• Reuters

    Court hearing for Prince Harry and Elton John's privacy case against UK publisher

    The first hearing in a lawsuit brought by Prince Harry, singer Elton John and other high profile figures against the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper over alleged phone-tapping and other breaches of privacy, is due to begin on Monday. The seven claimants, which include actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and Elton John's husband and filmmaker David Furnish, launched the action last year, but legal restrictions requested by the newspaper group mean specific details of their allegations have not so far been made public. According to a statement released in October by lawyers for Frost and Harry, the younger son of King Charles, the case against Associated Newspapers includes bugging people's calls, cars and homes, and paying police for sensitive information.

  • Reuters

    Scotland's next leader to be announced with independence movement in crisis

    The next leader of Scotland will be announced on Monday with the victor facing the challenge of uniting a country divided over its future and revitalising an independence movement that dreams of ending its three-centuries-long union with England. The Scottish National Party (SNP), which runs Scotland's semi-autonomous government, has been plunged into crisis since Nicola Sturgeon, the country's longest-serving leader, announced last month she was standing down after eight years, saying she had become too divisive to lead the nation to independence. The two main candidates to replace her have traded personal attacks while Sturgeon's husband, the chair of the party, was forced to resign after accepting the blame for misleading the public over a fall in party membership.

  • The Telegraph

    Letters: The future of a school should not turn on a one-word Ofsted judgment

    SIR – When I was an Ofsted inspector in the 1990s (Letters, March 25), a team of six or seven would go into a school for five days. Every teacher had lesson reviews, usually by more than one inspector. The quality of outcomes in children’s work were carefully perused, as were the policies and practices for the curriculum, and school management and leadership. Equally, the culture of the school, social well being of pupils and parent perceptions were appraised. An outline report was usually prese