The Week
A round-up of the week's news and events

A blandishment too far?
Andrew Alexander explores why last week's Budget opened the floodgates of cynicism
Andrew Alexander

Commons Gallery
Daniel Forman reports on the week's key developments in the House of Commons
Daniel Forman

Maggots trump the chancellor
Nadine Dorries laments the Budget's failure to do more for the NHS, and signs an EDM backing an unusual type of therapy
Nadine Dorries

Lords Gallery
Andrew Evans rounds up the week's developments in the House of Lords
Andrew Evans

A last throw of the dice
Lord McNally finds parliamentary parallels in the works of Shakespeare and considers the merits committee’s pronouncement on the Manchester supercasino
Lord McNally

Revolution rescheduled
Tired of the inertia of the Chirac years, French voters are hungry for change. But, finds George Parker, the presidential candidates do not seem to offer it
George Parker

Roots rehabilitation
TV gardener Monty Don talks to Gisela Stuart about the therapeutic powers of gardening – and his bold initiative to turn problem youngsters into sons of the soil
Gisela Stuart

Gatecrashing the party
John Harris looks at the reinvention of the Labour Party under a sometimes wilfully antagonistic leader.
John Harris

Born-again industrialists
A greater involvement by the private sector will help Belfast regain the economic success it enjoyed before the Troubles, says David Lidington
David Lidington

A dark shadow on devolution
Small businesses are still facing terrorist intimidation in Ulster, says Lembit Öpik
Lembit Opik

Ulster unfurls its secrets
David Anderson wants the natural majesty of Northern Ireland to be marketed
David Anderson

Pass the portfolio
Michael White assesses how political settlement in Belfast could shake up Whitehall structures for all the devolved areas
Michael White

First peace, now equality
Successful power-sharing means an end to discrimination, says Pat Doherty
Pat Doherty

Unity from the streets
Alasdair McDonnell believes community cohesion is in the hands of the people
Alasdair McDonnell

A new alchemy in Ulster
Elections to the Northern Ireland assembly show that the tectonic plates are shifting in Ulster, and a new relationship between politics and religion is emerging, says Mark Devenport
Mark Devenport

Champing at the bit
Reg Empey is impatient for the economic fruits of devolution in Northern Ireland
Sir Reg Empey

Byte-size for kids
The parliamentary information technology committee has launched a competition aimed at inspiring primary schoolchildren with the potential of IT, writes Andrew Miller
Andrew Miller

The ultimate home help
Specialist courts and counsellors are among the new initiatives being introduced to end the scourge of domestic violence, explain John Reid and Baroness Scotland
John Reid and Baroness Scotland

A writer and a fighter
Lord Graham pays tribute to Baroness Jeger, one of the last of the pioneering post-war generation of Labour politicians, and an orator who won hearts and minds
Lord Graham of Edmonton

Amazonian climate challenge
Mark Simmonds reports back on a sobering visit to Brazil during which he saw the effects of deforestation and land erosion at first hand
Mark Simmonds

Cobbett's Corner
Chris Moncrieff takes a wry look at politics
Chris Moncrieff

Electionwatch
A round-up of recent and forthcoming polls

Backtracks...
...this week in history