Today in Politics: Too many soundbites, Dave

By Andrew Grice

David Cameron changed tactics at Prime Minister's Questions today. There has been some grumbling by commentators about the scattergun approach under which he often moves from one issue to another during the six questions he is allowed. So today he stuck to Northern Rock. It's normally a better line of attack but he spoiled it by including too many pre-rehearsed soundbites.

Sleeping Around: Knickers in a twist

By Catherine Townsend

When Jeremy Paxman emailed M&S chief executive Sir Stuart Rose to complain about the declining quality of his underpants, he began an international incident that threatens to tear the very fabric of men's underwear design. Though M&S claim that underwear complaints (that must be a fun department to work in!) are at a five-year low, Paxman is vexed about the "weak gusset issue" and "separation of cotton from the elastic".

Econoblog: Davos - Day 1

By Sean O'Grady

Day one, session one at the World Economic Forum at Davos and the bears are out in force. Some of the big economic beasts of the jungle are predicting an American recession and a sharp slowdown in economic growth.

Diplomatic Licence: John Simpson returns for a bunfight

By Anne Penketh

Just in case you were worried, John Simpson managed to escape from Zimbabwe and has showed up at a book launch in London minus his baseball cap, which he seems to believe provided essential disguise from Robert Mugabe's hitmen.

The BBC World Affairs editor was the main speaker introducing Jonathan Steele of The Guardian who is publishing a new book, Defeat - Why They Lost Iraq. Jonathan said the publishers were so concerned about whether John Simpson would make it to the party that they were considering having a whip-round to get him out of jail, if need be.

Today in Politics: Johnson's Swiss role

By Andrew Grice

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, gave a typically good, down-to-earth interview on the Radio 4's Today programme this morning about the strategy to fight obesity he will announce at lunchtime. But when he comes up for air (or food) he should get a briefing from the Foreign Office about the European Union. He argued for an EU-wide "traffic light" system for the labelling of junk foods but gave an unfortunate example, saying that Nestle was based in Switzerland. Oops. Switzerland is not in the EU. Nul points for "AJ" on geography.

Eat: Star spotting

By Terry Durack

As the Golden Globes are to the Oscars, so last night's Tatler Louis Roederer Restaurant Awards are to tomorrow's launch of the 2008 Michelin Guide to Great Britain & Ireland. Many of Britain's better known chefs and critics were out in force at Park Lane's InterContinental Hotel to check out their own form and others.

Cyberclinic: The Lo-Cost, Hi-Spec Laptop

By Rhodri Marsden

What's the ideal laptop size? For some, the smaller and more portable they are, the better. For others, having a computer the size of a recipe booklet means an unacceptable trade-off in terms of computing power, and obviously screen size. Apple announced a wafer thin laptop last week to "oohs" and "ahhs", and the odd "oh?" when people realised there was no DVD drive included. But one intrepid tinkerer has taken apart one of the world's smallest laptops – the acclaimed Asus Eee PC, with its mini 7" display – and crammed it full of extras to create an unthinkably high-spec machine. So, who says that downsizing means downgrading?

Wild Wild Web: Thumbs Up for Radiohead

So last week, more fool me, I queued in the freezing cold for eight hours on behalf of The Independent to see Radiohead play their first gig since the release of In Rainbows. As it turns out, the small show also became the third webcast the band have made since the album (the first two were Thumbs Down and their 50-minute-long New Year offering, Scotch Mist). All of which means that, as of last weekend, everyone can watch the whole thing on YouTube, song by song, without even leaving their desk. This was - for me, at least - the track of the night. It's called 'Reckoner'.

The Gutter Sniper: Rating the Winettes

And so to those revelations in today's Sun that Amy Winehouse - you'll never guess - smokes crack. Who would've thought it? Scoop of the century.

But how to take the news? Last week we learnt that the Associated Press had devised a new way of dealing with the industry's less - ahem - reliable assets, announcing that they had readied Britney's obituary. "If something were to happen," said a spokesman, "we'd want to be prepared."

Today in Politics: Bye, bye Bush

By Andrew Grice

Readers have asked me for more information about Gordon Brown's plans to shape "the world after Bush", on which I reported briefly during the PM's trip to India. So here goes. Brown is thinking deeply about a "new world order". It sounds corny but he's deadly serious. He wants a "new global society" based on reformed institutions such as the United Nations, IMF and World Bank; common values such as multilateralism and a tougher stance by the world community against governments which fail their own people or deny basic human rights.

Cyclotherapy: News, notes and quotes

By Simon O'Hagan

Who should I spot at the theatre last night? None other than cycling's new enemy No.1 Matthew Parris. I'd like to say I stood up and confronted him but I'm not sure the rest of the audience would have appreciated it. And the show? Much Ado About Nothing - which may be the best way to think about this whole Parris episode.

Games Mistress: Online ad-venture

By Rebecca Armstrong

Electronic Arts has announced its intention to launch a free online version of its Battlefield title, to be known as Battlefield Heroes. The catch? Well, the game will be supported by adverts and slightly alarming sounding "micro-payments". Already used in massive multiplayer online roleplay games (MMORPGs), micro-payments actually refers to players buying in-game currency (typically, lots of virtual dollars for one of the real things) to use to purchase items within the game.

Sleeping Around: Room for rent

By Catherine Townsend

My lovely flatmate and best friend has moved out to live with her future husband, so I'm debating whether to give the flat up or go through the hell that is interviewing prospective flatmates. This dilemma was not helped by my watching Single White Female (which I've always believed is to women living alone in the city what Fatal Attraction is to men!) last night.

Diplomatic Licence: India's turn?

By Anne Penketh

Heard the one about India joining the UN Security Council as a permanent member? It's not a joke, but it is among the hoariest of old chestnuts on the diplomatic circuit. So when Gordon Brown repeated support for India's bid for a permanent seat in Delhi, and said that "intense discussions" were underway on UN reform, it set tongues wagging around the world.

Cyberclinic: The True Cost of Data

By Rhodri Marsden

Towards the end of last week, Apple announced their spiffy new plan to allow movie rentals from the iTunes store. (Inevitably, there's no sign of this happening in the UK – but it's fairly typical for any film-related developments to be rolled out in the USA first.) 1,000 films will be available to Americans by the end of next month; $2.99 for a regular rental, $3.99 for new releases and, if they own an AppleTV, they can get those movies in crystal clear HD for a $1 surcharge. But in other news, Time Warner Cable announced that, later this year, they'll be starting a trial in certain parts of the US where customers will be billed according to the amount of data they download, rather than the customary flat fee. And suddenly, a trip to the cinema starts to look like better value than downloading huge video files.