Leo Hickman on one of London’s cycle-hire bikes. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian 7.08am: Occasional cyclist and the Guardian’s London blogger Dave Hill tried out a bike in Whitechapel. He found the appearance of the bikes “over Barclayed” but otherwise he gives them high marks. “I hope Boris isn’t listening, but nothing seemed to [...]

Tony Hayward can now look forward to his pension. Photograph: Pool/Getty Images ‘Was Tony Hayward right, after all?” These are words I would never have expected to read, least of all in the US, where BP’s chief executive is hated as a bogeyman; yet they were indeed the opening words of an article in yesterday’s Washington [...]

The review presents Alex Salmond, the Scottish first minister, with a formidable political problem. Photograph: Murdo Macleod Up to 50,000 public sector jobs could be lost and universal benefits such as free care for the elderly could be either cut or scrapped because of dramatic reductions in public spending in Scotland, an official review has [...]

Clive Stafford Smith, head of Reprieve, listens to former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg. Reprieve believes Sir Peter Gibson’s views on the intelligence services reflect bias. Photograph: Jane Mingay/AP The government has hit back at a legal charity’s “unwarranted and baseless” suggestion that the senior judge leading the inquiry into allegations of UK involvement in torture [...]