Vicki Barker

A year ago, a conservative British cabinet minister was forced to step down after being publicly excoriated for dismissing a pair of police officers as 'plebes', or commoners. Now, a new version of events is beginning to emerge.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Apple hired Burberry's CEO Angela Ahrendts to revive its network of Apple stores. Those stores used to provide unique, highly efficient customer service but are struggling now because of competition from other computer stores that have adopted Apple's retail business model.

Britain's Conservative-led government has unveiled proposals to change the social benefits system, moving ever closer to workfare. One measure under the plan requires the long-term jobless to do community work. Another plan would ax automatic housing and other benefits for unemployed Brits under 25.

The scandal has shown just how long and winding the food chain really is, and how little oversight is exercised within Europe's open borders. In Britain, local butchers are among the beneficiaries of this crisis.

The fast food giant said this week that some of its burgers in Britain and Ireland were found to contain horsemeat. That's prompted a Twitter campaign and threats of a boycott.

British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a long-awaited speech on Britain's relationship to the European Union on Wednesday. Cameron is under pressure from the growing U.K. Independence Party to pull Britain out of the EU and he has said he is seeking "fresh consent" from the British public to continue in the EU on "renegotiated" terms. He promised to hold a referendum on whether Britain should withdraw if his party retains power after elections in 2015. If the U.K. pulls out, it would weaken the EU significantly. But it could also diminish Britain's clout and that of its closest ally, the United States

In most of Britain, property prices are slumping amid a weak economy. But mega-rich foreigners see London's upscale neighborhoods as a safe place to invest, and they are snapping up properties and pushing up prices even though many don't plan to use these homes as a primary residence.

There's no place for chronic misplacers of keys at the 21st World Memory Championships under way in London. About 75 competitors from some two dozen countries are vying to see who can memorize the most numbers, faces, playing cards or random words in a set amount of time in this "mnemonic Olympiad."

A review of one of the most notorious killings during Northern Ireland's Troubles, has confirmed that — in the words of Prime Minister David Cameron — there was a "shocking" level of collusion by agents of the state. Cameron made an extended statement in Parliament on Wednesday. Belfast Lawyer Pat Finucane was shot dead by Protestant loyalists in front of his family in 1989. Sir Desmond de Silva's report confirms what's been open knowledge in Northern Ireland for years — that members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland's British-backed police force, were involved in the killing and then obstructed the murder investigation. It was also revealed, for the first time, that Britain's MI-5 had spread disinformation about Finucane before the killing.

A nurse at a London hospital who took a hoax call about Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge was found dead on Friday. Jacintha Saldhana let through a call from an Australian radio station purporting to be the Queen calling about the ailing Duchess.