Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 26 Apr 2010

published 26 April 2010

Slept through the Today programme? Got wrapped up in the London Marathon and missed the Sunday papers? The First Post's Monday morning service, posted at 8.0 am, is designed to help... • UK AMBASSADOR ESCAPES YEMEN BOMBING Reports were coming in from Yemen this morning of a possible suicide bomb attack on or near the convoy of the British ambassador, who was on his way to work in the capital, Sanaa. The Israeli daily Haaretz says Ambassador Tim Torlot was unharmed but that one person had died. The Foreign Office was "urgently looking into" the matter. • CLEGG 'OPENS DOOR' TO TORIES With 10 days to go before the general election, the Conservatives are slightly ahead of the Lib Dems in most opinion polls, with Labour in third spot. But Gordon Brown's party could still win the most Commons seats. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told the BBC's Andrew Marr yesterday that it would be preposterous for Brown to remain as PM if he lost the popular vote but Labour retained the majority in a hung parliament. Some commentators have interpreted this as Clegg opening the door to a coalition with the Tories. The Mole... • DANGEROUS ASH CLOUD EXAGGERATED The volcanic ash cloud that cost world airlines an estimated £1.3bn in lost revenue, and left 150,000 Britons stranded, was never as dangerous as the authorities made out, according to research by the Mail on Sunday. The maximum density of ash measured by scientists was only about one-twentieth of the level that the government and the airlines have now decided is safe. • RBS RESPONDS TO BONUS ANGER The Royal Bank of Scotland, 84 per cent owned by the taxpayer, will this week bow to shareholder pressure and re-calibrate targets for its senior executives, who were due to be handed multi-million-pound bonuses. According to the Sunday Telegraph, chairman Sir Philip Hampton will "effectively admit" at Wednesday's AGM that the share price target element of the group's executive pay scheme was mistakenly set too low. • FIGES ADMITS TO 'POISON PEN' REVIEWS Orlando Figes, professor of Russian history at Birkbeck College, London, has finally admitted that it was he who wrote a series of 'poison pen' reviews on the Amazon site of books by other 'Russianists'. As The First Post reported last week, several writers found that their otherwise well-reviewed books were receiving vicious anonymous reviews on Amazon. When the finger was pointed at Figes, his wife Stephanie Palmer, a barrister, tried to take the fall on his behalf, saying she had written the reviews without her husband's knowledge. On Friday, Figes confessed it was him all along. • PAXMAN'S CAMERON 'ASIDE' CAUGHT ON MICROPHONE Newsnight anchor Jeremy Paxman is reported by BBC colleagues to have described David Cameron as a "bit of a smooth bastard" in an aside caught by a studio microphone following his interview with the Tory leader on Friday. Paxman claims to have "no recollection" of such a thing. Cameron, in turn, is supposed to have said when he first turned down the invitation to be interviewed by Paxman: "If I want to be shouted at by an overpaid prima donna, I'll join a Premier League football club." • YOUNG CAST ENJOY HARRY POTTER RICHES Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, co-stars of the Harry Potter films, are both multi-millionaires at the age of 20, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List published yesterday. Radcliffe was paid about £250,000 for his first appearance as Harry. But last year he earned £25.6m, bringing his fortune up to £42m, which he is spending on buying property in London and New York. Watson, who plays Hermione, and is currently studying at Brown University in the States, is now worth £22m. More... • ROYAL TAILOR 'STOLE MEASUREMENTS' Ede & Ravenscroft, tailors to the Queen and the Prince of Wales, claim that a former employee who left the Savile Row firm last year took with him vital measurements of some of their VIP clients. They have called in lawyers to tackle Matthew Farnes, who now runs his own shop, Savile Row Artisan. Farnes says Ede & Ravenscroft's claim is "ridiculous". • VATICAN ACCEPTS 'BENEDICT CONDOM' APOLOGY The Vatican has said that it accepts the British government's apology for an extraordinary memo released by the Foreign Office which suggested the Pope should launch a ŒBenedict¹ brand of condoms, and bless a gay marriage, when he visits Britain in September. The facetious suggestions came out of a brain-storming session of junior civil servants at the FO. More... • KENYANS NUDGED OUT OF LONDON MARATHON The volcanic ash cloud took its toll on the London Marathon yesterday, with defending champion Sammy Wanjiru dropping out of the race after 25km, blaming a knee injury aggravated by a two-day plane journey. Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede explopited the opportunity, winning the men's race in 2 hours, 5 mins and 19 seconds and ending a six-year winning streak by the Kenyans. Liliya Shobukhova became the first Russian to win the women's race in London. Pictures...