A public sector workers' union, the PCS, is balloting members for strike action over plans to cut redundancy pay. The government hopes to save £500m by cutting the lump sums paid to staff made redundant to a maximum of two years' pay. Our Whitehall correspondent Polly Curtis says that the union plans a series of strikes to have the maximum impact during the election campaign.
The former cabinet minister Clare Short gave evidence to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war yesterday. Sketch writer Simon Hoggart says that she was the most entertaining yet and startled the panel with her frankness about what she considered Tony Blair's dysfunctional government.
The Oscars shortlist was published yesterday. Film critic Xan Brooks believes that though there are 10 nominees for best film the contest is between two very different films: the Hollywood 3D blockbuster Avatar and the low-budget documentary story The Hurt Locker, about a bomb disposal team in Baghdad.
With only months to go before the general election Gordon Brown announced plans for a referendum on voting reform. Julian Glover says legislation is unlikely to be passed through parliament as the Labour party might lose the election and the Conservatives are against changing to an alternative method of picking MPs.
Psychologists at Birmingham University have found an answer to an age-old question for viewers of cowboy films: why does the good guy always win in a gun fight. Science correspondent Ian Sample reports that they have proved humans are quicker when they react to something, than if they draw their pistols first.
