John Clare answers your queries on what becomes of the gifted, modernising geography and the stats on free dinners.

Tony Blair yesterday moved to put Gordon Brown in his place, warning the Chancellor to accept his authority or face the sack.

KIRSTY Wark's 18 years as the presenter of General Election coverage in Scotland appeared to be at an end last night after senior BBC insiders said she had made a "huge mistake" by going on holiday with Jack McConnell, the

KIRSTY Wark has intimate links with Scottish Labour and many of its senior supporters.

JACK McConnell yesterday faced the threat of an investigation by the Scottish Parliament's standards watchdog over his failure to declare a family holiday at the television presenter Kirsty Wark's Spanish villa.

ESTHER Rantzen, the former That's Life presenter, is going to court to fight a charge that she failed to give way to pedestrians at a crossing.

A FORMER Northern Ireland minister Sir Nicholas Scott, died yesterday, his family announced.

A BOY of 13, thought to be the youngest convicted drink-driver in Britain, was sentenced to four months in custody yesterday.

THERE are a number of ways to donate money to help those affected by the disaster:

FRIEDRICH Nietzsche said that if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. For Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, each man is the other's abyss, and each has spent a decade staring.

CHEAP flights, top-quality beer, cheese, chocolate and hotel bargains have turned Belgium into an unlikely favourite with British tourists.

HORMONE replacement therapy increases the risk of stroke by almost a third, according to newly published research.

AS THE total raised by the British public for the victims of the tsunami reached the £100 million mark, Britain and the United States said they would not be drawn into a relief "bidding war".

TONY Blair's hopes of a once-and-for-all political settlement in Northern Ireland were shattered last night as the IRA was linked to a £22 million bank robbery.

A TAXI driver who told police he picked up a woman matching the description of a student who vanished early on New Year's Day is to be questioned on suspicion of wasting officers' time.

THREE teenagers were last night charged with the murder of ten-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor, the Nigerian-born youngster who was stabbed to death four years ago.

A FORMER school teacher from Scotland yesterday emerged as a hero of the Asian tsunami.