Shakespeare called it right when it comes to lawyers

Some of us can’t help reaching for our scabbards every time we see the smug visage of Michael Mansfield QC or read the latest pronouncement from the pompous judges of our shiny new Supreme Court.

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Libya: Do we have the stomach to keep bombing Gaddafi for 6 months?

The West faces a long and messy engagement in one of the world’s most sensitive regions, with consequences no one can foretell.

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'Midsomer could murder a few minorities,' says John Nettles

After creator Brian True-May said he did not cast black and Asian people because 'it wouldn’t be an English village with them', his former leading man argued the show could be more racially diverse.

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Libya: The 'dirty secret' of UK arms sales to Gaddafi

Ministers approved the export of sniper rifles, bullets, tear gas and other ‘crowd control’ ammunition shortly before the dictator ordered the pro-democracy uprising crushed.

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Iain Duncan Smith: Couples will get �300 a week in pensions reform shake-up

A Work and Pensions Department green paper introduced by Iain Duncan Smith revealed that a new �140-a-week across-the-board payment will be introduced.

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Wall Street executive Keith Mastronardi dies after falling from apartment while smoking

Keith Mastronardi, 31, remembered as a 'loving and caring father' had been smoking and drinking heavily and was trying to open a window to air the room when he slipped and fell.

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The internet funeral: Webcast at crematorium will allow relatives to watch service online

A state-of-the-art British crematorium in East Devon has installed a webcasting facility, which will see the service broadcast via secure web link.

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British seaside resort St Ives in Cornwall beats Spain to top European beach

Forget the sun-kissed beaches of the Mediterranean, for a sandy paradise exists much closer to home. The beaches of Cornwall have been identified as among the best in Europe.

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Raised cancer risk for children as soaring numbers are subjected to radioactive CT scans

The number of children having scans in emergency rooms has rocketed from 330,000 in 1995 to 1.65million in 2008 - a five-fold increase - a new study has found.

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Schoolgirl, 7, glassed in the face by friend, 12, as they played together in garden

Brook Scott could be scarred for life after she was allegedly hit in the face with a heavy bottomed glass tumbler as she played in a garden in Felinfoel, Llanelli, in Wales.

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'A danger to all men': Judge jails 'battered wife', 49, for frenzied attack on two partygoers

Deborah Slater, 49, repeatedly battered Anthony Catterall around the head after she took offence to a comment he had made at the party in Burnley, Lancashire.

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One in five Brits think Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Blackadder were historical figures

One in three people says that Hollywood is responsible for the confusion between fact and fiction because historical dramas are presented as true stories.

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Christopher Drake: 'Salford Stallion' teacher gets 6 years for sex with 3 pupils

Christopher Drake, 29, had begun seeing the girls when they were 14, having sex with them in his office at Hesketh Fletcher Church of England High School in Atherton, Greater Manchester, a court heard.

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Wedding photographer facing trial for 'threatening former client after stealing his bride'

Clayton Bennett has been charged with a public order offence after allegedly confronting Mark Fry in Peterlee town centre.

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Plane carrying 33 U.N. staff and crew crashes in Congo killing all but one on board

The cause of the crash is unknown at the moment and the sole survivor has been taken to hospital in Kinshasa where he is being treated.

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Adolf Eichmann: 'We could have killed more Jews'

The Nazi lieutenant, who was tasked with managing the logistics of transporting Jews to concentration camps, said the biggest 'mistake' he made was not murdering all of them.

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Amateur Spanish artist Juan Osborne creates pictures using only letters

Spanish artist Juan Osborne has turned the cliche about pictures painting a thousand words on its head - with these images made from thousands of words.

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Punch and Judy politics? That's the way to do it

David Cameron wished the Shadow Chancellor would 'occasionally shut up'. 'Am I alone in finding him the most annoying person in modern politics?'

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The Sex Pastels: How punk icon Sid Vicious painted flowers and sunsets

The unseen artwork was created by the Sex Pistol's icon when he was a young student and was kept by his proud mum after he left to tour the world with the band.

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Nick Clegg takes his loo-pan dunkings like a man

He knows that the country needs cheering up. Forward he steps, braces himself – deep breath, head down the khazi, pull the chain! – and takes it like a man.

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Student who 'hated the sun' dies of skin cancer aged just 21

Cerys Harding, from Cardiff, who always followed safety advice in the sun, died just four months after being diagnosed with skin cancer.

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Public backs tougher jail terms for criminals: Blow to Clarke as 80% say sentencing is too soft

More than eight out of ten of those surveyed said sentencing is too soft and seven in ten called for life in prison to be much harder for inmates.

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AV backers accused of misleading voters with celebrity mailshot

As a poll suggested the campaign against a shift to the alternative vote has taken a lead, Cabinet Office minister Mark Harper attacked a ‘Yes to Fairer Votes’ mailshot.

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Baronet's granddaughter Tamsin Omond accused of Treasury graffiti attack

Tamsin Omond, 26, allegedly stencilled an offensive slogan underneath – and claimed the ‘artwork’ was akin to a painting by the sought-after street artist Banksy.

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Japan tsunami: Woman in iconic picture reunited with grandmother and dogs

Pictured hunched in despair amid the debris with her red rubber boots at her side, she has remained anonymous until now.

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Operation overkill: 25 firemen and five engines sent to rescue one cat stranded on roof

The cat was perched about 40ft up on a two-storey house in Suffolk yesterday when five frontline crews were dispatched to save it, due to health and safety regulations.

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Britain's economy has bounced back but there'll be a tough end to 2011, warns OECD

The economy grew by 0.75 per cent in the first quarter of the year after a shock decline at the end of 2010, said the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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Lancashire school's teachers set to walk out over pupil misbehaviour

Darwen Vale High School staff voted overwhelmingly to walk out in protest at assaults by pupils, although head teacher Hilary Torpey said problems were exaggerated.

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A quick sprint beats a long run when it comes to your health

Bursts of intensive exercise do more to lower blood pressure than longer but less taxing sessions, say British researchers.

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Chloe West stabbing: Teenager remanded in custody, accused of attempted murder at school gates

Samuel Gayzer-Tomlinson, 18, accused of attacking Chloe West outside a Stourbridge school, was snapped in a police van as he left Dudley Magistrates’ Court.

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Bridgwater becomes internet laughing stock after 'turtle-pig' is sighted in river

With a mystery to rival Loch Ness spreading across the town, residents flocked to capture a glimpse of the beast. However, their eagerness led to Bridgwater, Somerset, becoming a laughing stock.

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Doctors from EU twice as likely to blunder than those trained in Britain

They stand a much higher chance of being disciplined by the General Medical Council over serious concerns that they are putting patients’ lives at risk.

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Ivory Coast president Laurent Gabagbo 'negotiating surrender' after besieged in palace as UN and French strike

U.N. and French forces launched a full air assault on the presidential palace and three military garrisons marking an unprecedented escalation in the efforts to topple him.

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Naked models locked in an embrace and skinny-dipping on a beach: How one of Britain's trendiest brands is selling clothes to your children

The latest marketing campaign by Jack Wills, which specialises in expensive casual fashion, has fallen foul of advertising rules after pushing the boundaries of decency too far.

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Nick Clegg launches internships blitz as it's revealed daddy got him his first job

The Deputy Prime Minister's scathing attack on inequality of opportunity was branded as total hypocrisy after details of how he launched his career were revealed.

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HMV given two months to sort out its crisis torn shops

The group is thought to be close to selling the Waterstone’s chain as it fights for survival amid poor economic conditions and an increasingly competitive market.

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Royal River Pageant to celebrate Queen's Diamond Jubilee will have 1,000-strong flotilla

Next year’s Jubilee which will linger in memory long after the tumbleweed is blowing through empty East London sporting arenas and the Olympic circus has moved on.

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Privilege, guilt and a betrayal of the poor

Nobody believes more passionately than the Mail in breaking down barriers that deny opportunity to the poor. Indeed, aspiration is at the heart of our credo.

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�2 fee to use a council tip: Fury as town halls bring in 'rubbish tax'

The charges are the latest wheeze for taxes on rubbish invented by local authorities to raise extra money on top of their council taxes and Treasury grants.

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A reward for murder: UK and U.S. accused as Libya defector has assets freed and may escape travel ban

Foreign Secretary William Hague was pushing the EU to restore Musa Kusa’s perks after America chose to unlock his bank accounts on Monday.

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We may have a Tory PM - but Lefties and luvvies still run Britain

In the House of Commons the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, was asked about the soppingly wet commission which will consider a Bill of Rights.

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Mau Mau rebellion: Torture of rebels including Obama's grandfather

A cache of secret documents detailing efforts to suppress the Mau Mau uprising has lain hidden in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London, for 50 years.

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Sian O'Callaghan murder detectives identify human remains as Becky Godden

Rebecca Godden-Edwards, had become ‘disconnected’ from her immediate family as a teenager after an unsavoury crowd ‘got their claws in’ and she became a drug addict.

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Worse off Wednesday: Tax changes to hit British households with �2.3bn income drop

Experts have dubbed today ‘Worse Off Wednesday’ as the first day of the new tax year brings with it a long list of painful changes.

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Caught green-handed: Thief left trapped in recycling bin after accomplice runs away

The 28-year-old man was trapped for four hours inside the bin at a car park in Bradley Stoke, near Bristol, after security swooped and his accomplice fled.

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�20,000, eight police, one helicopter, two dog units and three patrol cars to trap two men who stole 47p of scrap

The crack squad managed to apprehend Owen Gray and Angela Cubitt, who had helped themselves to a games console and a power drill.

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Oil prices hit all time high in Britain: Bad news for motorists and homeowners

The latest prices show the benefits of Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget tax cut have already been wiped out – less than a fortnight after he reduced fuel duty by 1p a litre.

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Bailiffs target 500,000 drivers a year over council parking fines

Local councils are involved in more than a third of the 17million cases handled by the �3billion-a-year debt recovery industry.

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Counterfeit Jacob's Creek wine gives itself away with misspelt label

Hundreds of imitation bottles of Jacob’s Creek have been seized bearing the winemakers’ logo. They look identical to the real thing apart from claiming to be a ‘Wine of Austrlia’.

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AMANDA PLATELL: Shooting of a 5-year-old and a broken promise...

The breakdown of the family and the inexorable rise of single mothers had resulted in widespread teen criminality, gang warfare and whole neighbourhoods held to ransom by a feral underclass.

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