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Conservative Home editor: How are your eyes today?
Paul Goodman, the editor of the Conservative Home blog, has posted this tweet a day after reports that a senior Tory aide described party activists as "mad swivel-eyed loons".
Morning, all. How are your eyes today? Steady in their sockets?
From @PaulGoodmanCH on Twitter:Read: Senior Tory aide: Activists are 'mad swivel-eyed loons'
Britain 'most cynical' about Eurovision voting
British people are the most likely to say that some countries suffer unfairly from political voting in the Eurovision Song Contest, and do not have any real chance of winning it.
- A survey shows that 75% of Britons say some countries do not have a real shot at winning the talent contest because of political voting by other competing nations
- YouGov's EuroTrack survey also found that all of the countries surveyed - especially Britain - are fairly sceptical about Eurovision's power to unite Europe
- The contest was started after the Second World War with the aim of helping to bring European countries closer together around a programme of fun, light entertainment
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Passenger on wrecked train: People were screaming
A passenger on a commuter train that collided with another train in the US state of Connecticut has described his dramatic escape from the carriage.
Alex Cohen, a Canadian passenger on the westbound train en route to New York, told NBC News: "We came to a sudden halt. We were jerked. There was smoke."
"People were screaming; people were really nervous. We were pretty shaken up. They had to smash a window to get us out," he said.
'We Are Young' by Fun named the most streamed song
We Are Young by Fun Ft Janelle Monae has been named the most streamed song of the year.
Read the full storyReport: Claim surge follows 'bedroom tax'
The number of people claiming extra handouts from councils to meet housing costs has soared following the introduction of the so-called "bedroom tax", figures have revealed.
More than 25,000 people applied for discretionary housing payments (DHP) to help cover their rent in April, compared with 5,700 in the same month last year, according to an analysis of 51 councils by The Independent.
The Government has substantially increased the DHP funding pot for local authorities to help those most affected by the withdrawal of what ministers call the "spare room subsidy".
Up to 60 hurt and three critically injured in US rail crash
A commuter train travelling eastbound from New York City derailed near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield during the evening rush hour on Friday and collided with a westbound commuter train, injuring up to 60 people, at least three critically, officials said.
The collision of the two Metro North trains forced Amtrak to shut down service indefinitely between New York and Boston, the national railroad said.
Three people were critically injured and 60 people were transported to area hospitals, police said.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy told a news conference: "It's pretty devastating damage to a number of cars.
"These cars came into contact (and the impact) ripped open the siding of one of the cars. There is extensive damage in the front and the wheels."
The accident occurred shortly after 6pm local time (10pm GMT), authorities said.
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Torrent of education initiatives 'resemble an octopus'
Bernadette Hunter, president of the National Association of Head Teachers is expected to tell delegates at the NAHT's annual conference in Birmingham today that many schools "have lost their sense of humour, buried under piles of data and spread sheets".
– Bernadette Hunter, president of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) iPerhaps you don't always feel strong but every day you have to deal with a torrent of initiatives and changes which rather resembles wrestling with an octopus. And you do it because of the moral imperative of school leadership - learners.
I know we are tired of constant, ideologically-driven change. We always seem to be saying that this is the worst we have ever known it but this time it is undeniably the truth.
We seem to have a secretary of state for Education who doesn't seem to be for education at all.
She warned the entire education system was "being dismantled before our eyes and fragmentation and division are everywhere".
There was a "continual denigration of our professionalism and a worrying creeping privatisation of education," she said.
Union: Michael Gove like a 'fanatical personal trainer'
Schools are losing their sense of humour under piles of data and spreadsheets as headteachers are forced to "wrestle with an octopus" of government initiatives and reforms, a union leader will warn today.
Heads are becoming tired of constant change to the education system, and believe it is being dismantled before their eyes, according to Bernadette Hunter, president of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).
In a strongly-worded attack, Ms Hunter will say she believes that Education Secretary Michael Gove is not a champion of education, and liken the minister to a "fanatical personal trainer" urging headteachers to go "faster, faster, higher and higher".
Woman 'lost her sight' after drinking methanol
Reports in The Telegraph and The Mirror said that within days of drinking the methanol a woman, reported as reports as Cheznye Emmons, complained that she had lost her sight.
She went through the jungle to the nearest eye clinic, and was referred to a hospital in Sumatra, where she was placed in an induced coma.
Her parents flew to her bedside and made the decision to turn off her life support machine.
Indonesia has an alcohol tax of more than 200% on some products, which leads locals to brew their own home-made spirits.Methanol is a by-product of poor distillation techniques.
Briton died after reportedly drinking 'poisoned alcohol'
A Briton has died after reportedly drinking poisoned alcohol during a trek in the Indonesian jungle.
The woman, named in reports as Cheznye Emmons, is said to have fallen ill after drinking from a bottle labelled "gin" bought from a local shop.
– Foreign Office spokesmanWe can confirm the death of a British national in Indonesia and we are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."
Two other travellers also had health problems after consuming the drink, which turned out to be filled with methanol, which is poisonous and causes kidney failure, blindness, seizures and death.
