Queen's Poet Savages Politicians in First Poem

Philip Levine named to one-year post

(NEWSER) - Philip Levine has already won nearly every major prize for his poetry, including two Guggenheims and a Pulitzer, and now he's America's newest poet laureate. The Library of Congress named him to the one-year position today; he succeeds WS Merwin. Growing up, Levine hated "prissy" poetry, which led him to model his rhythms on radio preachers, NPR notes. More»

PM had called for ministers to pony up

(NEWSER) - Gordon Brown has been sent a bill for £12,415 ($19,600) for questionable expense account claims, and the prime minister intends to pay up, 10 Downing St. announced today. The lion’s share of that money was used for housecleaning, with a bit going to gardening and decorating. Both Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg received nastygrams from an auditor, the Daily Telegraph reports. More»

(NEWSER) - UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will resign her post, the Times of London reports, in an effort to hang onto her seat in parliament despite the expense scandal swirling around her. Smith has been badly embarrassed by revelations that she had charged taxpayers for her family home, several digital cameras, an iPod, a personal accountant, and, most embarrassingly, five porn movies her husband watched. More»

(NEWSER) - Some 800 Brits have signed up to commit suicide at a controversial Swiss clinic, reports the Guardian. The terminally ill patients have become members of Dignitas so they can travel to Zurich when the time comes to take a drug overdose. The number of British residents crossing the border for assisted suicide continues to climb, triggering heightened debate in Britain about a nationwide ban on the practice. More»

(NEWSER) - Carol Ann Duffy and her 13-year-old daughter agreed it was time for a woman poet laureate in Britain, the Times of London reports. Widely expected to accept the post, Duffy, 53, agreed today to take over from incumbent Andrew Motion in the name of "great women poets ... like Alice Oswald," she said. “My only worry was what my daughter thought about it. She said, ‘Yes, Mummy. There has never been a woman poet laureate’.” More»