner Chris Patten has reportedly proposed former Taoiseach John Bruton as his preferred candidate to become the EU’s representative in the US.