As soon as the defendant found out the story was untrue _ it had been picked up from another newspaper _ it immediately apologized to Sir Elton and it is happy to repeat that apology here today.

In an ideal world, it would not take a film star to get the media focused on mental illness.

Nightside, cities glistened in chains, and a spray of tinkertoy habitats girdled the planet. Gossamer starbridges reached from the equator towards orbit.

But beyond a certain scale vast was simply vast.

Friends have suggested that I am the least qualified person to talk about happiness, because I am often down, and sometimes profoundly depressed. But I think that's where my qualification comes from. Because to know happiness, it helps to know unhappiness.

There are many reasons for the decline in royal esteem. One is that so many of the royals are thick.