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Making sure it all goes to a T for Lady T: Eerie London scene at daybreak as hundreds of servicemen rehearse former PM's funeral

Baroness Thatcher used her chemistry degree to tackle politics 'with the mindset of a scientist', says friend Dame Mary Archer
Sally Bercow accused of disgracing Speaker's office with Thatcher funeral snub
Order of Service for St Paul's service

The Iron Lady's twin children were preparing for their mother’s ceremonial funeral at her Chelsea home today just hours after more than 700 serving Armed Forces personnel gathered in central London at 4.30am for a dress rehearsal. A Union flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage from St Clement Danes, the church of the Royal Air Force, down the Strand to St Paul's Cathedral. As dawn broke across London, the procession band played the funeral marches of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn as it made its way along the deserted streets. Major Andrew Chatburn, the man in charge of choreographing the parade, said it 'went very well' and the trial was 'vitally important' to the staging of Wednesday's event.

'Doctors said my daughter had IBS - in fact, it was bowel cancer': Heartbroken mother on losing her 28-year-old to the disease that's killing more young people than ever

EXCLUSIVE: When 26-year-old Holly Slater, from the Isle of Wight (pictured with mother Lynne), began suffering from bloating and stomach cramps, doctors diagnosed IBS. But less than a year and a half later she had died. Her doctors had failed to detect aggressive bowel cancer that eventually spread to her lungs, bones and liver. Experts are warning that cases of bowel cancer in young people have risen by 120 per cent in ten years, with poor diet and alcohol often to blame.

Skin cancer hits 200,000 - twice the official toll: Disease is far greater risk to nation's health than was previously thought

Stay at home mums revolt: Mothers unite with Tory MPs to demand family-friendly tax policy

Anti-mums: The new Budget is 'undermining the family,' according to Mothers at Home Matter's Laura Perrins

The Government is forcing parents to abandon their children and return to work, said to Mothers at Home Matter spokesman Laura Perrins (pictured).

Child killer Mick Philpott 'quits prison mopping job after 35 minutes' as he's targeted by fellow inmates

Quit: Mick Philpott, pictured with wife Mairead, stormed back to his cell after giving up his first job for 10 years

The child killer was handed a £14-a-week cleaning role - his first job for a decade - at the high security Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire.

Amazing: The imprint, which was spotted by Mr Milligan, clearly shows the outline of its head, body and wings

Left in pane: Pigeon's perfect imprint on kitchen window

Cameron hails 'big day for welfare reform' as jobless are told they cannot receive more in benefits than working families

David Cameron said it was 'amazing' that Labour opposed the idea of ensuring jobless families could not receive more in handouts than those in work

The Prime Minister said it was 'amazing' that Labour opposed limiting out-of-work benefits to £500-a-week, the average income of families where someone has a job.

Tory MPs sent abroad to claw back powers from Brussels for Cameron in snub to ‘unambitious’ Foreign Office diplomats

Heartbroken family of 23-year-old runner who died after collapsing during the Brighton Marathon were waiting at the finish line to cheer him home

Tribute: Friends and loved-ones encouraged others to donate to Sam Harper Brighouse's chosen charity, after he died during the Brighton marathon yesterday

Tributes to Sam Harper Brighouse have poured in and mourners have been donating money to Arms Around The Child - the Aids orphan charity he was running for.

Skin cancer hits 200,000 - twice the official toll: Disease is far greater risk to nation's health than was previously thought

There are now believed to be more than 200,000 cases of basal cell carcinomas, or BCCs, a year, pictured here on the skin

There are now believed to be more than 200,000 cases of basal cell carcinomas a year. Cases of this form of cancer have risen by 80 per cent in a decade and is likely to cost the NHS more than £200million a year.

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'God will heal you': GP 'told patient to stop taking medication and took her to have an EXORCISM instead'

Dr Thomas Gerard O'Brien was working as a locum GP in Staffordshire when he treated the woman - who had been prescribed anti-depressant, anti-hypertensive and pain-relief medication.

BBC crew 'used students at top university as human shields to film undercover in North Korea'

Panorama reporter John Sweeney with a North Korean colonel overlooking the De-Militarised Zone. Three Panorama journalists are said to have put lives in danger as they secretly filmed inside the highly authoritarian country

The undercover team travelled with ten students from the London School of Economics to North Korea last month. Panorama journalist John Sweeney insisted the students had agreed to enter the Communist state with him.

Jewish crime lord behind £35million cocaine haul sues prison chiefs for 'denying him kosher food'

Claim: Simon Price, 68, is suing HMP Frankland, near Durham for failing to provide him with kosher food

Orthodox Jew Simon Price, 68, is accusing HMP Frankland, near Durham, of 'institutionalised anti-Semitism' and alleges that Muslim criminals get more favourable treatment.

29 football fans arrested after hooligans run wild at Newcastle derby as police post happy snap of Bud the horse who was PUNCHED by a yob

Football fan left with serious head injuries after group of friends are mown down by car 'driven by rival supporter'

A man wearing a Newcastle United shirt punched the horse in the neck (left) in a shocking display of violence during football riots in the city centre yesterday before he was led away, after Sunderland beat their rivals 3-0 in the Tyne-Wear derby. The blow caused Bud the police horse to rear up in pain, almost throwing off its rider, after which the man was wrestled to the ground and hand-cuffed (inset). Following concern for his health, the force released two pictures of Bud this morning in his paddock (right) and said he 'appears fine'.

Neighbour, 59, 'plagued the lives' of a family by playing RADIO 4 at full volume

ASBO: Robert Thomas, 59, kept his neighbours awake by playing Radio 4 at full volume

Robert Thomas, 59, kept his neighbours awake by playing Radio 4 and other stations at full volume in the early hours of the morning in Hanham, Bristol. He was given a six month community order.

Britain's Got Sleaze: BGT viewers' backlash over the lap-dancer and the schoolgirl of 11 singing about one-night stands

Viewers complained that Britain's Got Talent strayed from family entertainment on Saturday night when it featured an 11-year-old schoolgirl singing about a one night stand, and a professional stripper performing a lap-dance.

'She would have been a Belieber': Justin Bieber causes outrage after writing 'tasteless' message in guest book at Anne Frank museum

Justin Bieber writes tasteless message in the Anne Frank House guestbook that leaves Facebook and Twitter fans outraged

Justin Bieber has caused outrage after leaving a 'tasteless' comment in the guestbook at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The 19-year-old singer - who is currently on tour in Europe - visited the famous home where Jewish wartime diarist Frank and her family hid from Nazi persecution for two years during the Holocaust.

The fathers so shocked by being at the birth that they get post traumatic stress (try telling that to the mother who gave birth!)

Fathers are being left mentally scarred after watching their partners go through traumatic labours, according to a new study by Oxford University

Fathers are being left mentally scarred after watching their children delivered in traumatic circumstances, according to a new study by Oxford University.

Fears children could die in measles outbreak as scores of youngsters are hospitalised with illness

Health officials are braced for the first death in the south Wales measles epidemic, as it is revealed more than 60 children have been hospitalised with the illness

There is particular concern that the disease, which is spread through coughing and sneezing, is hitting teenagers who were not given the MMR triple jab against measles, mumps and rubella as babies.

Dead kidney is brought back to life in the lab as scientists take first step to creating new organs for humans

Scientists used a similar approach already employed to produce bioengineered parts of hearts, lungs and livers

The US research team – from Massachusetts General Hospital – took a kidney from a dead rat, stripped away the tissue, coated it with new cells and transplanted it into a living animal. The cells then spread across the framework, providing it with a blood supply.

72F! Hottest day of the year gives Mother Nature a wake-up call as spring finally bursts into life

People were spotted rollerskating in London's Hyde Park, top left, punting on the River Cam in Cambridge, right, and sunbathing on Brighton beach as parts of Britain hit 21C - up on the previous 2013 record of 17.5C last month. But it was a different story in Cornwall, bottom left, where people collected cuttlefish shells off the beach after last night's storms.

Policeman who tried to censor local paper for criticising a councillor: Officer phoned newsroom and visited editor over article on 'controversial' figure

Rebuked: Sergeant Paul Beale is weathering criticism that he has tried to overzealously control the press

Sargeant Paul Beale challenged a weekly paper over its ‘editorial policy’ after an article was published about a 'controversial' town councillor.

EU uses public cash to back groups that want to stifle Press freedom

Control: Philip Davies MP says the EU wishes to punish media that is critical of its corruption

The European Commission is helping to fund groups seeking state-backed regulation of newspapers, including key allies of Hugh Grant’s Hacked Off campaign.

DVLA made £10m by selling on millions of drivers' names and addresses to parking and clamping firms

Controversial revenue: Critics are accusing the Government of putting 'profit before privacy'

Names, addresses and vehicle details held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency were sold at a rate of around 50,000 a week – 2.4million in a year.

Firms tell PM to curb Brussels red tape: UK Business bosses call EU a 'beast that has gone completely out of control'

Restricted: UK businesses want Cameron to scrap EU laws on employment law and health and safety

It is the first major survey of firms since David Cameron said in January he wants to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union.

Police use staff from Olympic disaster firm G4S to help solve murders in latest privatisation of frontline jobs

G4S hit the headlines after failing to fulfill its £240million contract with Locog to provide 10,400 security guards at the Olympic Park and other venues

Senior investigators from the firm – ridiculed for the Olympics security fiasco – are even helping overworked officers on the Jimmy Savile sex abuse case.

Labour at war as old hands urge Ed Miliband to spell out policies and stop protesting about everything the government does

Policies: Ed Miliband has tried to downplay Tony Blair's assertion that Labour has become a ¿repository for people¿s anger¿

Labour leader Ed Miliband has been urged by three former Cabinet ministers - including Tessa Jowell - to offer an alternative for voters and cease simply criticising the status quo.

Schools 'ripping out playground equipment to avoid being sued' after millions of pounds are paid to pupils who hurt

Compensation claims resulting from injuries in playgrounds have become so common that schools are removing their play equipment (file picture)

Claims have become so common that education authorities face mounting bills even when children get hurt while breaking school rules by climbing walls or trees.

Entire gardens 'will be concreted over in extensions shake-up': Proposals could make it impossible for neighbours to stop building work

PM David Cameron's new proposals could stop homeowners legally challenging the size of their neighbours' extensions

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles insists proposals to double the length of extensions that can be built without planning permission would allow people to build only out to half the length of their garden.

Who shrank all the pies? Bakery giant Greggs slims down pasties and bacon rolls while pushing up prices

Greggs have shrank a number of their popular products, including pasties and breakfast bacon roll, while still pushing its prices up (file picture)

Bakery giant Greggs has been shrinking its pasties, rolls and doughnuts while increasing the price of them, according to trade magazine The Grocer.

Let's start a conga! bawled one plummy voice. The angriest turbo-Trot would've had to admit it was a feeble protest: Robert Hardman joins the Trafalgar Square party

Five hours in to what must rank as the most pointless political assembly ever staged in this great crucible of protest, it was time for the big moment - the torching of the Thatcher effigy (pictured), writes ROBERT HARDMAN. Just one problem, comrades. The lady was not for burning. The downpour had soaked the giant papier-mâché puppet and its mop of orange hair (fashioned from a bundle of irredeemably bourgeois Sainsbury's plastic bags). Some of the protestors brought young children to the party (inset).

Speaker's wife Sally Bercow to snub Thatcher's funeral because 'last time I looked, it's the 21st century and I don't have to accompany my husband'

Speaking her mind: Sally Bercow will not be attending Lady Thatcher's funeral

The wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow will not attend the funeral because she does not want to join in the ‘attempted canonisation’ of the late prime minister.

Now earring-wearing Bishop of Grantham attacks funeral costs as he calls £10m ceremony a 'mistake'

Controversy: Bishop of Grantham Tim Ellis has expressed concern over such a lavish funeral for so divisive a figure as Baroness Thatcher

The Rt Rev Dr Tim Ellis described the scale of the event as a ‘mistake’. Meanwhile former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott suggested the occasion be privatised.

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead fails to hit number one in singles chart but BBC still plays offending lyrics

FILM ' The Wizard Of Oz ' (1939) starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley.

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead - the song propelled into the charts by opponents of Baroness Thatcher - failed to reach the number one spot yesterday.

Museum and library devoted to Margaret Thatcher will form permanent memorial to the Iron Lady

Lady Thatcher's clothing and possessions from her premiership in the eighties will also go on display

Lady Thatcher is set to be honoured with a museum and library in her memory, in the style of an American presidential library.

Now Fergie joins the guests saying goodbye: Duchess of York confirms she will attend Wednesday's ceremony

Attending: Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York will attend the funeral of Lady Thatcher

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, who was not invited to the Royal Wedding in 2011, is believed to have confirmed she will attend Lady Thatcher's funeral.

From Queen's arrival to an exit accompanied by William Wordsworth: Order of Service for Margaret Thatcher's funeral at St Paul's Cathedral

In rehearsal: Members of the military, using a horse drawn gun carriage that will bear Lady Thatcher's coffin

The funeral service for Baroness Thatcher will be held in London on Wednesday and include readings by David Cameron and her granddaughter Amanda Thatcher.

HOW THE WORLD LOOKS FROM WESTMINSTER

WESTMINSTER TODAY

Taxpayers to foot Labour MP's £27,000 court bill over bungled £24 train fare expenses claim Jim McGovern, MP for Dundee West, tried to claim for a train ticket to Glasgow to attend a Labour party event, despite purely political occasions not being covered by the regime.

Drunken yobs should be repay costs of being treated by the NHS, says Nick Clegg

Experts say the cost of alcohol to the NHS exceeds £3billion-a-year, with hundreds of thousands of visits to A&E departments

Deputy Prime Minister backs the idea of imposing a levy on people who end up in A&E; with injuries sustained in booze-fuelled brawls.

Ed Miliband has surgery on broken wrist after falling while hill walking in Devon

Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and his wife Justine Miliband

A spokesman said he suffered the injury 10 days ago while hill walking in Devon with his wife, Justine. On doctor's advice, he returned to University College Hospital today for a minor operation to re-set the wrist.

Boris: 'Put Thatcher statue next to Churchill' as Labour dismiss idea as 'crass triumphalism'

Supporters of Baroness Thatcher are calling for a permanent statue to be erected on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square

London Mayor Boris Johnson and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond have backed to the idea of a memorial but David Cameron says 'we should take some time to get this right'.

Too much information: Nick Clegg reveals he buys his pants from Marks & Spencer but it's not enough to stop clothing sales slump

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg ssaid he did not think people went to M&S for fashion

Marks & Spencer posted its seventh straight quarterly fall in non-food sales today, as the group failed to show any improvement in its range of clothing and homewares.

Labour at war: Tony Blair launches strident attack on Ed Miliband's retreat to being a 1980s-style party of protest

Tony Blair warned Labour must not return to the comfort of the 1980s, opposing everything but offering no leadership

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Ed Miliband he risked reducing Labour to a party of protest, out of touch with mainstream opinion.

How Dickens' home town became the 'loan shark' capital of Britain: Chatham in Kent is in the 'affluent' South East but has an astonishing 23 pay-day loan stores

Rich pickings: Just some of the pay-day loan stores within a couple of miles of Chatham High Street in Kent

The otherwise unremarkable suburban town (left) has found itself with the dubious honour of being home to perhaps the highest proliferation of payday lenders (right) and the like of anywhere in the country. It makes you wonder what Charles Dickens would have made of it. With tales of poverty, hard times and exploitation rife, he would have found literary pickings even richer today than in the 19th century.

Drug addicts may be given 'safe rooms' where they can inject themselves with crack cocaine and heroin in controversial plan by Brighton council

Brighton health officials hope that supervision will reduce the risk of overdoses and public drugtaking

Brighton is set to become the first British city to provide official 'drug consumption rooms' in the hope of preventing heroin, crack and cocaine overdoses by offering supervision.

Clarifications and corrections

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Children cheat in school sports because they're copying the footballers they see on TV

The influence of badly-behaved celebrities is revealed in a new survey that also blames the ‘pressure cooker’ of school sports for helping to create a win-at-all costs ‘cheating’ generation.

Prince Harry set to trek to the South Pole alongside four injured soldiers in challenge for Walking With The Wounded charity

Prince Harry takes down his tent as he joins the Walking with the Wounded

The official launch of the Walking With The Wounded polar challenge will be held this week. In March 2011, Prince Harry joined an amputee team which trekked to the North Pole.

Duke of Kent bounces back from stroke to join fellow Army veterans on remembrance march

Feeling better: The Queen's cousin The Duke of Kent who recently suffered a stroke joins Scots Guards for a memorial service

The 77-year-old was taken ill in March and treated at a London hospital. But today Prince Michael joined his comrades - fellow Scots Guards veterans - for their annual 'Black Sunday' remembrance march.

Woman police constable claims £5,000 from her force after cannabis farm odours made her ill

Cannabis compensation: WPC Karry Ann Taylor successfully sued her own force for £5,000 for cutting her thumb

Kerry Ann Taylor won £4,837 by successfully arguing that Hampshire Police breached its duty as an employer by exposing her to fumes and failing to provide thick gloves.

Partygoer, 23, dies in hospital after being shot in the head during south London attack

Attack: A 23-year-old man was shot dead at a party in Camberwell in the early hours of this morning

Police responded to the incident at a flat in Southwell Road, Camberwell, south east London just before 5am. The 23-year-old was taken to hospital but died later.

Marathon runner, 23, collapses and dies while competing in Brighton race

Tragedy: More than 9,000 people competed in today's Brighton marathon, where a runner died

The runner, from London, who collapsed around the 16-mile mark of the course in Grand Avenue, Hove, is thought to have suffered a heart attack.

The American town that told boys: Pull up your trousers or be fined!

Despite protests, members of the Terrebonne Parish in Louisiana voted overwhelmingly to introduce the laws, which would see an end to the 'saggy' trouser style.

Caught on camera, the 79-year-old grave vandal: Hidden CCTV shows culprit dumping bags or gravel and dead flowers

Clare Burke was filmed after a widower upset at the desecration of his wife’s final resting place hid a CCTV camera in a nearby tree at the at Coney Hill Cemetery in Gloucester. Ron Wilks, 77, saw Burke throwing dead flowers and gravel on to the grave of his wife Jill and their one-day-old granddaughter Hayley Reynolds.

Woman driver killed in horrific head-on crash with fire engine which was driving to emergency call

A woman driver of a Mini Cooper was killed and her two children were seriously injured after a head-on collision with the fire engine on the B3075 in Dorset today

A woman has died after her car crashed into a fire engine which was on its way to another fatal road accident in Poole, Dorset.

I'm lucky to be alive says Andrew Marr as he appears on TV for the first time since suffering stroke which has left him unable to walk properly

Mr Marr told viewers of his Sunday morning current affairs show that walking was still difficult and his left arm 'isn't much good yet' but his voice and memory were unimpaired

The 53-year-old told viewers of his Sunday morning political show that his voice and memory were unaffected and he was 'certainly coming back' to television.

Police question Briton over air hostess death: Detectives investigate if flight attendant was fleeing businessman she met in a bar

Running: Evelyn Clarke set off a fire extinguisher before falling from the building

Emirates flight attendant Evelyn Clarke, 28, ran barefoot into a block of flats in the early hours of Monday morning and told staff: ‘Someone’s trying to kill me’. Dubai CID have questioned a British man she met in a hotel bar.

'It's our worst nightmare': Zookeeper's devastation after meerkats, reptiles and otter die in fire which killed 80 animals

Vets were called to the scene to tend to animals which were rescued from the fire in the tropical animals house

All animals in the reptile house at Five Sisters Zoo at Polbeth, West Calder, West Lothian (pictured) died in a fire at 3.50am today. Two crocodiles and an otter were saved by firefighters at the scene.

British family-of-12 are rescued by Italian police after following sat nav into fast-flowing river on holiday

Lucky escape: The couple (pictured with their family on holiday) bought the minibus so that they could ferry their children about easily

Michael and Tania Sullivan, who were on holiday with ten of their children, were using the GPS navigator when it sent them down a muddy dirt track facing the river's raging torrent.

Nine-year-old girl diagnosed with cyst in her brain the size of an orange after she began singing out of tune

Steve Mills and his wife Cheryl Mills pictured with their granddaughter Eloise Mills

Eloise Mills, 9, from Ruddington, Nottingham was saved by her own voice after her grandparents took her to the doctors to find out why she could no longer sing.

FANCY THAT

Scroll through for the most amazing stories from around the globe

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Tragic decline of the world's biggest palace: Desperate mayor demands army protects 1,200-room Naples masterpiece from looters and vandals

Throne hall Reggia di Caserta Caserta Campania Italy

Reggia de Caserta, a former Italian royal residence, is falling into ruins, with damages so bad the army has been urged to step in to protect it against light-fingered tourists. Local arts chiefs blame visitors at the palace, located 20 miles north of Naples, for the damage, saying they lack manners and respect for the site.

Drinking milkshakes, an evening at the drive-in and dancing the night away: Candid pictures capture the birth of the 'teenage' generation having a gas in 1940s America

Before Justin Bieber, One Direction and Gossip Girl, the carefree teens of the early 1940s sipped milkshakes, listened to records and went on their first dates - usually to the drive-in to catch a flick.

More than 60 pairs of shoes, $10,000 dresses and lobster from room service: The lavish lifestyle of a 6-year-old beauty pageant millionaire

'What’s not to like about being a millionaire?' asked former Toddlers and Tiaras star Isabella Barrett. The six-year-old has developed an expensive taste in food, clothes and shoes to go with her riches.

A medieval murder mystery: Archaeologists uncover body of teenage girl among 4,000 artefacts which have been preserved beneath the soil for 600 years

The find, located within a medieval and long-forgotten settlement, only came to light due to the development of a section of road in Northern Ireland.

THE WORLD AT A GLANCE

Hundreds of armed police guard Paris tourist attractions after influx of criminal gangs from eastern Europe

Guard: Officers at the Louvre, one of a number of attractions in Paris where security has been tightened

Their deployment at monuments such as the Louvre (pictured) follows a huge increase in the number of aggressive beggars and pickpockets flooding into the French capital from Romania and Bulgaria.

French rail firm BAN black and African workers from station for arrival of Israeli President 'because they might have been mistaken for Muslims'

French President Francois Hollande receives President of Israel Shimon Peres at Elysee Palace

Black and African rail workers were banned from a Paris train station when the President of Israel visited because they may have been mistaken for Muslims.

Coach crash horror as vehicle carrying Russian schoolchildren topples off Belgium bridge killing five

Emergency workers investigate the scene after a bus crashed off a highway near Antwerp, in Ranst, Belgium

Five people have been killed after a bus carrying Russian schoolchildren crashes through barriers and falls of a bridge in Antwerp, Belgium.

Notorious French armed robber blasts himself out of prison using DYNAMITE

French criminal Redoine Faid who masterminded an armed robbery, broke out of prison using dynamite

Redoine Faid, 40, (pictured) took four prison wardens hostage and blasted his way through eight doors at Sequedin jail, near Lille in France, before being driven off in a getaway car.

Bali death row Briton's plea of 'shoot me now': Exclusive dramatic interview with condemned drug mule grandmother, 56

Inside Mexico's brutal drug war: Heartbreaking images of poverty, imprisonment, and violence capture unbridled chaos of cartel-controlled communities

American photographer David Rochkind has captured some of the worst elements of Mexico's rampant drug trade in a series of moving and poignant photographs.

From arms race to road race: North Korea holds marathon in Pyongyang as world watches its next move in nuclear stand-off

The marathon marks tomorrow's anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birthday

The 26th Mangyongdae Prize race marks the 101st anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un.

WORLD NEWS

COMMENT

Has Cameron at last learnt Blair's lesson that the British are NOT naturally Left-wing?

The Prime Minister has realised that people that do not want their country to be transformed into an international entrepot of competing tribes, but to identify with the recognisable and shared characteristics of their nation

MELANIE PHILLIPS: Mr Blair knew that to win power, he needed publicly to dump the Left and appeal to conservative instincts on the trades unions, crime, welfare and education.

Grocer's girl who 'got above herself'

Ex-leaders are expected to employ their celebrity status to replenish - or swell - their bank balances, but on Europe, in particular, she could not keep quiet

PETER MCKAY: Forget ‘divisive’ Thatcher. The real reason why she’s hated is because she was the daughter of a grocer, climbed to the top of the political greasy pole and appeared thereafter to ape the beliefs, attitudes and even the accent of her betters.

Those mobile phone pests in theatres? I'd wring their necks!

We have lost touch with theater etiquette and actors are being to confront those who feel it's acceptable to use their mobile phones while watching a performance

QUENTIN LETTS: Are we really all so important that we cannot survive without looking at our mobiles during the course of an hour or so? Of course not. This addiction to mobiles is about show-offy individualism and a desire to be thought indispensible.

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Press freedom is at risk from all sides

The European Commission is pumping millions of pounds into groups dedicated to restricting Press freedom

In a move that should horrify everyone who believes in democracy, it emerges that the European Commission is pumping millions of pounds into groups dedicated to restricting Press freedom.

Harman the hypocrite's snub to Mrs T

Harriet Harman paid tribute to Mrs Thatcher after her death this week, despite snubbing her a few years ago

ANDREW PIERCE: The abject hypocrisy of Harriet Harman and her ilk knows no bounds. Following the death of Lady Thatcher, Labour’s deputy leader paid tribute in a tweet, saying: ‘First woman PM, a towering figure.’

The nasty side of Labour that proves it's unfit to govern

SIMON HEFFER: Blair’s broadside in the New Statesman magazine against Ed Miliband for being out of touch with mainstream opinion could not be more timely, given the distasteful, ungenerous and unChristian attacks on Lady Thatcher by so many on the Left.