The Prime Minister's official Twitter account has marked a highly offensive tweet as a "favourite" on the social networking site. The tweet, from a user mocking former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit, was posted in response to the Prime Minister's message of condolence for victims of the Nairobi terror attack.

A year from today, a computer in a office cubicle somewhere will have just finished tallying the votes for and against Scottish independence. One possibility is that England's northern neighbor will remain a part of the UK, keeping the Queen, the pound, and its key to the NATO clubhouse. Another is that it will wave goodbye to its companion and ruler of 300 years and leap off into independence—possibly with the same Queen, the same pound, and the same set of keys to the NATO clubhouse.

Sports fans who call themselves the "Yid Army" have been warned they face potential criminal prosecution amid a crackdown by soccer chiefs that has triggered debate in Britain about whether the so-called "Y" word is acceptable. Long-simmering controversy over whether supporters of London's Tottenham Hotspur Football Club -- known as Spurs -- should be permitted to chant the word "Yid" during games exploded when authorities warned that chanting the term could result in fans being fined up to $1600 and being banned from stadiums across the U.K. and abroad.

Around the world, international education has become a policy priority for almost every developed and developing country. But just how significant is higher education to a country’s reputation and what exactly is soft power?

This time next year, the question of Scottish independence will be decided. New research published by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, presented in Edinburgh this week (and not yet online), talks about Scottish currency. Not terribly glamorous, but rather important. And there is bad news for Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Today (18 September), people in Scotland are exactly one year away from the all important day when our citizens will vote on the future direction of their country. Gaining control of how Scotland will engage with the wider world is an important consequence of that vote. For me, an independent Scotland is not - and never will be - an end in itself.

Boris Johnson has said forcing children to wear a burkha to school is “completely wrong” and contradicts British values and freedoms. Speaking after it emerged a number of UK secondary schools forced girls as young as 11 to wear the full Islamic veil, the Mayor of London said a burkha cannot be described as part of a school uniform, adding that he was “totally against kind compulsion in this matter”.

Britain should take in more refugees from the Syrian war to ease the mounting humanitarian crisis in the region, campaigners urged. The Refugee Council, Refugee Action, and the Scottish and Welsh Refugee Councils urged David Cameron to establish a "substantial and co-ordinated resettlement programme". Germany has arranged to take in 5,000 Syrians, including women at risk, people with serious medical conditions and others with special needs - and granted them the right to work for two years.