Hot on the heels of the Olympic we have been given yet another firmly entrenched tradition which will unite the nation. This time it's not a good one, in fact it a horrible and universally unpopular one. I am of course referring to the great annual railway robbery.

Benedict Cumberbatch is a fine actor who, understandably, is fed up being defined by his background and his accent. However the debate that has ensued following his recent comments has, wrongly in my view, focused on the issue of class when the real problem is privilege.

Ed Miliband's strategy regarding the Conservative Party has become increasingly clear over the summer months. He aims to use his significant strategic leverage relative to the Conservatives to out-manoeuvre the Tories by pushing them off the centre ground of British politics, breaking the coalition and leaving the Tories in electoral wasteland.

Having trashed teaching qualification (QTS) by telling academies that they could appoint teachers without QTS qualifications, Michael Gove is at it again, this time telling teachers how to teach mathematics. Whatever next? Andrew Lansley telling doctors how to treat patients?

As Mo Farah sprinted for the line, running quicker after nine thousand, nine hundred metres than most of us will ever run in our lives, the crowd behind him rose to their feet and roared in complete joy, a sea of delirious faces and Union flags.

In election day in East Northamptonshire I will think of my great-grandmother and remember my mother's recollection of her granny Alice saying to her, "you must use your vote, we suffered for it". Words from many years ago but still true today.

Handing Scotland full control over its financial affairs will lead to deeper cuts in public expenditure or higher taxes, the former prime minister has...

Our economic troubles have been going on for almost half a decade, with no end in sight. They are the worst crisis to hit Britain since the Second World War. Then we suspended party politics and created a government of national unity. Is it too much to ask that our politicians might do the same today? Is it too much to ask that they should practise what they preach, allow themselves to be suffused with the Olympic spirit, and come together to pull the nation out of its slough of economic despond?

Some individuals have achieved staggering levels of affluence compared to their peers. This is undeniably true. So is the fact that some countries have accumulated a stock of wealth that is by orders of magnitude larger than their competitors.

Only one in six voters believe the coalition government will survive until the 2015 general election, a poll published on Sunday revealed. The ICM...

Certain MPs in Australia have recently been front-page news for all the wrong reasons, which has further damaged many Australians' faith in our political leadership.

Those of us on the left who were sceptical of the coalition must concede at least one thing: they are certainly efficient.

Some people have excitedly speculated on the possibility of Johnson becoming PM one day. If he ever makes it to the highest office in the land, I suspect his old world charm will be rapidly evaporated by his instinctive and ruthless elitism. But by then, of course, it will be too late.

In a move perhaps more unexpected than Marty McGuinness shaking the hand of Queen Lizzie, the Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Ireland's biggest party, sent a representative to an LGBT event for the first time last Tuesday night.

For two and a quarter years, media commentators have been predicting the imminent demise of the coalition. Now the sharks are circling again - and this time there is indisputably blood in the water.

There have been many concerns raised about the way the women are being treated: they say they are only getting a few hours sleep a night, they aren't being fed during their 12 hour days at court, and Nadya and Masha have not been able to see their two small children.

Clegg and Cameron still need each other, their fates are entwined with the deficit and the economy. Just don't expect them to be nice about it.

Anyone who follows British politics could not have failed to notice the re-emergence of Tony Blair in recent months. He has hit the headlines for defending the Games, for speaking out on the West's ignorance to Islamic extremism and for his take on the hysteria over bankers.

The world's attention is on London at the moment, as it was a year ago but for very different reasons. But how much has really changed since the riots that disfigured my town and other parts of the capital last August?

Louise Mensch playing the 'kids card' and relinquishing her Conservative tenure as the representative for Corby and East Northamptonshire makes for interesting news in a fortnight filled with Olympic success and British pride. And yet, I can't help but raise a cynical eyebrow at the ambitious blonde's reasoning for this ill-timed decision.