William Dove

The release of the latest trailer for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" confirms that, just as expected, it is the must see film of this year and is almost certainly worth the decade long wait Tolkien fans have endured since "The Return of the King" swept the Oscars.

If anyone wants to see the difference between a more or less free country like Great Britain and one where the totalitarian mind-set remains one only needs to look at the reactions to the publication of pictures of a topless Kate Middleton and to the airing of a ludicrous anti-Islam film in California.

Shares in retailer Next dropped on the FTSE 100 despite the group reporting a rise in revenue and profit in the half year to July 2012.

Shares in Barratt Developments were down on the FTSE 250 in afternoon trading despite the housebuilder reporting a more than doubling of pre-tax profit for the full year ended 30 June 2012.

Shares in Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q, saw its shares rise on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after performing "as well as could be expected" in the half year ended 28 July 2012.

One of the most controversial about aspects of the London Olympic opening ceremony (i.e. amid the slavering adulation a few people questioned it) was the way that the NHS was literally given centre stage for a good 20 minutes or so of the show.

How unfortunate it is that Greek athlete Voula Papachristou has been barred from the Olympics after making an allegedly racist joke on Twitter and apparently posting material by a member of the controversial (to put it mildly) Golden Dawn Party.

With the release of the first instalment of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" later this year 2012 looks like being a splendid year for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien

Shares in British banks took a dive on the FTSE 100 in morning trading a day after the Libor rate fixing scandal involving Barclays broke.

Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading, despite a report that Barclays will be paying a £128 million penalty as a result of an investigation by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Petrofac shares took a dip today on the FTSE 100 despite the oil and gas group issuing an update in which it predicted net profit growth of at least 15 per cent in 2012.

Shares in RBS were down on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading as the group continued to face criticism for a computer glitch that left customers of its Natwest division unable to make transactions.

Civilization 5 expansion "Gods and Kings" comes out today in Europe and with news last week that one Civ player has been playing the same game of Civilization 2 for ten years, why not take a look at how Civ players would go about solving the problems of the real world.

Vince Cable, derided as anti-business business secretary, may finally appease critics by announcing plans to give shareholders binding vote on executive pay.

Peter Bone, Conservative MP for Wellingborough, has been at it again. His latest contribution to British politics came today in the House of Commons where he demanded of Foreign Secretary William Hague a divorce from the Lib Dem "yellow peril" and the formation of a minority Tory government.

Every time we have a major football competition like Euro 2012 or the World Cup we have to put up with a lot of talk in the media about the British and English flags finally being "reclaimed from the far right".

So British ministers will be boycotting England's three opening games at the Euro 2012 football tournament being jointly held by Ukraine and Poland?

Business secretary tells Leveson Inquiry that despite 'declaring war' on Rupert Murdoch he always sought to separate personal feelings from quasi-judicial role.

Tony Blair’s testimony to the Leveson Inquiry was briefly disrupted by an intruder who accused the former Prime Minister of being a “war criminal”.

Tony Blair, in his appearance to the Leveson Inquiry, has downplayed suggestions that he and his government were too close to Rupert Murdoch and News International.

The Bank of England under the direction of its governor Mervyn King today revised down its growth projections for the British economy this year and is now saying that the nation will not reach pre-crisis levels until 2014.

Boris Johnson has been re-elected mayor of London following a colourful campaign against his antagonist in the 2008 election, Ken Livingstone.

UKIP has made its mark once again taking around 13 per cent of the vote according to the local election results released so far, just a few points behind the Liberal Democrats who are on 16 per cent.

Iran is a nation that is often said to be run by theocratic lunatics who want to "wipe Israel off the map" and deny the Holocaust but for once someone has spoken some words of sense about the Islamic Republic - a Lt. General from Israel of all people.

It is immensely sad to have to say so - but George Galloway is correct about the ongoing war in Afghanistan, or at least he is not completely wrong.

When politicians start telling you to vote for them because of who they are not then you know at once that they have nothing positive to offer and that their only real interest is themselves.

Anyone following the government's plans to speed up the adoption process could be forgiven for believing from some of the press coverage of the issue that it is currently illegal for white parents to adopt black children (and vice versa) thanks to old fashioned multicultural rules for local authorities.

A minor storm has broken out on the BBC website after Samira Ahmed wrote a piece on the enduring popularity of the game Warhammer 40,000, which has just marked its 25th year in existence. With over 600 comments already (and still counting) it seems an odd subject for a raging debate but that is what seems to have happened.

Did the 2010 election see the entry into the House of Commons of a seemingly ridiculous individual who is yet destined to go far?