Do the entrance tests for private primary schools need to be so demanding? Dominique Vulliamy reports.

The Government is taking more and more control over private schools through a debased exam system, warns James Bartholemew.

John Clare answers your queries on finding favour with Oxford, Key Stage 2 calculations and making it in model-making.

THE chairman of the Man Booker prize yesterday admitted that it was unlikely that judges would read all 130 books in contention for this October's £50,000 prize.

SIR Cameron Mackintosh's £9 million West End stage production, Mary Poppins, collected nine nominations for the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards yesterday.

A 12-YEAR-OLD girl has become Britain's youngest drink-driver after being caught at the wheel of her father's Vauxhall Corsa following a Christmas drinking session.

GORDON Ramsay's restaurant in Mayfair, London, has retained its Michelin three-star rating.

The judge in the court martial of three soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi civilians yesterday made an appeal that no further public statements are made about the case.

BRITISH yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur was at her lowest ebb yesterday, as a damaged mainsail threatened her round-the-world record-breaking attempt.

THE government's decision to allow one of Britain's most notorious mass murderers, Peter Sutcliffe, out of Broadmoor high-security hospital for a day to grieve over his father's ashes has provoked anger and concern from MPs and the families of his...

HUNDREDS of disappointed cruise passengers were heading back to port last night after P&O finally cancelled the much-delayed world cruise of its £200 million luxury liner Aurora.

NINE British soldiers were injured yesterday in an apparent suicide bomb attack on one of the main UK military bases in Iraq.

DEATH certificates will be issued for British people presumed dead in the Asian tsunami but whose bodies have not been found, the government said yesterday.

THE commanding officer who illegally instructed British soldiers to round up Iraqi looters and "work them hard" yesterday painted a picture of chaos in the days following the collapse of the Saddam regime.

THE controversial Catholic group Opus Dei founded in Spain in 1928 is back in the news. But what does it stand for, how many members does it have - and does it pose any kind of threat?

SKETCHA WEEK ago, the temperature at First Minister's Question Time reached boiling point. Take Jack McConnell's holiday with Kirsty Wark, add a dash of asperity and a cupful of indignation from Nicola Sturgeon, stir briskly with the aid of David...

RUTH Kelly, the Education Secretary, has been confirmed as a member of Opus Dei by sources in the organisation, ending long-running doubts over her religious affiliation.

THE talk-show host turned MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk announced last night he is to quit the UK Independence Party, saying he was ashamed to be a member.

THE full extent of the expenses lodged by Keith Raffan - the former Liberal Democrat MSP who claimed more than £100,000 in a single year - was laid bare yesterday with the publication of every one of his mileage claims.

COMMENTTHE Scottish socialists will be delighted that another of their MSPs has been jailed. Getting arrested, and preferably jailed, for protesting against nuclear weapons - along with the publicity it generates - is a return to business as usual for...