Can politics exist without lobbying?

Former British ministers Stephen Byers, Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt were caught on tape boasting that they could secure preferential treatment for financial sponsors by undercover TV programme, Channel Four’s Dispatches.

At the same time, more than 20 politicians in the UK have been accused of breaching parliamentary protocol by accepting free overseas trips to foreign locations, notably Conservative David Amess, who admitted to not declaring two complimentary trips to the Maldives.

Pre-nups: unromantic or necessary?

Today German heiress Katrin Radmacher is seeking to escape paying £5.85million to her ex-husband as a result of a prenuptial contract they both signed four months before their wedding in 1998. Nicolas Granatino, 39, agreed he would not make any financial claim on his wife should their marriage collapse.

On air: Revisiting Haiti and Chile.

Haiti’s earthquake on January 12th lasted 35 seconds and resulted in around 200,000 deaths.

The Haitian government and international agencies estimate that Haiti will need $11.5bn (£7.55bn) to rebuild after the devastating earthquake.  

Chile’s seismic tremor on February 27th, was 500 times stronger, measuring 8.8 in magnitude, compared with Haiti’s 7.0.

Yet the number of casualties lay in the hundreds. There was far less physical damage to structures and phone lines in Santiago began operating again within hours.