Like so many others, I am always gripped by Wimbledon. I am not - to put it mildly - a sporty person. Whenever a ball is spun, hurled or thwacked straight at me, I'm afraid my instinct is to run away from it as fast as possible. As a spectator, I am left cold by other sports. Cricket remains a source of bafflement, football or rugby seem like war by other means, and as for Formula One - well, forget it! But Wimbledon is different.
Bowing to pressure from Tory backbenchers, after a long campaign by the Mail, David Cameron is at last to press ahead with honouring his pledge to recognise marriage in the tax system.
JAMES FORSYTH: Every Minister has something they are punctilious about. For Liam Byrne, it was when his coffee was served. For Michael Gove, it is how letters are written.
AMANDA PLATELL: In a week when the Chancellor announced £11.5billion in cuts in public spending, Prince William and Kate have also spent £1.1million of taxpayers' money doing up their new apartment.
When a record 222 MPs retired or lost their seats at the last election they were awarded a huge consolation prize. The taxpayer had to stump up £7 million to soften the blow of the politicians disappearing into the twilight. The money was paid to them as ‘resettlement grants’ and ranged in payments from a half to a full year’s salary of £65,750, depending on their length of service. The first £30,000 is tax free. The cost of the pay-outs has triggered a major rethink by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
Last week George Osborne converted omni-shambles into omni-rout, MICHAEL PORTILLO writes. The Chancellor, whose ill-devised Budget a year ago left him looking cack-handed, vanquished his political enemies.
RACHEL JOHNSON: Is the condition of the green baize turf of SW19 in some way different - lusher or slicker perhaps - than in previous years? What IS with Wimbledon this year?
Today, The Mail on Sunday reveals that a Scotland Yard whistleblower says he was blocked from giving vital evidence to the inquiry.
The Government and the courts are lying to you. Officially, cannabis is against the law. In practical fact, this is largely false, says PETER HITCHENS.
EU carbon reduction targets are forcing our reliable coal and gas power plants to close quicker than we can replace them, writes DAVID DAVIS.
As I know from my time in the highest ranks of the Metropolitan Police, the atmosphere inside Scotland Yard can be toxic, writes former deputy assistant commissioner BRIAN PADDICK.
PETER MCKAY: Pippa Middleton has been urged to 'scale back' her public appearances, we are told. In Britain, noblesse oblige means avoiding spending all of one's time in idle pursuits. With this in mind, Ms Middleton should offer her support to a big charity, preferably one alleviating a big health issue or helping abused children or animals. Using her internationally-known nickname, Pippa, to do good, no one would mind so much reading about her ritzy social life or recipes.
LIZ JONES: Earlier this week, I was gleefully alerted by the world's media that pop star Rihanna had responded angrily on Instagram to my piece in the Daily Mail.
David Cameron was not surprised by George Osborne’s bungled attempt to portray himself as a ‘man of the people’ by posing with a posh burger.
DOMINIC SANDBROOK: Modern politicians are besotted with public inquiries. There have never been so many; yet never has so much public money been wasted on such futility.
SIMON HEFFER: Next week Mark Carney starts his new job as the Governor of the Bank of England. What is particularly worrying is that the policy he has hinted he wishes to pursue is fraught with dangers.
STEPHEN GLOVER: Perhaps you don’t believe me. Why should you when the BBC, with all its vast resources and battalions of clever journalists, so convincingly paints a picture of a Government that has cut spending to the bone?
MELISSA KITE: In 2017, the HS2 high speed railway will go within 200 metres of Melissa Kite's parents' home in Warwickshire. Yet they have been told they will not receive a penny of compensation.
ROBERT HARDMAN: Sunday's assault on local delivery driver Dale Villa, 32, by a Spanish patrol boat from the 'Guardia Civil' has enraged the people of Gibraltar.
QUENTIN LETTS: Mr Alexander, Rt Hon Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey went on a £100billion splurge. The spending is mainly ‘infrastructure’ – i.e. transport, energy, housing projects. Mr Alexander was endearingly rather good.
So Harry, what exactly attracted you to Cressida?
Prince's on-off girlfriend slips into a see-though costume at graduation dance show
'He is not a paedophile, if anything I groomed him'
Schoolgirl lover of jailed teacher Jeremy Forrest says she wants to have his baby
Return of the revolution?
Egypt's Tahrir Square is packed to capacity again as thousands protest against hated president
Yacht hire, a private chef and an island to yourself
How you could blow £34,000 on the world's most expensive date
Did U.S. spies bug EU offices in America?
Fugitive CIA whistleblower reveals secret operation in leaked document
Women are just as fertile at 39 as they are at 27
Professor dismisses theory that it's harder to get pregnant in your thirties
How Rupert Grint became a £13million property wizard
Harry Potter star, 24, magics up a huge portfolio of houses
Did the ousting of Australia’s Labour premier, Julia Gillard, by bitter rival Kevin Rudd give ex-Labour MP David Miliband pause for thought? He considered standing against Gordon Brown.
Could there possibly be a more effective recruiting sergeant for al-Qaeda and other enemies of Western democracy than the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay?
QUENTIN LETTS: George Osborne was as pale as a stick of Wrigley’s spearmint. He looked so unhealthy he was almost green – close to Dulux pistachio.
The Mail's City Editor ALEX BRUMMER and political commentator SIMON HEFFER give two very different opinions on Mr Osborne.
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group
|
|
||
