Critics' Choice

Theatre

Fiona Mountford

quote As thrilling and empty a theatrical sugar rush as the biggest bumper bag of sweeties ever quote

High School Musical Film

Derek Malcolm

quote You get the feeling that the talented Frank Darabont has this time made the wrong Stephen King movie quote

The Mist Music

David Smyth

quote While she weaves a good yarn, it's when Dolly Parton sings that she's really on song quote

Dolly Parton

Reader reviews

Music

Annie, London

quote He gave us glamour, humour and heart-stopping pop magic in one glorious - and only slightly grumpy - package quote

Morrissey Film

Don Marr, London

quote I left the cinema rueing the fact that I wasted two hours of my life quote

Hancock Restaurants

Richard, London

quote The steaks are out of this world, the prices perfectly reasonable quote

Gaucho

Banks ride to the rescue as Bradford & Bingley hits share-price meltdown

Britain's Big Six banks staged a dramatic rescue of Bradford & Bingley last night in a bid to avert a new Northern Rock crisis. Under pressure from the financial services regulator, they agreed to buy a large chunk of shares in the beleaguered bank... more | Add your view

Victims WILL get their say on punishment (But only if they ask for a lenient sentence)

Justice? Under the shake-up, courts pay heed to the wishes of victims - but only if they call for forgiveness and leniency

Victims could be allowed a say in the way criminals are punished in court – but only if they call for leniency rather than harsh sentencing. .. more | Add your view

As summer washout worsens, we'll be lashed by a month's worth of rain today

And now the monsoon! Weather will get worse

Yesterday was wet for many of us. But brace yourself - and your brolly - for today. If weathermen are right, we are in for a supersoaking. .. more | Add your view

Lite poll: G8 leaders

Are the G8 leaders hypocrites on food? Vote

Standard poll: Knife carriers

Should all convicted knife carriers expect to face a jail sentence? Vote

Boris scraps �25 C-charge

Boris Johnson has axed plans to charge gas-guzzlers �25 to drive in the C-charge zone

Fears over 2012 sponsorship

Olympics chiefs admit plans to raise �700m in sponsorship are increasingly difficult

School colours led to killing

A model pupil stabbed to death may have been attacked over his school uniform

Knife victim captured on CCTV

The last moments of a man stabbed to death are revealed in CCTV images

Man with burns gives himself up over French student murders but is told at police station: 'Wait in the queue'

The man who handed himself in over the murders of two French students was told to wait in line at the reception of a south London police station... more | Add your view

Compensation for disabled teenagers shooed out of beauty salon 'because they were scaring the customers'

Three disabled teenagers sent out of a beauty salon for 'scaring off other customers' have won �4,500 in compensation. Amy Fox, Aruna Gill and Jemimah Kumba went to the salon to get their nails painted... more | Add your view

Shareholders reeling after £36BILLION is wiped off the stock market

Millions of shareholders are reeling after a stock market plunge which wiped as much as �36billion off the value of Britain's biggest listed companies... more | Add your view

Our kinky games with Max Mosley: Girls tell of sex session with Grand Prix boss - but deny Nazi orgy

A woman fetishist yesterday described a spanking session with motor racing boss Max Mosley as painful, but denied there was a Nazi theme... more | Add your view

Former head of MI5 declares 42-day detention plans are 'unworkable'

The former head of MI5 yesterday condemned Gordon Brown's anti-terror laws as 'unworkable'. Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller dealt a major blow to the Prime Minister's authority by savaging plans to hold terror suspects for 42 days... more | Add your view

Woman wins £7,000 after breaking her ankle when high heel snapped

A student who broke her ankle when a high heel on her new shoes snapped has been awarded more than �7,000 compensation. .. more | Add your view

Celebrity chefs cook up hygiene debate with top doctor claiming they 'forget to wash their hands'

Celebrity chefs and TV cookery programmes are setting a bad example to millions by ignoring basic standards of hygiene, a leading doctor claims... more | Add your view

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BBC executives caught up in fakery scandal are rewarded with bumper pay rises

Two BBC women executives caught up in the corporation's fakery scandals have both been rewarded with bumper pay rises... more | Add your view

Carol Barnes's son escapes jail after assaulting three policewomen days after his mother's memorial service

The son of late News At Ten presenter Carol Barnes narrowly avoided jail after assaulting three female police officers and a bouncer at a bar during a drunken night out ... more | Add your view

Black people SEVEN times more likely to be searched by police while 'random stops' increase by a third

The number of people stopped by police on the streets has soared by a third year-on-year, bringing a massive rise in form-filling for front line officers... more | Add your view

Parents' anguish as killer cyclist walks away with just a fine

The parents of a teenager killed by a speeding cyclist called for a change in the law after he walked away from court with just a �2,200 fine... more | Add your view

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Judge jails career criminal who threatens to kill him in chilling echo of his own father's murder

A career criminal threatened to kill a judge after he was convicted of murdering his sister's boyfriend. Daniel Breaks, 48, laughed at the jury's verdict and asked Judge Peter Openshaw: 'Can I have a second opinion Your Honour?' The judge replied: 'No'... more | Add your view

Police marksmen who shot gunman barrister during street siege are back on duty

The nine police marksmen who opened fire on a barrister during a fatal siege have returned to work... more | Add your view

PE teacher, 18 stone, barred from giving bone marrow for being 'too fat'

PE Teacher Carl Zaffino of Huddersfield was refused the chance to become a bone marrow after being classed 'morbidly obese'

Carl Zaffino was taken off the national register on bone marrow donors after one brief telephone conversation because his Body Mass Index indicated he was obese... more | Add your view

No choice but MMR as supplies of single mumps vaccine run out

Parents worried about the MMR jab could soon have no alternative but to give it to their babies because supplies of the single injection vaccine for mumps are running out... more | Add your view

Pensioner facing jail after chasing stone-throwing yobs off his property with a plank of wood

A pensioner who used a plank of wood to chase off yobs throwing stones at his home is facing jail after being charged with possessing an offensive weapon... more | Add your view

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Credit crunch: Britain's largest provider of secured loans closes doors to new customers

Firstplus, promoted by Carol Vorderman, will not accept new customers

Britain's largest provider of secured loans, Firstplus, which has been promoted by Carol Vorderman, is shutting down to new business. The finance company, owned by Barclays Bank, is cutting 300 jobs following a decision not to take on any new customers. .. more | Add your view

Butter's back on the table: Lurpak slides past Flora to become Britain's favourite spread

Butter is back on the table in millions of homes as sales of margarine slide. Lurpak butter has knocked Flora off the top spot in the spreads chart for the first time in 20 years, according to figures out yesterday. .. more | Add your view

Father who drank poison in front of judge is first person to kill himself in a British courtroom

An abusive father who died after swallowing poison in front of a judge is believed to be the first person in Britain to kill himself in a courtroom. .. more | Add your view

G8 leaders ready to press the UN to sanction Zimbabwe over Mugabe's 'sham' election

G8 leaders have agreed to seek UN sanctions against Zimbabwe after the violent election that extended President Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule... more | Add your view

The bullfighters of Pamplona discover new and even less fair ways to torment the animals before they are killed

Bullfighters at the Pamplona festival have found new and, mercifully, less bloody ways to torment the animals... more | Add your view

White Kenya aristocrat accused of gunning down black poacher tells Nairobi court: It wasn't me

The heir to Kenya's most famous white settler family told a murder trial he could not have shot a black man poaching on his land, implying that a friend might have killed him... more | Add your view

MI5 blames the Russians for Litvinenko murder as Brown confronts country's new leader

The murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London was carried out with the consent of the Russian state, it was claimed last night. MI5 officials 'strongly believe' he was poisoned by the FSB, Russia's internal security service, according to reports on the BBC. .. more | Add your view

Inquiry after U.S. firm's second 747 cargo plane crashes in less than two months

Smashed: Rescue workers inspect the wreckage of a Boeing 747 that crashed in Madrid, near Bogota, Colombia

A Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed near Colombia's capital this morning, killing a father and son in their home on the ground... more | Add your view

Pictured: The cruise liner that ran aground off Alaska

A cruise ship that grounded for about nine hours near Glacier Bay in Alaska has been towed to safety, a Coast Guard spokesman said... more | Add your view

Iraqi leader wants a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops

Weapons search: U.S. Army hunt for arms in the town of Sa'ada, about 20 miles north of Baghdad

Iraq's prime minister wants some type of timetable for a withdrawal of American troops. .. more | Add your view

Iran vows military strikes on Israel and U.S. shipping if its nuclear facilities are targeted

Iran will hit Tel Aviv, U.S. shipping in the Gulf and American interests around the world if it is attacked over its disputed nuclear activities... more | Add your view

Like most 10-year-olds, Malia Obama says fathers can be embarrassing ... especially when they are running for president

Her father is famous but Malia Obama is like a lot of 10-year-olds: she sometimes finds him embarrassing. .. more | Add your view

Incest monster Fritzl's daughter to be questioned over baby's death

In recovery: Elisabeth Fritzl was held captive for 24 years

An incest victim held in a cellar for 24 years is to be questioned by prosecutors later this month over the death of one of her children, it was revealed today... more | Add your view

Fat or poor? It's probably your own fault, Cameron declares

Changing tack: The Tory leader says society should be less sensitive and realise some people who are poor, fat or addicted to drugs may only have themselves to blame

David Cameron has unveiled a tough new stance by declaring people who are fat, poor or addicted to drugs could only have themselves to blame. .. more | Add your view

Black Tuesday as FTSE plummets, bank shares tumble and Britain faces recession 'within months'

Britain was facing a deepening economic crisis today as the FTSE plunged into a so-called 'bear market' for the first time in five years and a series of reports laid bare the full extent of the problems facing the nation's economy. .. more | Add your view

Family debt has doubled in one year as borrowers take more and save less

The amount of money borrowed by families has more than doubled over the last year, research revealed yesterday. .. more | Add your view

Justice Secretary Jack Straw backtracks on knife offenders

Jack Straw is accused of back-tracking on rules for knife offenders

Ministers were accused of dithering over the knife crime epidemic last night after backtracking on an expected review of punishments for carrying the weapons... more | Add your view

Why Brown thinks we should all be happy that fuel costs are sky-high

Gordon Brown wants to see petrol-driven cars off the roads within 12 years as evidence that Britain can break its addiction to oil. The PM insisted all new vehicles could be powered by electric or hybrid engines by 2020... more | Add your view

Cameron goes on a moral crusade as polls put him on top: 'Britain has become too timid'

David Cameron will put his call for a new morality at the centre of his campaign to challenge Gordon Brown. The Tory leader delighted traditionalists with his landmark statement in favour of taking a clearer stand on right and wrong... more | Add your view

Brown brandishes images of torture victims to unite world leaders against Mugabe

Robert Mugabe: Brown will send a United Nations envoy to press for change in Zimbabwe

Gordon Brown last night used horrific photographs of the tortured and burned body of an opposition party worker in Zimbabwe to unite world leaders in condemnation of Robert Mugabe... more | Add your view

G8 leaders accused of 'eco-hypocrisy' over carbon footprints from their journeys to summit and back

Gordon Brown and other G8 leaders were attacked for 'eco-hypocrisy' last night over greenhouse gas emissions from their journeys to and from the summit in Japan... more | Add your view

As he's sentenced to life in a 'hell hole' jail, mercenary Simon Mann sips wine - and looks forward to being released soon

Mercenary Simon Mann was jailed for 34 years last night by a court in Equatorial Guinea for a failed 2004 coup plot. .. more | Add your view

It had a leaking roof and a cold shower but Edwina Currie fell in love with her new camper van

A year on and the smoking ban has had dozens of consequences: 400,000 people have given up - and my husband and I have bought a camper van. .. more | Add your view

Thalidomide? What's all the fuss?

It was the drug that left hundreds of babies cruelly disabled. Fifty years on, three generations of truly inspirational family reveal how they've refused to let it wreck their lives... more | Add your view

Comment: A few home truths from the Tory leader

We must hope David Cameron restores a sense of personal responsibility of problems in society.. more | Add your view

Anthony Browne: If Mr Cameron has the courage to bring morality back into politics, he will truly be Thatcher's heir

David Cameron echoes Margaret Thatcher by saying it's time to speak out against 'moral neutrality'.. more | Add your view

Sixth-former on work experience stole thousands from top law firm in cheque scam

A sixth who stole thousands of pounds while on work experience with a top international law firm was jailed for five months yesterday... more | Add your view

Junior doctors facing 20 per cent pay cut after government starts charging for hospital accommodation

Junior doctors face a 20 per cent pay cut after losing their free lodging at hospitals, it is claimed. The Government has dumped the requirement for newly qualified doctors to be on site during their first year of training in Health Service wards... more | Add your view

'Relaxing abortion laws will trigger a surge in terminations', MPs warned

Moves by pro-choice MPs to effectively sanction 'abortion on demand' will trigger a surge in terminations, campaigners said. The number carried out annually will rise to over 250,000 if the law is relaxed in a Commons vote next week, they said... more | Add your view