Some were inspired by the feature. “I could not fail to be deeply moved,” Elaine Friedlander wrote. “Their achievements, bravery and determination are truly inspirational.” Others were less impressed. “I always enjoy reading your newspaper. The owner of the local pub lays it on for free…” wrote Ian Weir. He didn’t suggest any additions to our 100, but did complain: “Most of your list would provide ample material for anyone advancing the proposition that women haven’t really made much of an impact in the last 100 years.”

Read more on Women who changed the world: ‘There’s always room for one more woman…’…

The Liberal Democrat leader was forced to row back on remarks in which he praised Margaret Thatcher for her tough stance against the unions, as his spring conference was dominated by talk of which party he would support in the event of a hung parliament.

Read more on Clegg tries to pacify his party over talk of pact with Cameron…

Labour strategists have identified this key group of swing voters in 28
Labour-Conservative marginal seats. They will be bombarded with personalised
letters this weekend appealing to them to support the progressive cause by
voting Labour to keep the Tories out. These voters are typically among the 1
million who defected from Labour in 2005 ? often middle class,
university-educated and disillusioned over the Iraq war or introduction of
university tuition fees.

Read more on Now the battle begins to win Clegg’s heart…

Author: By Tom Pugh, Press Association

Anna Arrowsmith – managing director of adult entertainment company Easy on the
Eye Productions – will stand for election in Gravesham, Kent.

Mrs Arrowsmith, who works under the pseudonym Anna Span, started shooting porn
films after graduating from Central St Martins in Fine Art (Film & Video) in
1998.

Read more on Porn director to fight for Westminster seat…

Author: By Nicky Burridge, Press Association

Chester Square in Belgravia, London, held on to its title as the most
expensive place to live in 2010, with the average property there costing
£6.6 million, according to housing information website Mouseprice.

Read more on Prices surge in ‘most expensive street’…

The pier had a long heyday. Designed by the Victorian seafront architect
Eugenius Birch, it was given a glorious Art Deco face-lift in the 1930s
before hosting musical legends of the Sixties and Seventies such as The
Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Genesis and Pink Floyd. But today
Hastings Pier is falling into decrepitude: unsafe, closed to the public, and
in the hands of a Panama-registered company that so neglects the landmark
that it failed to turn up at a court case recently brought by the borough
council.

Read more on The fight on the beaches…

Author: By Chris Moncrieff, Press Association

This cruel epitaph is sadly how Foot will be remembered above all else. For he
was a politician who was far more at home on the backbenches, freely
dispensing discursive and sophisticated argument and debate, than as a
frontbench man hemmed around by official policy lines which he was compelled
to adhere to.

Read more on Michael Foot: Leftwing fighter who led Labour to poll collapse…

Author: By Joe Churcher, PA

The shadow chancellor said his “people’s bank bonus” would reward taxpayers
for the £850 billion ploughed by the Government into propping up crisis-hit
financial institutions.

During the financial crisis, the Government nationalised Northern Rock and
took stakes in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group in
return for bailing them out.

Read more on Tories to sell cut-price shares in state-owned banks…

Author: By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

Information released by the party, claimed that more than half of girls ? 54 per cent ? in the most deprived communities fell pregnant before their 18th birthday. The claim, in a document detailing the gap between the Britain’s richest and poorest areas, was breathtaking. It was also untrue: a crucial decimal point was missing from the actual figure, which is 5.4 per cent.

Read more on Conservatives get their hundreds and thousands mixed up…

Author: By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

Information released by the party, claimed that more than half of girls ? 54 per cent ? in the most deprived communities fell pregnant before their 18th birthday. The claim, in a document detailing the gap between the Britain’s richest and poorest areas, was breathtaking. It was also untrue: a crucial decimal point was missing from the actual figure, which is 5.4 per cent.

Read more on Conservatives get their hundreds and thousands mixed up…