UK News: Tories bank on £11m from City donations

MORE than half the donations raked in by the Conservative party last year came from the City, research has suggested.

Financial services firms and individuals donated 11.4 million in the first nine months of 2010, according to figures from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Cameron support slips

DAVID Cameron's honeymoon period is over as new figures reveal that his support is on the wane.

A "poll of polls" for January shows more people are now unhappy than happy with the Prime Minister's performance.

One survey even shows him as unpopular as Margaret Thatcher was in January 1980.

Punishment cuts 'will cost more in long run'

ABOLISHING programmes offering convicted criminals alternative punishments to short-term custodial sentences will cost the government more in the long-term and see more offenders pass through the "revolving door" of prison, key justice figures said today.

The warning, from individuals including former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Blair of Boughton, comes a month before funding for the Intensive Alternatives to Custody programme.

Military 'U-turn' slammed

THE government was today accused of backtracking on a promise to enshrine the military covenant into law.

David Cameron was also criticised for "watering down" proposals to increase the support for Britain's troops.

The attack, by Chris Simpkins, the director-general of the Royal British Legion, comes as thousands of servicemen and women face job cuts and pay changes.

Disgraced MP steps down

DISGRACED Eric Illsley has quit as an MP, weeks after being convicted of fiddling his expenses.

Labour is planning to trigger a by-election in his Barnsley Central seat on March 3.

He is due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court tomorrow.

Hampshire: A woman has received the UK's first totally implanted hearing aid. The Otologics "Carina" middle ear implant device has a rechargeable battery, a signal processor and a microphone, which are all implanted under the skin. Denise Westgate, 49, from Havant, received the aid thanks to work from the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre.

London: A Pablo Picasso portrait of his teenage mistress has sold for 25.2 million at auction. La Lecture, bought anonymously, fetched more than double its low estimate of 12m at Sotheby's modern art sale in London.