Jonathan Prynn News Today

The full scale of devastation in Libya is still not clear as aid agencies struggle to reach cut-off areas following Storm Daniel.

Ministers said to be drawing up contingency plans for collapse.

The English language is a famously tricky one to master. French may have its genders and Greek a different alphabet, but no one does irregular verbs like us. Take an example from this week:

Where does London stop and the terrifying provincial nothingness begin? Please don’t shout at me, that was a question originally asked by Jay Foreman several years in this excellent video.

Hard cases make bad law, so the legal adage goes. The point being that extreme examples rarely make a sound basis for laws supposed to cover more typical cases. But the converse can also be true – bad laws make hard cases.

The latest delay is symptomatic of a country that has grown used to weak – or no – growth

It usually comes back to inflation. Study any period of British history from 1945 onwards, and there’s a good chance you’ll spot ministers making strange and sometimes desperate decisions in the name of taming – or often to avoid taming – rapidly rising prices.

Latest London news, business, sport, showbiz and entertainment from the London Evening Standard.

Energy Poverty World Wide, catastrophic winter, energy bills, energy costs

The Leader Podcast| Flight bookings for Spain rocket, but what would a holiday be like there? Rachelle Abbott © Provided by Evening Standard The government doesn’t want people going to Spain on holiday, but figures obtained by the Evening Standard suggests they are anyway. Jonathan Prynn tells us how bookings for flights to the popular destination have rocketed even though it’s still on the amber list. It follows Spain officially lifting restrictions for UK travellers, wit...