Chelsea and Marc. Aren’t they lovely? Photograph: Sipa Press / Rex Features What is Truman trying to prove?” wondered a waspishly pained Cecil Beaton of Mr Capote’s legendary Black and White Ball. “The foolishness of spending so much time organising the party is something for a younger man or worthless woman to indulge in, if [...]

Michael Gove had said that the scale of demand for academies required the government to rush through legislation. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Michael Gove, the education secretary, faced renewed attacks today when it emerged that only 153 schools had applied to become academies – despite his claims that more than 1,000 had done so. Gove [...]

PartyGaming says the deal with Bwin will create a group worth .3bn. Photograph: Graham Turner PartyGaming and its Austrian-based rival Bwin today announced plans for a merger that they say will create the world’s biggest publicly-listed online gambling company. The enlarged group, to be incorporated in Gibraltar and listed on the London Stock Exchange, would [...]