Mail on Sunday

Taxis 17 Times Round World ; What One Ministry Took Last Year

HOME OFFICE staff have spent more than Pounds 800,000 on taxi fares in the past year clocking up enough chauffeur-driven miles to travel 17 times around the globe. The statistic, forced out of embarrassed Ministers by a Commons question, was seized upon as 'the very embodiment' of spiralling government waste.

Standing By'hairy Monkey' Almost Cost Me Our Baby

U.S. 'Told Blair to Sack Straw After Condi's Blackburn Trip'

DRAMATIC new evidence that Cabinet rebel Jack Straw was sacked as Foreign Secretary as a result of pressure from George W. Bush was revealed last night. Senior sources close to the US Government told The Mail on Sunday that Mr Straw's outspoken opposition to America's policies on the Middle East was discussed by White House aides weeks before his shock dismissal by Tony Blair in May.

Pm Frozen Out As Chirac Brokers Peace Deal

TONY BLAIR was left on the sidelines last night after France and America thrashed out a deal aimed at ending the Middle East war. The Prime Minister had to step back as French President Jacques Chirac was given the credit for a breakthrough that could stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Giant Gts...A Nap On Charles's Shoulder... Bridget Jones of the Palace Breaks Cover ; Outrageous, Hilarious. . . There's Never Been a Royal Book Like It

IT is the most outrageous and hilarious Royal book of the year, with Prince Charles cast as unwitting romantic lead to St James's Palace's very own Bridget Jones. Obsessed with her weight, her love life and an unlikely crush on her boss, Sarah Goodall is the former Royal secretary whose book The Palace Diaries, serialised exclusively in The Mail on Sunday, will intrigue and entertain in equal measure.

Noel's New Date Miss England 1976

REVITALISED TV presenter Noel Edmonds is dating a former beauty queen who is now a millionaire widow based in Monaco. Edmonds, 57, has been spotted out on at least five romantic dinners with stunning Pauline Davies, 49, who won the Miss England title in 1976.

Standing by My 'Hairymonkey' Husband Nearly Cost Me Our Unborn Child ; Gail Sheridan Reveals the Hidden Strains Behind Her Husband's 'Sex Orgies' Libel Triumph

THE wife of the politician who won Pounds 200,000 damages for sensational newspaper claims that he indulged in drug-fuelled sex orgies has told how she was rushed to hospital for tests on their unborn child when the lurid allegations hit the headlines. British Airways flight attendant Gail Sheridan also described how she collapsed in tears midway through the libel trial, fearing they would lose everything the couple had built up during their six-year marriage.

Cricket ... What's That? Says the Guru Who Made Monty a Demon Spin Bowler ; Zany Sect Leader with Silver Beard Tells How He Inspired England's New Star

HE IS not, it must be said, a typical Eastern guru. True, he has a whiskery silver beard, but there are no flowing robes just a white T-shirt, baggy tracksuit bottoms and work boots. His throne is a cheap nylon armchair in the kitchen of a Canadian farmhouse. Yet this is Maharaj Ji, a man who although he can't tell an off- break from a googly has become the guide and inspiration for Monty Panesar, England's newest cricket star.

Elephant Man Drug Trial has Now Given Me Cancer ; 'Patient A' Waives Anonymity to Reveal Shocking New Diagnosis Cancer Is the Most Aggressive Type Known Drugs Firm has Not Paid Nhs for His Treatment

DAVID OAKLEY had a sinking feeling in his heart. Picking up the lengthy medical report, he braced himself for bad news. But nothing could have prepared him for the word that screamed at him from the page. There it was in black and white. No amount of medical jargon could disguise the devastating fact he had cancer.

Daddy Is in the Sky ; Exclusive: Widow of Soldier Killed in Iraq Reveals How She Broke the Terrible News to Their Toddler Son

THE widow of the latest British soldier to be killed in Iraq last night revealed how she told their toddler son: 'Daddy's in the sky.' Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday from the family home, Abby Cornish paid a moving tribute to her late husband Matthew, killed last week in a mortar attack in Basra. She said: 'I want it to be recognised that he was a great soldier, husband and father. He loved soldiering and he died doing what he knew he had to do.'

Horseback Heroine of the Outback

BRITISH veterinary nurse Anna Hingley yesterday became the first woman to ride a horse across the Australian outback. Anna, 24, from Stourbridge, Worcestershire, was met by her parents, Alan and Marlene Hingley, and sister Lucy, as she arrived in Cairns in the country's tropical far north-east after a gruelling 145-day ride.

A Bloody Night in Tyre and Then Israelis Warn: Sidon Is Next

ISRAEL was set to push deeper into Lebanon last night after dropping leaflets over the port of Sidon, warning families to flee the area. The alert followed a night of bloodshed in an Israeli land and air attack on Tyre.

Crash of Fierce Battle Terrifies a City As the Faithful Are Called to Prayer

DAWN broke yesterday over a shellshocked Tyre. No one had slept and a pall of smoke still hung over the old port, rising from a burning tank. A few families had packed their belongings and were heading north out of town, white flags fluttering from car windows, their determination to remain finally broken. Tyre has been hit several times by airstrikes since this war began but this raid was the most daring attempt yet to limit Hezbollah's ability to strike central Israel and from it emerged r...

We're Divorcing, Says Husband Whose Wife Sunbathed Topless with Gary Lineker

THE husband of the brunette spotted sunbathing with Gary Lineker in Barbados has revealed they are divorcing. In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, multimillionaire Graham Roberts admitted he is to split from 42- year-old wife Denise after 23 years.

Email Row That Lifts the Lid On Home Office 'Hell House' ; Memos Reveal Rock-Bottom Morale at John Reid's Under-Fire Ministry

IT sounds like a scene from the Ricky Gervais cringemaking television comedy series The Office. A disgruntled clerical worker has a series of lively email exchanges with his boss in which he dismissively refers to his workplace as a 'Hell House' and reveals that his colleagues are desperate to jump ship.

The Eastenders Actress and Her Friend the Serial Killer with the Hannibal Lecter Stare ; Exclusive: My Obsession with Sadist Who Butchered Four Women, by the Middleclass Girl From Esher Who has Fascinated America

EVEN by Hollywood's morally lax standards it is a case which has caused a sensation. She is the privately educated daughter of a chartered surveyor from Esher, Surrey, a wellspoken 'firmly upper-middleclass' young woman whose uncle is a knight and whose cousin married into the Sangster racing dynasty.

Drug Cheat Landis Is Stripped of Tour Title

THE disgraced winner of the Tour de France is to be stripped of his title after failing a second drugs test. But American Floyd Landis has vowed to clear his name following confirmation from the International Cycling Union that he had tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone during this year's race.

Two Inmates Walk Out of Britain's Open Prisons Everyday

HOME secretary John Reid was under renewed pressure last night after it was revealed that, on average, two prisoners have walked out of open jails in England and Wales every day for the past five years. Figures released by the Home Office show that since 2001 there have been 4,309 'absconds' from open prisons. Of these, 693 disappeared last year alone.

Kirstie Leaves with Her Little Whopper

TV PRESENTER Kirstie Allsopp is clearly still feeling the strain of giving birth to her whopping 11lb 11oz son Bay Atlas last weekend. The 34-year-old host of Channel 4's Location Location Location emerged from a London hospital laden with bags and cribs.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I Don't ; Mos Tracks Down Missing Italian Who Inherited Pounds 1m, but He Says: They Can Keep the Money

IT WAS a knock on the door you might expect anyone to welcome. Last week The Mail on Sunday tracked down Angelo Piroddi an Italian who moved to Britain 25 years ago and broke the news that he had inherited a Pounds 1million fortune. But astonishingly Mr Piroddi, a clerk for Thames Water who lives in a humble bedsit, dismissed the inheritance as just another problem caused by his mother and instantly pledged to give it all away.