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Iranian state media called France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy a "prostitute" on Monday in an unusual attack on the wife of a world leader that shows deep anger over her support for an Iranian woman who faced death by stoning for adultery.

The wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has condemned the stoning sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, which Iran suspended after an international outcry.

Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, could still face execution by hanging.

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Impenetrable "clusters of privilege" are forming around the best state schools, Barnardo's, Britain's biggest children's charity, warns today. Poorer families are losing out to better-off neighbours who move house or attend church to get a better education.

Unfair admissions practices result in schools with skewed intakes that do not reflect their neighbourhoods, Barnardo's says, citing research that indicates the top secondary schools in England take on average just 5% of pupils entitled to free school meals.

Schools should be encouraged to admit pupils in "bands" based on their academic ability in order to increase the social mix, the charity recommends.

Government plans to expand the number of academies and create parent-led "free schools", which will control their own admissions, risk widening the gap.

Martin Narey, Barnardo's chief executive, said: "Secondary school admissions fail to ensure a level playing field for all children. Instead we are seeing impenetrable clusters of privilege forming around the most popular schools.

"Allowing such practice to persist – and almost certainly expand as increasing numbers of schools take control of their own admissions – will only sustain the achievement gap in education and undermine the prospects of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children."

Narey said school admissions had become a "complex game, one that many parents in poorer households are not aware is going on around them.

"Even when conscious of a race for the best schools, some less confident and able parents are often overcome by a fatalism and are resigned to the fact that their son or daughter will be left with whatever school other parents don't want."

Although the school admissions code is meant to stop schools favouring better-off children, many parents from less well-educated backgrounds are still being deterred, the charity says.

Parents who lack confidence in their own writing skills find it hard to deal with complex forms. Voluntary-aided schools, which usually have a religious link, have forms that require detailed replies about religion.

The charity said its local services had advised increasing numbers of eastern European immigrants who struggled to get into faith schools, even though they are devout Catholics, because they have recently arrived or moved around a city and therefore fail to meet the church attendance criteria.

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I don't remember the exact moment I realised my husband was famous. Maybe it was when a paparazzo ran backwards snapping at us with a long-lens camera as we took a stroll with our baby. Perhaps it was when the Daily Mail wrote a gushing article about "Prof Cox the Fox". Though when he turned up as a question on University Challenge, I finally had to concede that he'd actually become "one of those people off the telly".

When we first met, I was the expensively groomed television professional, working on mostly science and technology shows, and he was the newly appointed physics academic with a student's wardrobe and a single bed. All that remained of his music days with D:Ream were a few William Hunt suits in his wardrobe and framed backstage passes on his bathroom wall. It may have been my love of the Apollo moon missions or him telling me he worked at Cern, but we instantly struck up a geeky friendship. Together we started writing ambitious documentary ideas with the sole aim of "making science part of popular culture". Fast-forward 10 years and we're a lot closer to our goal, but it's not quite how I imagined it would be.

When Brian first started appearing on TV, he was more of a cult figure than a celebrity. People would occasionally come up to him with a question about black holes or the Higgs boson, having seen him on Horizon or This Morning. The only time he was asked for his autograph was after a talk he'd given in a school, or occasionally at a nerd gathering such as Skeptics In The Pub. Then he presented Wonders Of The Solar System and everything changed.

Wherever we went, people would stare, take photos with their phones or shout his name excitedly from passing cars. The novelty wore off, however, when it began to feel as though people were intruding into more private moments. In Sainsbury's, a couple of giggly middle-aged women ran up and thrust pieces of paper at him to sign. As Brian chatted to them about the physics A-levels their children were taking, I tried surreptitiously to sneak a pack of sanitary pads into our trolley. I needn't have bothered. I could have juggled a few boxes of tampons while whistling the theme tune to The Sky At Night and they still wouldn't have realised I was there.

A few years ago, I started to notice that the more Brian appeared on TV, the less interesting I became to other people. I started to morph from Gia Milinovich, independent woman with her own life and separate bank account, into "Mrs Brian Cox", then into "wife". Pre-fame, I was asked for my opinions; now, I'm asked what Brian thinks. During a discussion recently, someone said to me, "You only think that because your husband is a physicist", as if I am now incapable of my own thoughts. I am in the throes of what Edna Healey, Denis's wife, called Invisible Wife Syndrome.

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An idyllic picture of scenic Britain, complete with its typical weather, was unveiled in the new UK passport today.

Sundials, narrow boats and windmills appear alongside clouds, lightning and a compass to enhance security in the "universally trusted document", the Identity and Passport Service said.

The makeover comes as part of a £400 million 10-year contract with De La Rue, which will start producing the new passports in October.

Each page includes a symbol depicting "typical British weather", but the outlook is predominantly cloudy with just four of the 28 pages forecasting the sun in a cloudless sky.

And while famous images - including the White Cliffs of Dover, the Gower Peninsula in Wales, Ben Nevis in Scotland and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland - represent rural scenes from across the UK, images of urban Britain are nowhere to be seen.

Sarah Rapson, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, said: "What we're not trying to do is represent every single aspect of Britain today.

"We've deliberately chosen scenic Britain, the images you're seeing are representative of that aspect of Britain."

The 10-year adult passport, which will cost the same £77.50 as now, uses complex images to help prevent fraud.

Alongside the weather patterns, isobars and thermometers, the inside pages show intricate pictures of Blenheim Palace Gardens, a beach hut and the Dorset coast - all spread across two pages to increase security.

The holder's identity pages have been moved to the front of the book in a bid to reduce the time taken to pass through border controls and to bring the UK passport in line with others from Europe and the United States.

And there are now two photographs of the individual, with the main photo-page covered in a transparent film containing several layers of holograms.

Two birds, a tern and a fulmar, fly over a composite image of the White Cliffs of Dover merging into the outline of the UK on the same double-page spread.

Among the other most obvious changes, the electronic chip, which was introduced in 2006 to hold personal details, will be hidden inside the passport cover, making it harder to replace or alter without causing obvious damage to the document.

Some 25 million of the e-passports, issued since 2006, are currently in use, the Identity and Passport Service said.

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Renowned deal-broker Keith Harris claims an overseas buyer is considering making an offer of between £400million and £500million for Liverpool.

The former Football League chairman, who has had a hand in the sales of Aston Villa, West Ham and Manchester City in the past, said due diligence has already been done.

Harris also said the party he was representing was not one mentioned publicly before.
"The overseas buyer we represent has completed due diligence. A huge amount of work has been done," he said.

"It is none of the groups mentioned in the press. The ball is now in our client's court to make an offer.

"I do not think the deal will be done before the transfer window closes this month but the next pressure point is October when some of the RBS loan of £237million has to be repaid.

"It may happen then. But in the present climate these things are impossible to predict."

Last week Hong Kong-based businessman Kenny Huang - whose interest was allied to the Chinese government - pulled out of the bidding process, while Syrian-Canadian Yahya Kirdi's much-publicised interest has been treated with scepticism.

Harris said history has taught him that those who went public before an agreement had been reached rarely succeeded.

"The Chinese government involvement was always a bit far-fetched," he told the London Evening Standard.

"In any takeover situation, when people resort to announcing it to the media, you have to question the seriousness of the offer.

"If the name of the prospective buyer comes out before the deal is done then probably it is never going to be done.

"Look at when Chelsea was sold in 2003. My firm was advising the club and we only knew of Roman Abramovich on the Thursday before the deal was completed the following Tuesday."

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Sam Walthen was not overly emotional as she put down her phone, took a sip from her drink and walked away from her desk. "I've only had two people break down in tears so far," she said. "That's good for results day."

Welcome to the UCAS call centre and the brutal world of university clearing.

"We have to keep calm and carry on," her colleague Barbara Weldon added. "I have sons myself who have all gone through this, there have been tears in the toilets in the past but it doesn't do the student any good to do that."
The two women and their colleagues in Cheltenham were fielding calls yesterday from thousands of teenagers – some nervy, trying to find out if their A-level results were going to be good enough to get them into university, others tearful as they came to the realisation that they weren't.

A large monitor on the wall reminded the staff how many calls they had answered and how many people were still on the line, waiting to be told their fate. In the first few hours alone, there were 4,000 of them.

Sam said: "One of my first calls of the morning was from a young girl: I got to deliver the news to her that she had got into Oxford. In the background, I heard her whole family erupt in cheers and shouting, they had all come round to sit with her while she made the call, the party is probably still going on now.

"But then you get the ones who didn't make it. Then your professionalism has to kick in."

At one nearby desk, congratulations were being offered. At the next, a more difficult conversation was playing out: the operator's pad covered in frantic scribblings as he tried to convince the caller that failing to get the required grades was not the end of the world.

Barbara said that there are a couple of issues for the staff this year. "We are a little worried about the number of people disappointed, but there are always going to be some," she said.

Across the room, David Willetts, the minister for Universities and Science – in for the day – was hearing a tale of woe from one girl who had not made it. "She needed three As to get on to her course but got an A*, and A and a B. She was on tenterhooks. These experiences bring it home to me: there are human stories, there are young people trying to do the right thing and I do sympathise with them," he said.

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Eco-tourism. Is this now-fashionable concept basically a contradiction in terms – on a par, as cynics might say, with "business ethics" or "compassionate conservatism"? "Adventure travel" is, of course, a concept as old as the hills, even if some of our greatest adventurers, such as Captain Scott, took great pains to proclaim their serious scientific purposes.

Nowadays, much "adventure travel" is given a deliberately green tinge. Organisations like Earthwatch send young (and increasingly frequently old) people to the four corners of the earth to study and protect endangered wildlife of every sort and, yes, to enjoy themselves in doing so.

But just how realistic is it to imagine that increasing numbers of people can visit the wild places of the earth, and the animals, trees and plants that live there, without destroying them? Oscar Wilde famously wrote that "each man kills the thing he loves". Have we reached, or are we approaching, the limits of sustainable wildlife tourism? Should there be a strict rationing of visitors in sensitive areas? Should "return visits" be banned? Should there be total no-go zones?

There are no easy answers to such questions, but it is important that they should be asked. Take the Galapagos Islands, for example. Historically, British visitors have formed the second largest group. Even with the recession, there were still 14,000 British visitors last year.

When I first went to the Galapagos, 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, in 2006, I did ask myself whether it was altogether appropriate to visit, but the sheer excitement of being offered a bite at this incredible cherry won the day.

During that first trip to the archipelago, I spent 10 days on board a 16-berth schooner, sailing from island to island. For me, as for most visitors, the love affair began as soon as I stepped off the aircraft. The astonishing thing about the Galapagos is that you actually do get to see what you hope to see. If you are lucky, you will come across most of the famous birds that intrigued Charles Darwin when he landed there 175 years ago next month. You will see blue-footed boobies and frigatebirds, Galapagos hawks and flightless cormorants. You may swim and snorkel among huge Pacific Green Turtles and white-tipped reef sharks. You will meet giant tortoises well over 100 years old and still going strong.

This relatively benevolent relationship between man and nature didn't always exist. Vast depredations of Galapagos wildlife occurred in previous centuries. Tortoises were captured in their thousands by passing ships. The surrounding oceans were virtually emptied of whales. It is only really since 1959 when the Galapagos was established as a national park and, subsequently, as a World Heritage Site, that a proper framework has been created for safeguarding this paradise. But since then numbers of human residents and visitors have boomed.

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A proper steak sandwich, made with well-aged meat, a fresh, crusty roll and all the right condiments, is one of the most glorious things you can eat with your hands

Last month, when we were planning yet another World Cup evening in front of the telly, no one ever really questioned the menu. It would inevitably be pizza. Again. And rightly so, because it is perhaps the ultimate convenience food. Pizza was made for television in so many ways: it is easy to heat up, easy to divide and easy to eat in a group. It is easy to enjoy, easy to digest and easy-going. It is so Italian!

Trouble is, the Italians were knocked out of the tournament so early on that pizza seemed rather inappropriate. We were scratching our heads, lost, when the obvious answer suddenly came to mind – steak, of course. A tribute to the beef-loving South Americans was as unavoidable as the unavoidability of a South American team in the final (how wrong we were on that score).

But before we were all outside barbecuing steaks, one little adjustment was needed – after all, there is no way you can eat a proper steak dinner while engrossed in the game. And that tweak turned out to be as straightforward as the choice of meat itself: the good old steak sandwich. OK, it's not quite as convenient as a pizza: for one thing, it doesn't just turn up at the door on a scooter, accompanied by a fizzy drink; and you can't shove it down without hardly noticing it was ever there. But, done properly, a good steak sandwich – well-aged meat, a fresh, crusty bread roll and all the right condiments – is one of the most glorious things you can eat with your hands, whether the TV is on or of

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A former member of the Rhodesian SAS who collected rare peregrine falcon eggs from a mountain in Wales to smuggle them out of the country and sell on the black market in Dubai was jailed for two-and-a-half years yesterday.

Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, wrapped the 14 eggs in socks and strapped them to his chest to keep them warm. But he was caught before he could board his flight, when a cleaner at Birmingham International Airport became suspicious.

He becomes the first person in 19 years to be prosecuted in the UK for attempting to smuggle peregrine falcon eggs out of the country.

The court heard that Lendrum, who admitted the charges of theft and trying to export the eggs, had two previous convictions for similar offences in Canada and Zimbabwe.

Warwick Crown Court was told he had travelled the world to steal and sell rare eggs, adopting risky techniques. In one instance he abseiled off a cliff to reach a nest, while on another occasion he lowered himself from a helicopter.

The 14 eggs he tried to smuggle out of Britain in May would have been worth about £70,000 in Dubai, where falconry is a national sport. But he was caught after John Struczynski, a cleaner in the airport's business-class lounge, spotted him repeatedly entering a shower cubicle without using the facilities.

Mr Struczynski called the police, who found the eggs strapped to Lendrum's body. Initially he claimed they were bought from Waitrose and he had strapped them to his body because he thought it would cure his bad back.

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Alex Watson, 17, model and younger brother of actress Emma Watson, was propelled into the spotlight after appearing in Burberry’s Spring 2010 campaign alongside his sister. He recently modelled for Silhouette, an international frame manufacturer, where he launched their Titan Minimal Art eyewear campaign. He balances his modelling career with studying for his A-levels, and will enter his final year of school in September.

What’s the most surprising thing that’s ever happened to you?

I guess it would be getting scouted by storm and my whole modelling career kicking off. I never thought I’d have the potential to do anything like that or thought about myself in that way. So it is pretty surprising.

If you were Prime Minister for the day, what would you do?

Could I really say what I would do? No sorry, I can’t say that. I’d probably change the education system a bit. I think we’re over-examined and we’re just regurgitating the stuff we learn.

Do you have any hidden talents?

Yeah, well it’s not perfect and don’t ask me to do it ever but I’m pretty good at speaking backwards, saying words backwards.

Describe the house you grew up in.

I was born in Paris and lived there for a few years but I can’t actually remember that much. I live in a flat in London now and the third floor was given to us by the woman that used to live there. She gave it to us when she passed away so we named our younger sister after her. It has a sort of sentimental value.

What did you want to be as a child?

Well, I’m not that grown up yet but I’d quite like to be a TV journalist. Louis Theroux-esque but with less silly stories. That would be really interesting and fulfilling.

Name a book, song or movie that changed your life.

The work of Monty Python definitely changed my perspective of boundaries of comedy. And Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, I read that recently. It depressed me for a good three days. It gives you a lot to think. I’d recommend it, but only if you’ve got nothing important to do after, as it will depress you!

What one thing would you save if your house was on fire?

I’ve not got that much important material stuff I guess. There is a painting that was done of Emma and I when we were about 8 and 10. It’s a really nice portrait done by a French lady that we knew. That has quite a lot of sentimental value, so I’d save that.

What were you like at school?

I still am a school?well results days in a few days so we’ll see! No, I’m pretty good, A’s that sort of thing. I think I do the minimum to get by but I seem to do alright. I like extra curricula stuff, I’m quite sporty. I’m in the debating society and politics society and that sort of stuff.

If you could meet anyone from history who would it be and what would you ask them?

Socrates. I’m studying philosophy at the moment, it’s really interesting, but the stuff is overwhelming so I’d probably ask him to explain it a bit more.

Name something you are embarrassed to admit?

Other than being able to speak words backwards? That I own an inordinate quantity of shoes. A lot of them were given to me, but I do quite like shoes. For a guy I have probably too many shoes.

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